Review by Adam M on April 11, 2026.

This is an excellent album that signaled a great new sound for the band after Paranoid. There is more of a stoner sort of influence and it makes the album psychedelic. The songs like “Children of the Grave” are memorable and map out a new territory for the band after their excellent prior couple of albums. This is seemingly a very important album for the stoner metal genre.

The musicianship is wonderful and makes the album potent and vibrant. There is a very interesting use of reverb that makes the sound very stoner influenced. The record is produced well for an early doom record and has a fuzzy vibe. All in all this is a very enjoyable early doom record in terms of musical performances.

The problem with the disc lies in how it is not a huge progression from their self-titled even and suffers from a lack of innovation compared to what was shown on their first couple of releases. This is still interesting and a highly thoughtful work that is one of the pioneering albums for the stoner rock genre.

Fans of the band’s first couple of albums will find a lot to like here as this is a very high octane and fun listen. The nature of the work is that it is very unorthodox and shows great progression for the doom genre because of its psychedelic nature. Fans of the band’s early material will like it as will people into Trouble and Candlemass, for example.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by Adam M on May 13, 2026.

This is a good album that had a remarkable change for the band as they became more progressive sounding.  This also had a a more refined and sounds nice and fresh.  It is one of the moving Black Sabbath albums with songs such as “Spiral Architect”.  There is not as much of a classic feel as the early albums, but it is still an interesting listen.

In terms of musicianship, the guitar playing is solid and the band makes use of symphonics at times to create a more epic atmosphere.  This leads to an interesting and thoughtful album that nicely progresses into interesting territories.  It is not as firmly rooted in the classic atmosphere as the early albums, but has a nice dynamic feel to it.

There is a problem with the album and that is that it is not as revolutionary as something like their self-titled debut.  This leads it to being more of a new type of style that is embraced by the band and quite interesting.  It is not as compelling as the debut or Master of Reality, but still quite interesting and psychedelic. 

With songs such as the self-titled track, there is plenty to become interested in here and this leads it to being another classic album.  It is not as fascinating as their first few albums, but still one of the better albums from the band and highly essential.  Fans of the band’s early work should find a lot to like here.  Check this out.

Raitng: 7.3 out of 10

Review by Adam M on May 13, 2026.

This is a good album that had a remarkable change for the band as they became more progressive sounding.  This also had a a more refined and sounds nice and fresh.  It is one of the moving Black Sabbath albums with songs such as “Spiral Architect”.  There is not as much of a classic feel as the early albums, but it is still an interesting listen.

In terms of musicianship, the guitar playing is solid and the band makes use of symphonics at times to create a more epic atmosphere.  This leads to an interesting and thoughtful album that nicely progresses into interesting territories.  It is not as firmly rooted in the classic atmosphere as the early albums, but has a nice dynamic feel to it.

There is a problem with the album and that is that it is not as revolutionary as something like their self-titled debut.  This leads it to being more of a new type of style that is embraced by the band and quite interesting.  It is not as compelling as the debut or Master of Reality, but still quite interesting and psychedelic. 

With songs such as the self-titled track, there is plenty to become interested in here and this leads it to being another classic album.  It is not as fascinating as their first few albums, but still one of the better albums from the band and highly essential.  Fans of the band’s early work should find a lot to like here.  Check this out.

Raitng: 7.3 out of 10