Birmingham, England ... the unlikely birthplace of heavy metal

Other musical heroes from Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country include Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, and bands Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh.

"There's always someone out there who is going to say, 'Oh, that's evil music, that's a racket' -- there's always going to be that type.

"But there's also the other side that love it and are really proud and glad to see it," said Iommi.

Lisa Meyer, Creative Director of local music and arts organization "Capsule," which is responsible for staging "Home of Metal," agreed.

"I hope it gives people a sense of civic pride and something to be really proud of, something that is home-grown.

All too often, places like Birmingham have a chip on their shoulder and tend to buy into modern cultural content but actually this celebrates something from here, a contemporary history that is authentic," she said.

And according to Iommi, who said he spent much of his Black Sabbath career in America explaining that he was from Birmingham, England and not Birmingham, Alabama, "Home of Metal" will go some way to putting his native city firmly on the musical map.

"Nobody knew Liverpool until the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers came along," he said.

"And the same is now happening with Birmingham."

I THINK THAT THE HEAVY METAL BANDS ARE PRETTY GOOD BUT IN MY OPINION I PREFER HARDCORE DEATH METAL OR MELODIC DEATH METAL BEACUSE OF THE INSTRUMENTS PLAYED AND THE SPEED OF THEM.