HOARD ALMIGHTY
Box sets, underground oddities and all the essential merch you need this month
BLACK SABBATH
HAND OF DOOM 1970-1978: SUPER DELUXE EDITION BOX SET
BMG £275
FANS OF HEAVY metal and swanky vinyl reissues may already be frothing uncontrollably in response to this latest repackaging of the Ozzy-era Black Sabbath catalogue. The facts are simple enough: the British legends’ first six albums are untouchable, and the next two, not so much. But when repressed together in a riff-drenched extravaganza of eye-delighting picture disc, the idea that any sane person would not find Hand Of Doom wildly desirable is just silly. This is metal’s most fundamental architecture, presented in a coolly macabre black and purple box, and with a large poster of the Sabs as a potentially wall-covering bonus. From the epoch-walloping mastery of 1970’s Black Sabbath to the monstrous grandeur of Sabotage, and on to the patchy but occasionally killer Never Say Die!, these records will all be mandatory listening forever. tinyurl.com/doom-deluxe