1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 2. National Acrobat 3. Fluff 4. Sabbra Cadabra 5. Killing Yourself to Live 6. Who Are You? 7. Spiral Architect 8. Looking for Today
Best Sabbath record hands down, heavy, melodic, artistic, enough said!!! Submitted on: 2009-11-07
Songs like Killing Yourself To Live, Fluff, Who Are You? Most diverse record they made. Perfect record!!!
Assured album of Frankenstein songs. Ozzy at his vocal best. 75/100 Submitted on: 2009-08-25
Black Sabbath deliver another album full of their usual brand of metal and quirky oddities. Lead singer 'Ozzy' Osbourne also attains his high water mark for singing, I think.
Best track:
Fluff - long time listeners to this band will know that from their second album onwards, they always brought out one or two tracks per album afterwards which were utterly quirky. This is one of their better ones. An instrumental featuring multiple accoustic guitars, piano, and perhaps a harpsichord type instrument or some such. An electric guitar also features in the lead position, but plays some country flavoured sounds. Melodic, with a hint of John Mason Williams and Bach (I'm guessing...someone like that...I'm not a classical music nerd).
Next best:
Who are you - an interesting sounding track featuring the synthesiser, bass and drums. The piano enters the fray later on. A slow tempo song
Best of the rest:
A national acrobat - has a pretty riff, which I like the most from this song, as well as the vocals here. Also has a poppy melodic bit near the end of the song.
Looking for today - a rock track but with poppy parts. Has a pretty vocal melody, for the title, I think. Features handclapping sounds and one bit makes use of the flute or some such instrument. I like the bluesy lead guitar and the drum outro.
The rest:
Sabbath bloody sabbath - one of those Frankenstein type songs I allude to in my header - a Jekyll and Hyde type song, if you will: has a heavy metal riff but is easy listening in other parts. Ozzy is at his vocal best in this song, I think, and the track has a heavy beat. The opening riff to this song reminded me of Metallica's later classic "The memory remains" of their brilliant "Reload" album (a great hard rock album, under-appreciated by the band's core 'thrash' fans).
Sabra cadabra - a heavy riffing love song. Also features the piano and the bass is noticeable. I like the drum outro to this song.
Killing yourself to live - a heavy rock track where the bass guitar is more noticeable than usual. Some of the guitar work has a 'gurgling' quality to it.
Spiral architect - has an accoustic guitar intro which later morphs into something which sounds like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Love the one you're with". Track also features the violins (or a synth mimicking this). The rock bits of this song reminds one of The Who for the electric guitar and drums. Occasionally the stereo soundstage seems to drop out.
On first listen, I was leaning towards giving this album 7/10, but on second listen I think I'll give it 75/100. If you like this album, I think you'll like pretty much everything that this band has done from "Master of illusion" onwards. They are pretty consistent with their output. Alternatively, if you like those other albums, I don't think that this album will disappoint. Personally, I think that "Paranoid" is far and away their best album, but "Master of illusion" is their next best up to the time of this album here. "Sabotage" would surpass "Master of reality", when that came out, I think.
"Living Just For Dying, Dying Just For You"-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Submitted on: 2009-06-28
In 1973 in the UK and later 1974 in America Black Sabbath released "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" an experimental album going further than the original Sabbath sound of earlier albums. The change is not unappealing but fans will know by certain songs that it is an experimental album. And I'll say right know this experiment was well worth it. It gave us some amazing songs, except the title track and "Sabra Cadabra" (which Metallica covered on their Garage, Inc.album) most won't be the usual Sabbath you would hear on classic rock stations.
The band experimented with synthesers on "Who Are You?" they used an orchestra on "Spiral Architect" but it doesn't mean that there isn't any heavy Sabbath on it. In fact the album has one of their heaviest and best known songs with the title-track. Because a band experiments it doesn't mean they're selling-out or they suck, it certainly isn't the case with Black Sabbath, this album is one of their best. While some may say that this album isn't good or is a sell-out I disagree, I think it's a very strong album with some really great songs that every fan should like. I understand the band is known for the doom sound and all, after all I own and love those albums but I think at that point they needed something new. They did, and that's great the orchestra parts sound really good and create an ambiance without being overused and at times sounds brilliant and adds to the music.
And now for the songs. The title track is a monster, by far one of their heaviest songs and I can't imagine something this heavy for 1973! An absolute favourite and when Ozzy could do it, the end of the song was something epic. It's quite an album opener. Follows "A National Acrobat "is in the vein of classic sound and is a really great song, nothing much to say about this one. Then follows "Fluff" an acoustic instrumental song, kind of like "Orchid" was on Master of Reality but only longer and far better. "Sabbra Cadabra" is another great song, the breakdown section sounds really good, I think most fans of Sabbath have at least heard of this song or perhaps heard Metallica's version which was also pretty good. "Killing Youself To Live" is one of the bests songs here in my opinion, everything is great, has some clever lyrics and the middle song of the part is amazing. Has to be one of Sabbath's most underrated songs. "Who Are You?" sounded futuristic back then and still does so now. It's really bizarre and reflective I don't know what to think of it, I'm not such a big fan of that one. "Looking For Today" is another superb song, overlooked but really good, it sounds like really old classic rock n' roll, because it is. "Spiral Architect" has the full orchestra fro really great results, ends the album in great way, great song.
Those who like "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" like it A LOT. The album is grandiose, a masterwork and really is Sabbath's "Chef d' oeuvre". It doesn't have a classic doom Sabbath sound all the time, it's different and in some ways perhaps better. It remains one of my favourites in the Sabbath catalogue and is one of their most ambitious releases.
Hands down one of my favorite metal albums of all-time! Submitted on: 2009-06-20
Some fans might downsize the album by saying that the synthesizers and orchestral arrangements put a damper on it, but honestly, I think "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is a practically flawless album. Besides, plenty of great metal bands have experimented over the years. Look at Iron Maiden's spacey "Somewhere In Time". And heck, just about every Judas Priest album sounds at least a little different from the previous one. So no points lost for Black Sabbath experimenting on this album. In fact, it's one of my favorite metal albums, and I listen to A LOT of different, metal bands.
Let's take a quick run-through of the songs to get an idea of what they're like, and which are the best (which is a hard thing to choose when all the songs are so great!):
"Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath": A sludgy, powerful guitar riff with crushing drums and Ozzy's wailing vocals about life after death are featured here. The song alternates between the catchy, sludgy section and a gentler, acoustic section that makes for a very nice touch. The shift in dynamics from heavy to soft is awesome, and shows the band progressing in their songwriting craft.
"National Acrobat": Musically, it's quite similar to "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath", although a great, wah-wah guitar riff is featured here, and instead of the life beyond death lyrics of the previous song, this song's lyrics focus more on the surreal adventures of a "national acrobat". Great follow-up song.
"Fluff": A beautiful, melodic instrumental masterpiece, featuring nice acoustic guitar work and classy piano work. A great break in dynamics make this a great, chill song.
"Sabbra Cadabra": One of my personal favorites off this album, this six-minute masterpiece combines early speed-metal, jazz fusion and progressive rock into one epic. The first two minutes are driven by a speedy guitar riff and some tasty soloing, not to mention a swinging drumbeat and great drum fills. We go into a spacier, more progressive sound with shimmering synthesizers and more classy piano, both instruments courtesy of Rick Wakeman of Yes. A masterpiece of a song overall.
"Killing Yourself To Live": Quite possibly the stand-out song of the album. We go from a driving, intro riff to a beautiful and surreal verse full of great melodies. A few sludgier, naughtier riffs are thrown in for good measure, with more great, heavy grooves and awesome soloing. Ozzy's passionate vocals are also a key element of this song, adding to the surreal then dirty, melodic then heavy appeal of this song. One of Black Sabbath's best songs ever, and one of, if not my absolute, favorite of theirs!
"Who Are You?": Not a bad song at all, but odd to come right after the masterpiece of "Killing Yourself To Live". This one is very much driven by spacey, futuristic synthesizer lines, but also features a great guitar solo that rides over a piano line. This song is sludgier and spooky, and as another review stated, would be very appropriate as a theme to a laser light show.
"Looking For Today": Another personal favorite song of mine, this one features heavy, melodic guitar riffs and a hand-clap rhythm. Once in the middle and then towards the end, and for the rest of the song, a melodic, surreal guitar line comes in, where Ozzy sings "Looking for toda-a-a-ayyyy". Very hypnotic and lush, and the second time around, Tony breaks into a blazing guitar solo that's just as powerful as it is hypnotic and beautiful. Another work of metal art!
"Spiral Architect": This six-minute epic opens with some beautiful, acoustic guitar work before going into another sludgy riff with more surreal lyrics that can still add a mystical tone to a heavy, sludgy song. This song closes out the album quite nicely, in fact!
So there you have it, "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath", one of my favorite metal albums ever. I admit that the synthesizer work on "Who Are You?" and "Sabbra Cadabra" are quite indulgent, but if you don't mind that, then you should love this album as much as I do! And as a musician myself, I can say the Sabbath boys really knew what they were doing with this one. The music is complex, but simple enough to be highly memorable. It also set the stage for countless metal acts to follow, but is unique enough that it's darn-near impossible to replicate as good as the original. So is this a metal classic and an essential? Yes it is! And you're gonna love it when you hear it. Thanks for the time, and peace.
The first non-perfect album Sabbath ever released. Submitted on: 2009-05-21
I'll just come out and say it, I think the synths were not needed in this album. In my opinion, the songs that didn't have synths are the standout tracks on the album and I feel the songs that had synths would have been perfectly fine on their own without synth. And it's not because I don't like the space/psychadelic stuff... "Planet Caravan" is one of my fave Sabbath songs of all time. Ah well, no need to show the negatives, this album is still really good with only a song, song and a half I don't care for.
Best Sabbath record hands down, heavy, melodic, artistic, enough said!!!
Assured album of Frankenstein songs. Ozzy at his vocal best. 75/100