Black Sabbath’s Paranoid is one of the best hard rock albums of the 70s. Metallica’s Master of Puppets is one of the best hard rock albums of the 80s. So let there be… Monsters of Rocktology!
These two great albums went toe-to-toe in our bracket tourney. And led by the lead track, “War Pigs,” Paranoid edged Master of Puppets in this Rocktology! classic-album throwdown.
Sabbath are the prototype for the heavy metal that followed in their wake. Metallica are arguably the greatest metal band of all time. Each of these records represents a career peak for the respective band. Riff for riff, it was a pretty fair fight that stayed even throughout.
Each Round 1 matchup pitted a song from Paranoid against a song from Master of Puppets. As a testament to how close this tourney was, that held true to form throughout — every matchup was Sabbath v Metallica. Epic.
The top half of the bracket was dominated by Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” the eventual champion. “Pigs” prevailed by no less than thirty percentage points in each matchup prior to the final. But the most exciting matchup in the top half featured Sabbath’s “Fairy’s Wear Boots” v Metallica’s “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).” This match was tied right to the very end, at which point I used my tie-break vote to squeak “Sanitarium” into the Final 4!
In the bottom half of the bracket, it would be an overstatement to say “Master of Puppets” dominated. However, taking down “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” to reach the final was impressive, regardless of the margin of victory. The most exciting match in the bottom half was Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral” v Metallica’s “Leper Messiah.” “Funeral” led big early and held the lead most of the way, but “Leper” was miraculously healed in the final hours to secure a narrow victory.
In the end, “War Pigs” was simply too much for “Master of Puppets,” although the match was quite close. Beloved by all hard rock fans, Ozzy, Tony, Bill and Geezer’s fiercest of anti-war anthems is a true and worthy champion. I think even Lars would agree with that.
If you haven’t listened to both of these records in their entirety, in sequence, for a while I suggest you do so while reviewing the results of the tourney. It’s important to know where you stand on an issue as critical as this one.
Strap on your favorite pair of headphones and haul out your CDs or records, or mount your streaming platform of choice, and revisit these two rock masterworks. Listen as the Sorcerer and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice vie to claim the throne of madness.
Oh lord yeah!
Final Four
| FINAL FOUR | FINALS | CHAMPION | FINALS | FINAL FOUR |
| “War Pigs” (70%) | “War Pigs” (54%) | “Master of Puppets” (46%) | “Paranoid” (42%) | |
| “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” (30%) | WAR PIGS | “Master of Puppets” (58%) |
Opening Rounds
| ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | MOVING ON |
| “War Pigs” – Black Sabbath (84%) | ||
| “The Thing That Should Not Be” – Metallica (16%) | “War Pigs” (74%) | |
| “War Pigs” | ||
| “Rat Salad” – Black Sabbath (39%) | “Orion” (26%) | |
| “Orion” – Metallica (61%) | ||
| “Fairies Wear Boots” – Black Sabbath (62%) | ||
| “Disposable Heroes” – Metallica (38%) | “Fairies Wear Boots” (49.3%) | |
| “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” | ||
| “Hand of Doom” – Black Sabbath (33%) | “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” (50.7%) | |
| “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” – Metallica (67%) | ||
| “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath (79%) | ||
| “Damage, Inc.” – Metallica (21%) | “Paranoid” (84%) | |
| “Paranoid” | ||
| “Electric Funeral” – Black Sabbath (49%) | “Leper Messiah” (16%) | |
| “Leper Messiah” – Metallica (51%) | ||
| “Iron Man” – Black Sabbath (56%) | ||
| “Battery” – Metallica (44%) | “Iron Man” (46%) | |
| “Master of Puppets” | ||
| “Planet Caravan” – Black Sabbath (24%) | “Master of Puppets” (54%) | |
| “Master of Puppets” – Metallica (76%) | ||
