Black Sabbath

Diesel 11 said:
Three, twice to get into the album and once more as I write up the post. (That said this is one of the Sabbath albums I’ve heard prior to this.)
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I am not sure I could form a proper opinion on three listens.

Do you ever find yourself disagreeing with your own rating after more listens?
 
Poto said:
Do you ever find yourself disagreeing with your own rating after more listens?
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Oh sure, but these posts represent a snapshot of time that I can return to later on and see what's changed for me. Plus they'll be helpful for compiling my list for Mosh's game. I used to give albums one listen and post ratings and shit, nowadays I have to really give the records a proper few spins before I can even feel comfortable giving out ratings. The other thing is that I'm firmly a casual Black Sabbath listener right now, so this provides me a nice outlet to dig into a band that isn't among my favorites and uncover what makes them tick, etc. Hearing some other perspectives is also part of the fun of discovery, so I hope these posts lead to some solid discussion down the road.
 
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Vol. 4 (1972)

1. Wheels of Confusion - Cool bluesy intro which comes as a complete surprise after the doominess of Master of Reality, but the slow-trudging riff that leads us to the verse definitely reminds us what band we're listening to. Hazy desert wanderers we are as Ozzy - on some kind of substance - sings about wandering through his mind. Okay. I dig it, brother. Heavy. Lots of trudging to this one. Got a faster bridge though which is cool. My favorite part to this nearly 8 minute monster is the outro solo which changes things up completely. There's some tambourine and daisy-chains which are a lot of fun and it's a nice finale. My problem with this song is that it has several opportunities to really go the extra mile but it never really gets there. It's a good opener but I wish it went just that bit further. It does start to wear out its welcome by the end. 7/10

2. Tomorrow's Dream - A real pumpin' track with fuzzy guitars about ridin' the train away from your woman who be only holdin' you back. It's a fun song. I think it's a little one-note though, and I'm not really sold on the bridge, which does some weird key changes that feel a little outta place, but otherwise it's a good song. Weird single. 7/10

3. Changes - In which Ozzy thinks he's Elton John. What a weird song. The chorus to this one is amazing, Ozzy's doubled vocal is haunting and the music stirring. Everything else about this song is a fucking dud. The melody is some revival nonsense going up and down notes like it's Sunday school. The lyrics aren't much better. The song goes nowhere, which is incredibly disappointing because this chorus deserved so much better. I also don't get why they made this the third track? What a way to kill your flow, guys. Oh well, I guess it was the '70s, what else did I expect. Side note, it was wild as hell to find this chorus sampled in an Eminem song when I went through his discography last year. Unfortunately, his take on it wasn't much better than the original. 5/10

4. FX - Cool spacey interlude. I see old East German media in my head as it sets up the rocketing track to follow. na/10

5. Supernaut - Driving riff immediately picks us up from the sappy, dismal previous song and now we're cooking with gas again. Fun, bouncy rocker with a ton of energy that this album sorely needed. Best part is Bill Ward's drum solo, with all sorts of cool percussive elements thrown in for a tremendous space-age party. Great song. 8/10

6. Snowblind - A haunting track, almost like an occult account of transcendence. Musically the vibe is both frosty and yet also like a darkened sun has risen. Which works perfectly because the track is all about how Sabbath fell out of love with the sweet leaf and into love with cocaine. Fantastic riff. This track creates a world that you are sucked down into and holds you there. I've always thought it was such a cool and unique track from the band, representing their maturity as songwriters and lyricists even as they were getting into worse and worse substance abuse problems. Fantastic song. 10/10

7. Cornucopia - Oh my sweet summer child. You will be blessed by the weight of this riff and the singing of my song. 7/10

8. Laguna Sunrise - Pretty cool acoustic instrumental with some bright Mellotron. Would not feel out of place on Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy. 8/10

9. St. Vitus' Dance - Such a weird little track. Brighty, poppy guitar riff with a jumping tambourine and Ozzy wails on a more depressing take on The Beatles' "She Loves You". If this was any longer than it is I think it would get annoying, but it's such a short track that I can actually say I like it. What an oddball tune. 7/10

10. Under the Sun - Finally, at long last, some pure, unadulterated DOOM. Okay, I lied, as the middle of this song ("Every Day Comes and Goes") is another romp but it's a cool inclusion within a much larger work. The REST of this song is doom. The opening is right up my alley as a funeral doom fan. The verse riff must've inspired Bruce Dickinson when he wrote "Empire of the Clouds" and Mikael Åkerfeldt when he wrote "The Moor". Instrumental coda is really cool. Just a great song all around. 8/10

OVERALL

This is definitely a weird album. Paranoid was the band pushing to find their sound, Master of Reality was the solidification of a sound (doom), and now that's thrown out the window entirely for a bunch of different ideas. There's still plenty of doomy sections here, but also a lot of '60s psychedelia influence and a whole-ass piano ballad 'cuz why not? I like this album, I like digging into it, there's a lot of fun to be had within, but it is inconsistent especially compared to how solid the previous two records were. "Snowblind" rules, though.

Total: 74%
 
This one has the excellent Wheels of Confusion and Under the Sun on it, the rest I could really just take or leave.
 
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Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - One of the most evil, heavy riffs Tony Iommi has conjured up thus far kicks off the band's fifth record in four years. The lyrics are all about how people hold you down and kill you from within. The chorus adds a bit of a proggy shift with its acoustic guitars, which makes the evil heavy sections later on all the more powerful. The song has two acts, shifting gears into a downtuned, even heavier riff that blows me away. One thing I never picked up on before is how much of Bruce Dickinson and Roy Z's work was inspired by Sabbath, especially this album. The riffing here is straight out of The Chemical Wedding, and the transitional pieces between the bridge verses must've been inspiration for the instrumental section in "Freak". Despite how low the guitar swings, Ozzy goes to the upper ends of his register and delivers a crazy performance. Shrill vocals that I did not expect from that man. I forgot so much of this song and it's crazy to revisit it. My only gripe is that I wish it didn't fade-out in the outro and instead came back to the original riff, but otherwise this is a killer track. 9/10

2. A National Acrobat - Completely in juxtaposition with the crushing atmosphere of the title track, "A National Acrobat" strolls in with a more laid-back dual guitar riff that's drenched in a sepia kind of wanderlust. Geezer's lyrics are a terrific, poetic examination of who makes it to life. Ozzy gives one of his most stirring performances yet. The song changes gears into a more spacious, stomping, rock 'n' roll kind of piece as Ozzy yells a little bit harder and the drums kick a little bit more powerfully. Great spacey solo here. The whole thing feels so epic with its separate sections fused into one. The only thing that holds this song back is the major key shift at the very end. I get why they did it thematically but it's such a dud ending to an otherwise fantastic song. But so much of this is legitimately some of Sabbath's best work to date that I am averse to knocking that score down too far. Just wish they'd gone a different direction. 9/10

3. Fluff - One thing that always amazes me with these Sabbath records is Tony Iommi's ability to write the most gorgeous pieces of music in between these heavy metal monsters. Probably the worst thing about "Fluff" is the title, which makes you think the song is filler. It is not. This is a beautiful instrumental filled with lovely piano, acoustic guitar, and harpsichord, that you could easily play as a lullaby for your kid. I don't think it's quite perfect, there's a bridge that isn't quite up my alley, but it is a testament to Sabbath's experimental nature long before heavy metal had been solidified as a genre. Nightwish have tried to write something this touching for their whole career. 9/10

4. Sabbra Cadabra - This track's proggy nature is initially masked by a classic if light Iommi riff that leads to Ozzy singing about how much he loves some woman. Classic Ozzy. He goes hard on the chorus though - "LOVE ME TILL THE END OF TIIIIIIIIIME". Killer vocals there. Suddenly out of nowhere we are plunged into a medieval-sounding psychedelic switch-up as the legendary Rick Wakeman of Yes fame takes a seat at the Minimoog and transforms this love song into a haze of mystical infatuation. Damn, Ozzy is smitten. The whole thing keeps building up all the way 'til the end. What a wild track. In lesser hands this could have easily been forgettable, but the band is on fire with this record and even their silly little love song has a heavy dose of magic within it. 9/10

5. Killing Yourself to Live - The second side begins with a driving hard rock riff that I'm sure I've heard in umpteen hair metal songs that came later. The song starts off by talking about how shitty society is and how you shouldn't work so hard, but the true nature is revealed when the track changes gears and plunges into a jaunty second act as Ozzy tells you to "Smoke it.... get HIGH!" Oh my lord. We're so fucking back. This part of the song feels like stepping right into an opium den, although I think the band is actually talking about hash (while doing cocaine). Am I doing this right? What's even wilder is that the final verses here almost sound like they're singing about what it's like to be trans. Sabbath, one step ahead every step of the way. First they invented metal, now they invented gender. I'll need to tell my partner about this. Am I high? Anyway, this song is great. 8/10

6. Who Are You? - Ozzy writes a song on a synthesizer and I'm glad he's exploring his songwriting skills. It's the weakest track on the album though. There's a cool wizardy piece in the middle that turns into a grand march, and the outro is kinda reminiscent of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", but otherwise it's not much of an interesting plod. I don't dislike it, but it's just OK. 6/10

7. Looking for Today - The sole holdout here from the flower power of Vol. 4 is a really fun little ditty with classy Summer of Love vibes. Ozzy channeling his inner Beatles fanboy again. Good, almost great. 7/10

8. Spiral Architect - The album returns to the heights of the first side with our closing track. The melancholy acoustic intro makes you think this might be "Fluff Pt. 2" but then a driving beat brings back our players and we end on a worthy theatrical note - complete with orchestra - that feels like a natural continuation of the themes from "A National Acrobat". Look inside yourself, celebrate your life. Disney end credit vibes or not, this is the best way they could've ended the album. 9/10

OVERALL

This is easily the band's best album to date. I did not expect that going in but it's clear that the band were on fire creatively and playing off of each other super well. It's more focused than Vol. 4 but more experimental than Master of Reality. Nice dose of progressive rock elements as well. It probably has the best album flow of any Sabbath album yet and Side A is all killer, no filler. I don't think any of the tracks here are quite perfect, and the second side is weaker than the first, but it's one of those albums that's got so many little details that it makes you want to come back again and again to dig a little deeper. A great album all in all.

Total: 83%
 
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Sabotage (1975)

1. Hole in the Sky - Some studio chatter and a count in, and then this big, stomping monster of a riff comes barreling out of the speakers. Iommi's love for the blues is felt within every second of this track, but his guitar ripples with electricity as he plays his instrument as cool as a cucumber outside of the shadow of his heroes. Ozzy is in complete control on this opener, his voice utterly powerful as he rattles off a great set of lyrics that have me hooked on every line. Iommi's solo is infectious. This thing is a tour-de-force and the band have never sounded so commanding. What could have easily been a throwaway blues track on a previous album instead becomes the band's best album opener to date. Their energy together here is incredible. 10/10

2. Don't Start (Too Late) - "Hole in the Sky" abruptly ends at the four minute mark and this little acoustic piece comes floating into view. Delightful, draws you deeper into the album and is the perfect bridge between "Hole" and "Symptom". na/10

3. Symptom of the Universe - No time to breathe because Tony Iommi is about to plunge us into the heaviest thing Sabbath have done thus far in their career. Goddamn, this riff is Diamond Head before Diamond Head, Metallica before Metallica, thrash metal before thrash metal. Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" had been released the previous year but this song really cements the future genre better than theirs did. Bill Ward is just bashing at the kit with fervor and Tony and Geezer keep things pumping as Ozzy wails about "a love that never dies". I don't think this is one of Ozzy's best performances, there are a couple moments where he struggles to hit the notes and stay in key, but overall he's still in command playing the part of some weird space lover. I think Steve Harris nicked some inspiration for "To Tame a Land" from the the post-verse bridge. The solo is a shooting, blazing thing that rockets right through the air and it's awesome. The song ends with a weird acoustic jam that reminds you that this is still Black Sabbath we're listening to. It goes on for a little longer than I'd like it to, but it's a suitable if outside-the-box coda for such a fiery tune. Overall a kick-ass motherfucker. 9/10

4. Megalomania - A song with two acts, the first of which is this underworldly, misty thing with some heavy organ usage that sees Ozzy wandering the streets of Soho paranoid out of his fucking mind. It's a slow-paced piece that doesn't really thrill me too much. This chorus is kind of tedious, and we have to hear it twice. The song begins to shift gears after the second chorus, led by some old-timey piano before a classic Black Sabbath riff kicks in and now the gas has been turned on! Ozzy sounds excellent here, there's a grit to his voice we haven't often heard before but he's killing it. The new chorus feels like a '50s throwback that you could dance to if you weren't losing your mind. Another killer Iommi solo, the man is on fire on this album. Bill Ward utilizes his cowbell to great effect and Ozzy yelling "SUCK ME!" will never not be funny. The outro gets incredible psychedelic. The song runs a little longer than it needs to but I like it overall. It's a good track with some great parts and easily the weirdest song Black Sabbath has written thus far. 7/10

5. Thrill of It All - Three acts in this one. Opening with a pretty solid solo before a slow riff with a lot of breathing room comes in to play. The first two verses and the darkened instrumental bridge thereafter are the best part of this song. The rest of it feels like a hippie birthday party thing and it just isn't for me. Weakest song on the album, it's kinda average compared to the other tracks. 5/10

6. Supertzar - Is this the first symphonic metal song? This thing is WILD. The marching, Russian-tinged guitar overlaid with a heavenly choir, with light harp playing dashing in and out. What the fuck. I never expected a song like this from Sabbath. I swear Nightwish has tried to write it several times over their last two albums. It's really, really good and utterly ominous. I kinda wish it evolved into a larger song but just as an instrumental it's still an excellent piece of music. 9/10

7. Am I Going Insane (Radio) - This song is like if you took a 45 and warped it. It feels like a song you'd hear on the radio, only the radio is having a slight problem with demonic possession. The synths here constantly warble between false cheerfulness and spiraling despair - it feels very schizophrenic. Ozzy of course is the voice of the madness, laying out why yet again he's going crazy and begging the listener to tell him if he's truly lost it. Iommi gets in a cool if short solo here too. The whole thing keeps on at its steady pace until it gets lost in a sea of demented laughter. Truly great. 8/10

8. The Writ - From the laughter a swampy, threatening bassline creeps into frame as we arrive at the album's finale, an almost nine-minute miniature rock opera. The music erupts in a plodding march as Ozzy raises all fucking hell. "THE WAY I FEEL IS THE WAY I AM!" he cries with a fury that makes for one of his greatest performances ever. The first verse goes straight for the music industry, the second towards the band's former manager with whom they were entrenched in a legal battle. The whole thing sounds so pissed off, it's brilliant. The song switches track entirely in the second half. It now feels like a musical theater parody complete with xylophone and acoustic guitars as Ozzy tries not to lose his mind again. It's not nearly as good as the first half but it's still solid, and the song ends with a defiant stomp before a short hidden track called "Blow on a Jug" plays. Not perfect, but most of this song is great with just a few missteps. 8/10

OVERALL

Sabotage is a bit of a paradox of an album. It is at once the band's most experimental record yet, and also their most solidified in terms of sound. I think a lot of this has to do with the album's flow. The first three tracks segue into each other so well and that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Aside from "Thrill of It All", every song here has a lot going for them and makes me happy to revisit again and again. That said, it doesn't have the strength of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's first side - but also, the production is a big step up from SBS.

Despite the legal battle that was making everyone lose their minds in the album's making, having a common enemy I think really fired them up in a lot of ways. So many aspects of this album could have fallen apart if it didn't have such a vital-sounding energy within it. The band is working together as a unit while also heading down rabbit holes when they find them. I also feels really modern compared to the previous Sabbath records, again a credit to a great production sound.

Again, great album, great follow-up to SBS. These are easily my two favorite Ozzy albums with Paranoid a close third. They aren't perfect by any means but they're so engaging with some absolutely great parts and keep enticing me to come back to explore them more.

Total: 80%
 
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Technical Ecstasy (1976)

1. Back Street Kids - A driving riff opens up this song akin to Heart's "Barracuda", but less interesting and less intense. Aside from Iommi, the rest of the band feels like they're going through the motions. Ozzy was in his element on Sabotage; here it feels like he's just singing because it's his job. The lyrics are trite shit about rock 'n' roll and completely uninteresting. There's a fucking keyboard break in the middle like the band is pretending they're Styx. What the fuck happened to Black Sabbath? All of the energy of the previous album is gone. Even the solo's worse. The riff is the only thing bringing up this otherwise unmemorable song - and by the way, this is one of the record's highlights. 6/10

2. You Won't Change Me - The intro to this song stomps like a graveyard prowler. There's a little less bite here than on previous Sabbath songs, but it's bluesy and pretty cool, especially when the keyboard comes in. That keyboard transitions to the main song with its queasy, haunting melody, and Ozzy starts singing about how he can't be changed but damn that woman is hot but he's too edgy and oh what a sad boiii. I actually think this song is great; Ozzy isn't dialed-in but I like how his voice floats above the mist. It's almost like a precursor to his solo career. Iommi includes some cool licks and his solos are solid. I even like the piano in the post-chorus. The lone bright spot on an otherwise rough album. 8/10

3. It's Alright - Why the fuck is Bill Ward singing? This singer change is so out of left field. This is the band's seventh album and not once has someone other than Ozzy picked up the microphone. Now suddenly the damn drummer gets a turn? At least warm us up for this first, Jesus. (No, "Blow on a Jug" doesn't count.) I don't even hate his voice, and I don't hate this song. It's just not Black Sabbath. Decent Beatles vibes and warm delivery, although I can't figure out what the hell the lyrics are talking about at all. Honestly, the title sums this song up perfectly. It's alright. It's okay. 6/10

4. Gypsy - The percussion in the intro makes you feel like we're going to a conga, and the major key riff that comes in next seems to seal the deal. Ozzy returns as though the previous song didn't happen and it's fine. The "she took me through the shadows..." bit sounds like it should be a chorus, it's great, but the band tosses it off like it's nothing and then dip into a tedious piano piece where Ozzy details how this fortune teller is fucking with him. The actual chorus is so bland. "Gypsy woman, you're the devil in drag" might be the worst line in any Black Sabbath song to date. By the time the song ends I feel like five minutes of nothing just came and went. I hope the band puts out a formal apology to the Romani people, not just for leaning so hard on rotten stereotypes, but also for writing a song that's completely uninteresting in almost every way. 4/10

5. All Moving Parts (Stand Still) - I actually like the groove that the riff and verses here have. It's a nice reprieve from the previous track. Lyrically the song starts out fine but then devolves as they lean into the concept of a transvestite politician. God they were doing some mad coke here. I would say this song was okay if the break in the middle wasn't actually, fully, straight up bad. What the fuck guys. 5/10

6. Rock 'n' Roll Doctor - Look, I don't know if I can say for certain that this song is bad. What I can say is that this song is not good. Trite, stupid rock 'n' roll tune about going to some trippy doctor. The riff is utterly basic and the piano just clings and clangs while the drums do the most rote shit. Ozzy sounds so phoned in it isn't even funny. Like, is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Who the hell says, "Let's put on some Black Sabbath!" and then plays "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor"? Fuck off. 3/10

7. She's Gone - Boring. 4/10

8. Dirty Women - What can I even say about this one? The keyboard is annoying, the guitar doesn't know if it's pissing or shitting, the lyrics are bland, the whole first two minutes of this song suck. There are some fragments of good ideas in the second act, though, even if Ozzy sounds drunk as he delivers lines about wanting to fuck prostitutes. The final verse is actually pretty solid and just when you think that we can wrap things up Tony Iommi lays down a guitar solo like he thinks he's recreating "Free Bird". I mean, it's a good guitar solo, but you have to build a better song for me to want to sit through an extra two minutes of this. Again, there are some good ideas here, it's just a shame that so much of this song is uninteresting and it's absolutely overlong. The best thing I can say about it is that at least it's not "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor". 4/10

OVERALL

The fact that Sabbath released this a year after Sabotage is shocking. These albums are night and day. One of them is full of energy and excited to experiment with the band's sound, with every member fully at the top of their game. This one, meanwhile, falls back on bad tropes and is experimental because it doesn't know what the fuck to do. But when you realize that Tony Iommi was basically working all day in the studio while the rest of the band was at the beach - and everyone was doing mountains of cocaine (or worse) - things begin to get clearer. There is not a single metal moment on this album bar maybe the riff in "Back Street Kids", and the record is full of uninteresting ideas thrown at the wall and forced to stick. Everyone sounds like they'd rather be back at the beach and I don't blame them with this material.

"You Won't Change Me" is the only song where I'm actually digging what they're putting down; almost everything else is either boring, weird, or outright bad. From the music to the lyrics to the individual performances, this doesn't feel like a Black Sabbath album. The band were out of ideas and the nadir was setting in. And things weren't going to get any better on the next record.

Total: 50%
 
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