Every 70s Metal Album Rated and Reviewed Part 2 - 1971

A surprisingly active year for metal, 1971 saw three more metal releases. Master of Reality from Black Sabbath, Bang's self-titled debut (their only metal release) and Budgie's self-titled debut.

Master of Reality - Black Sabbath

21 July 1971
Black Sabbath's third album.
Number 1 for 1971 metal.
Number 50 overall!
My Rating: 10/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 4.13/5
Primary Genre: Heavy Metal
Secondary Genres: Doom Metal, Traditional Doom Metal

My favourite Black Sabbath album, Master of Reality has by far the best guitar tone of all their albums. Sweet Leaf and Children of the Grave are heavy metal masterpieces, each 5 minutes full of flawless riffing, sick solos and crazed vocals.
Solitude is also fantastic, showcasing Ozzy's traditional singing skills (they're really impressive) and serving as a break from the crushing riffs of all the other songs. It's an awesome album and one I keep revisiting. It's short but every song is a hit and I'd even go as far as to say that the first side is as perfect as it gets.

Bang - Bang

December 1971
Bang's first album.
Only metal album by Bang.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.61/5
Primary Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Leaning more towards the blues rock side of heaviness, Bang's debut is more upbeat and lighter than Black Sabbath but is still a noteworthy album worthy of appreciation. Bang features a heavy, bluesy guitar tone and very similar vocals to Black Sabbath, their songs here have great riffs and guitar playing. My favourite song is Questions. It has a really fantastic riff and straddles the line between hard rock and heavy metal wonderfully. Great stuff here.

Budgie - Budgie

1971
Budgie's first album.
My Rating: 7/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.71/5
Primary Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Secondary Genre: Progressive Rock

Until Judas Priest showed up in 1976 Budgie were really the only long-term metal option other than Black Sabbath from 1971-1975, releasing five albums in that time span!
Their self-titled debut has fairly typical hard rock vocals and a softer guitar tone than Black Sabbath but still quite heavy. Unlike the other songs, Guts would fit right in on a Black Sabbath album if the vocals were changed a bit, and it would be a very worthy inclusion to, say, Paranoid. It's fantastic. The rest of the album is a bit less heavy but still solid. It's worth a listen!

Thanks for reading!