Ozzy Osbourne has died. Deceased at the age of 76 on July 22, 2025, he has left us one of the most revolutionary musicians in contemporary history after concluding his farewell tour. Calling him revolutionary is not an exaggeration in the slightest. With his band, Black Sabbath, he not only invented heavy metal but also a large number of its subgenres, and even as a solo artist, he knew how to reinvent himself and create significant work. Even if in recent years he was better known for reality shows and cheeky statements.
That’s why we are going to remind you of what he did best. His music. And since his discography is very extensive, we are going to explore six essential albums. There are some omissions that will surely offend fans, but we can’t include all six of Black Sabbath’s first albums either. Choices have to be made. With that in mind, let’s get to it.
Black Sabbath
The group’s first album was released on February 13, 1970, being an absolute revolution. Considered the first album in history that can truly be regarded as metal, the reasons are more than evident. Its sound is dark and heavy, its themes occult, fantasy, and drawn from horror movies and novels, and its blend of blues and psychedelia shaped what would later become the metal genre.
Especially because, although it is true that in this album they are still searching for their sound, you can already find what would end up being just one album later. The title track that opens the album, Black Sabbath, is considered the first Doom Metal song in history. And for very good reasons. Slow, heavy, and very gloomy, it has everything not only to be considered part of the genre but also for many other pioneering bands of the genre to seek to imitate that sound. Whether it was Pentagram or Black Sabbath themselves.
Paranoid
Because if something defines Paranoid, it is that this is where its style and sound would mature. It is not only the most influential metal album in history, but everything that was emerging in Black Sabbath is a reality here. Dry and powerful drums, heavy riffs, and Ozzy’s unique voice lurking, giving a much more playful style to the whole. It is also where the group’s most well-known songs are found. Paranoid will be the great anthem of heavy metal even today, Iron Man would shape countless bands to come, and Hand of Doom would be one of the most remembered songs by an entire generation.
If a Black Sabbath album is remembered, beloved, and highly celebrated, it is Paranoid. So much so that it almost seems a bit exaggerated to talk about it. It is a superlative album that has influenced everyone from Metallica to Slipknot, including Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins. Contemporary music is not only inconceivable without Black Sabbath: it simply would not be as we know it without Paranoid.
Vol. 4
This was the first album that partly divided critics, even though it was well received. It was also the first album produced by the band itself, as Osbourne has stated several times. The result is an album with a darker sound, moving away from heavy sound, and flirting with all kinds of genres and tones. This includes power ballads like Changes, which would not only become a hit but also an inspiration and a constant for bands in the genre and hard rock for the next 50 years.
It is a less dark album, in general, but that doesn’t mean it has less bite. On the contrary. In the moments where they want to assert themselves, they do so with even more rawness, adopting a harder and darker style than before. And when they want to play with more pop tones or experiment with electronics, they do so with a curiosity and an almost childlike interest. This makes it a very genuine album that, while it may be jarring, is also absolutely extraordinary. And that’s why it deserves to be on this list.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
If Vol. 4 was their moment of experimentation, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was their moment to blend all that into a coherent whole. And they did it perfectly. A classic of prodigious heavy metal, tremendously powerful, where not a single song fails from beginning to end. We have the energetic and vibrant songs, the power ballads, the slow and dark songs, and the songs with a strange use of electronics in the style of the Beatles. And all transition naturally into each other as if by magic in a magical ensemble.
It should come as no surprise that, despite everything, this is the favorite album of hard rock bands more than heavy metal bands in the world. Bands like Guns N’ Roses have always stated that they owe a lot to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, something evident when listening to the album. And while it is true that the critical reception of the album was not as sharp as that of their first four albums, it was not considered any less than an absolute success.
Blizzard of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne was expelled from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to his issues with alcohol and other drugs, and what were not drugs, but that did not stop him from composing music. On the contrary. Just a year later, he appeared solo, under his name, to release what Rolling Stone magazine considers one of the 100 best metal albums in history: Blizzard of Ozz.
In all honesty: it’s hard to argue. Crazy Train, Goodbye to Romance, and Mr. Crowley may be among the most iconic, singable, and absolutely representative songs of Osbourne’s repertoire. The album is much more focused on ballads and a less dark tone, with more overloaded and effect-driven compositions, but that doesn’t make it worse. On the contrary. It adds a B-movie tone that only makes it even more fascinating. And if listened to from start to finish, it is an immersive experience that is hard to overlook.
No More Tears
Osbourne’s last exceptional album arrived in the early 90s. Although he has continued to give us albums up to 2022, with Patient Number 9, some of them quite good, his last great album is undoubtedly No More Tears. The reason is largely that he was surrounded by some of the best musicians of the time. Guitarist Zakk Wylde contributed to writing several of the songs and Motorhead’s bassist and vocalist, Lemmy Kilmister, wrote the lyrics to another six. This resulted in one of the most rounded albums of Osbourne’s career.
It is an emotional album, but also much more complex compositionally speaking. The instrumentation gains in layers, the production is much more careful, and everything feels much more polished and generously more complex. Something that results in Ozzy Osbourne’s solo album not only being more rounded but also the most memorable. A true masterpiece to remember as we bid farewell to one of the great musicians of the 20th century.
