Experiencing Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath has often been credited with inventing heavy metal with their first album released in 1970. Their new style of music was loud, brutal, scary, innovative, and it has greatly influenced heavy metal bands since then. Their five decades of music cross generations of fans, and they remain relevant to this day, with their 2013 album charting #1 in the United States and at least five other countries.
In Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener's Companion, musician and scholar Nolan Stolz leads the reader through Sabbath's twenty studio albums and additional songs, closely examining their music and the storied history of the band. Along the way, Stolz highlights often-overlooked key moments that defined Sabbath's unique musical style and legacy. Band members' own words illuminate certain aspects of the music, and Stolz makes connections from song to song, album to album, and sometimes across decades to create an intricate narrative of the band's entire catalog.
Experiencing Black Sabbath reveals the underappreciated genius of these heavy metal progenitors to all rock music lovers and gives even the most fervent Sabbath fans a new perspective on the music.

Nolan Stolz is a composer, scholar, and drummer with a background in classical, jazz, and rock music. He is assistant professor and coordinator of music at University of South Carolina Upstate, where he teaches composition, theory, popular music studies, and drum set. Visit his website at www.nolanstolz.com and follow him on Twitter @nolanstolz.

Chapter 1: The Birth of Metal
Chapter 2: Sweet Leaf and Snowblind
Chapter 3: Prog Sabbath
Chapter 4: Jazz Sabbath and Ozzy's Departure
Chapter 5: Enter Ronnie James Dio
Chapter 6: Stonehenge and the Revolving Door of Musicians
Chapter 7: A Tony Martin Triptych
Chapter 8: Ronnie Returns
Chapter 9: Tony Martin Returns
Chapter 10: Reunions with Ozzy and The End