Three monsters from Iommi’s riff pit, by Danny Eccleston.

THE EPIPHANY

Black Sabbath ★★★★★ Paranoid (VERTIGO, 1970)

Sabbath’s second album crystallises the unholy trinity of bassist Geezer Butler’s gothic lyrics, Ozzy Osbourne’s lost-soul bleat and Iommi’s unique guitarchitecture: megalithic, with rococo flourishes (Bill Ward’s not bad, either). War Pigs is heavy rock with a heavy conscience; Paranoid still their greatest feat of pure songwriting; Iron Man a genius symbiosis of sound and subject matter; Hand Of Doom the declaration of a band with multiple gears.

THE ASCENSION

Black Sabbath ★★★★★ Vol 4 (VERTIGO, 1972)

Eighteen months on tour and what Butler reckoned was $75,000 spent on cocaine left Sabbath deranged, but if their USP wasn’t channelling madness, what was it? Wheels Of Confusion is a kaleidoscope of wonders and terrors. Supernaut may be Iommi’s greatest ever riff, the solo his most intense. Then there are the splashes of colour on the Stygian canvas: Changes’ poignant gospel-soul and Iommi’s acoustic showcase, Laguna Sunrise, an idyll more Campania than Orange County.

THE RESURRECTION

Black Sabbath ★★★★ Heaven And Hell (VERTIGO, 1980)

The departure of Osbourne boded ill (to say nothing of Ward and Butler’s trials), but the determination of Iommi, the energy and vocal chops of Ronnie James Dio and a gleaming production overhaul by Martin Birch reset them for the long haul. Neon Knights, Wishing Well and Die Young are thrilling, Iommi’s guitar parts alternately gritty and lyrically echo-laden. In a watershed year for metal, Iommi had hauled his band onto the right side of the divide.