A stark contrast. Driven by Bill Ward’s frantic, jazz-tinged hi-hat and Ozzy’s harmonica (a nod to their blues roots), “The Wizard” is a folk-metal hybrid about a mystical figure who brings joy. It proves the band wasn’t one-dimensional. The harmonica and guitar duel in a hypnotic, stoner-rock groove that predates bands like Kyuss by 20 years.
Release Date: Friday, February 13, 1970 (UK) Recorded: October 1969, Trident Studios, London Producers: Rodger Bain Length: 38:12
Named after an H.P. Lovecraft story, this song is pure proto-thrash at its core. It speeds up, driven by Ward’s manic drumming and Iommi’s power-chord attack. The lyrics tell of a dreamer whose soul becomes a star. It’s chaotic, messy, and glorious.
The album’s most famous track. It begins with a solo bass intro from Butler—a melodic, almost jazzy line that suddenly collapses into one of the heaviest riffs ever written. The title is an inside joke (standing for “Nativity in Black,” though drummer Bill Ward thought it meant “pen” for a while). Lyrically, it’s a masterpiece of inversion: a love song from the perspective of Lucifer. The devil falls in love with a human and changes his ways. The song features a monstrous, lurching riff that would become the template for every doom metal band to follow.
An original bonus track on US pressings (not on the original UK vinyl). This song is crucial. It’s the first time Geezer Butler’s sharp, politically aware lyrics come to the fore, attacking war, pollution, and hypocrisy: “People going nowhere, taken for a ride / Looking for the answers that they know they cannot find.” Musically, it’s a rollercoaster of tempo changes, from frantic galloping to slow, crushing doom.
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