BLACK SABBATH

THERE NO BETTER BAND THAN ALICE COOPER

YEAH SONGS LIKE LOOKING FOR TODAY, MEGAMOGNOLIA AND THE SYNTHESIZER INTRO TO JOHNNY BLADE AND ANY ALBUMS BETWEEN 1970 - 1978 PROVES THAT YES I SAY THERE PROG METAL.

Oh no! I'm pretty familar with most of Sabbaths albums and would NEVER consider them Prog, they can be complex and have some epic tracks like 'Megolamania' and 'children of the sea' but they are heavy metal and bloody good heavy metal at that!

the most prog metal is mercyful fate, and it even doesn't have to be here!

As much as I like Sabbath, I regard them as a heavy metal band. They had moments of subtlety I guess, but that doesn't make them prog IMO.

'Sabotage' is their best album IMO, although 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' and 'Technical Ecstasy' are filled with great songs. They were unique and were the first HM band. I dont think they were 'clever' enough to be progressive.

Anyone like the stuff Ronnie Dio did with them???

Yeah he was the lead singer.

Abigail was nicely creepy in parts, but his voice really makes my nads shrivel. I'd like to hear the anti-Geddy Lee folks make it through a single KD song

Nope. Sabbath ain't prog

Great, great band, and certainly progressive - but that's another thing entirely! Led Zep were progressive, and so were Deep Purple. DP even played with an orchestra... but that's worth forgetting. Neither were prog, although I'll happily consider aguments in favour of DP, like I would for Queen.

However, the sabs weren't entirely original - listen to Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum" and "Outside Inside". BC may have been more amateurish, but they had the heavy metal riffola thing down to a T way back in 1966/7 (correct me someone!).

I love Dio's first two solo outings - I'd go as far as saying they're both better than "Mob Rules", IMO. "Heaven and Hell" is blinding - a complete revamp of the Sabbath style, and full of great promise. Pity it was never bettered by Sabbath themselves.

Gillan + Sabbath = Spinal Crap

There was heavy rock and then heavy metal rock. Did the term heavy metal come from the band The Heavy Metal Kids??????? Deep Purple was certainly included amongst the prog music bands - especially with Concerto, but most prog fans then would have been hard pressed to call In Rock prog. May Blitz, who spun off from Jeff Beck's early heavy rock work on Truth and Cosa Nostra, where around the time of the first Led Zeppelin album - but LZ 1 would have more likely been called called a British Blue Boom album then - as Beck's Truth would have been . Black Sabbath and Black Widow appeared about the same time with what might later be called metal, although the heyday of metal appears to be around 1980. I sure there was some rejection of Black Sabbath by early 70's prog fans, as being relatively simple music for the genre. I would also suggest the very first Stray (eponymously titled) album was a pioneering record in heavy rock. And I must not forget the Pink Fairies, (out of Tomorrow and the Social Deviants). How does Mountain fit into this? And then the hybrid bands, e.g. from West Bruce & Laing to Beck Bogert & Appice?

I remember reading an article that claimed Bowie invented heavy metal

just goes to show how much revisionism went on in the 70s...