In the Court of the Crimson King vs Black Sabbath

 

First Black Sabbath album contained a Rock guitar sound that Iommi took from an original idea/concept and pushed it further , creating a louder volume level and a whole new sound. One that Ritchie Blackmore had not exactly ventured into prior to Sabbath existing. Originally the band Blue Cheer were experimenting with this hard driven edgy , noisy , distorted guitar sound when they were stuck in the late 60's ...with almost everyone else playing a more calm, toned down, Psychedelic guitar sound...with the exception of Hendrix, Townshend, and Clapton's heavy tone on Cream Live Vol.1, most psychedelic guitarists were more toned down than that level of volume. Townshend came close to creating a metal sound on Live at Leeds, but Blue Cheer created a darker sound/style with massive volume that sounded pre-metal...such as the intro to "Summertime Blues". It's metal all the way with it's distinctive tri-tone (Devil's Interval) chord change and just the overall sound of what they produce is not Psychedelic and it was 1968. .Blue Cheer wanted and tried to create that more "Heavy Metal" sound in the Psychedelic days. Iommi took that idea steps further...but it wasn't like he had read what other's had done or attempted...because he really crafted a new sound from the idea . The lyrical content of the album contained warnings about things in life that were evil. The lyrics gave you messages on how to deal with evil. Evil was a important issue with the youth then..because of fads designed around witchcraft. There are warnings on Master of Reality. When the band first toured America....they offended the older generation with their image/music/lyrics. In 1971...the staff in high school seemed to react harshly towards kids ...stating that Black Sabbath were a threat