After making that comment, I went and compared first album dates with other bands I thought came out at a similar time, and sabbath was 5 or 10 yrs ahead of them. And Ive no idea when Earth got started. But yea King Crimson and some hippy rock who were getting a little heavier where the only big names I saw listed as metal in 1970.

I stand by he didnt invent it singlehandly, but dam if anyone else could contend for title of Grandfather of metal. I made it to a few ozzfeasts in the late 90s early 00s, great time. He fucking rocked.

You can waste all sorts of time on the net arguing with people about who started what genres. Then you start getting into terms like proto-metal, etc.

No personal issue with your choice because it's a fucking awesome song, but if wanted to be one of those assholes I'd say it's heavy prog rock, in the pool of music metal would later draw from. That said, I'm no musicologist, and somewhere right now there's someone in a black t-shirt with a very cool but difficult to read band name on it reading this, aghast.

I think we can all agree that Black Sabbath is a cornerstone in what metal generally (and specifically sludge, stoner metal, etc.) developed into.

Tbf there are quite a few magnificent MAGMA albums out there. Certainly not as influental as the first four or five Sabbath albums, but on the progressive/psychedelic department, pretty damn good stuff.