1. Hole in the Sky 2. Don't Start (Too Late) 3. Symptom of the Universe 4. Megalomania 5. Thrill of It All 6. Supertzar 7. Writ 8. Am I Going Insane (Radio) 9. Sweet Leaf [Live]
The Best Ozzy Era Sabbath Album Submitted on: 2009-10-07
It really is one of their best.
Surprised to know a lot of people don't get this far in the sab catalogue. I've found myself allowing this to continue to run through it's cycle and repeat and repeat and I never get bored. Lot's of dynamics, nuances, creativity, spookiness, it's heavy, it's everything you could want in a Sabbath record and more.
I especially dig the acoustic, Grateful Deadish acoustic ending to Symptom of the Universe, surprisingly fitting, it shows the band is at it's creative peak and aren't afraid to take a few chances...it's a very genuine musical moment.
My only negative comment about this record is how Iommi's guitar was recorded, or how he chose to make it sound. Not totally sure if the album would have the same effect if the guitars sounded normal, and it's the same on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath too. It sounds like the amp was mic'ed in a tube or a toilet.
That doesn't take away from the presentation, the writing or the greatness of
this album....it's just one of those things that make you go hmmm, like the snare drum recording on Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger...Some famous record producer once said, "an album can sometimes end up one step removed from becomming a masterpiece as a result of neglecting to adjust that fader a little here and there." I think that's the case here.
Their second best album. Hard rocking but too much variety? 9/10 Submitted on: 2009-09-28
On first listen I was inclined to give this album 8/10, but on second listen I think it is worth 9/10. That makes it their second best album, after Paranoid, by my calculations. This is a good, hard-rocking album but maybe they should have stuck with the tone of some of their songs instead of changing its nature. I'll explain later. By the way, my cd isn't the same as the one I'm reviewing...the last two tracks on my cd are "Am I going insane (Radio)" and "The writ". The cd which I am putting my review to has an extra song, I think, and two of the last tracks are swapped around, compared to mine, I think.
The best songs:
Thrill of it all - the first part of this song is especially good. It's grungy and I really like the texture of the guitar sound. The drums get thumped on this track, but later on they sound spaced out. The last part of the song is is synth pop/rock. This is what I mean by them changing the tone of the song. Really, I would much rather have had the first part of the song extended and stopped right there.
The writ - I like the mood at the start of this song. It's mellow and eerie, then turns rock. Ozzy's vocals are good here...shrill. When the song turns rock, it's initially good, but I'm not as captivated by the later rock part. There is a pretty sounding string instrument part and also the harpsichord, I think. Nice in any case. There is a short, nonsense outro, which may be a bonus track...or just a weird way to end the album.
The next best song:
Megalomania - the first part of this song is especially interesting. It has a mournful quality to it. Later it turns into a rock song and Ozzy sounds like Davros here (that's a Dr.Who pop culture reference!). The riff sounds familiar in this song, but I can't place it.
Best of the rest:
Supertzar - this could be THE most surprising Black Sabbath track ever...and that's saying a lot...pretty much every album, from Paranoid, perhaps, to this, feature one quirky, very un-rock track. Has choral music with strings/string section. There are also some heavy electric guitar riffs on this instrumental.
Am I going insane - has a cheesy sounding synthesiser. Ozzy's vocals are cool on this song. It sounds like Axl Rose, of Guns'n'Roses is doing the backing vocals on this song...so, perhaps now we know what Axl was influenced by as a kid? In trying to decipher what my notes are referring to, I think that they are saying that the transition between this song and "The writ" is great...a scene from Hell, a nightmare. Not fresh in my memory, this album, so I can't expand on that any further.
The rest:
Hole in the sky - has grinding, throbbing guitars. Not the best song, lyrically speaking (there's one line about "no future in cars"). Bassy track.
Don't start (too late) - a nice sounding instrumental coming in at 0:49 seconds long. The Spanish sounding accoustic guitar is what makes this track sound so nice. There seems to be bad separation between the first track and this, the second track. You hear the riff from the first track, "Hole in the sky", leak into the start of this track. Not sure if that is just a bad division, or whether it is meant to sound that way.
Recommendations:
If you are serious about exploring Black Sabbath's studio albums, I recommend you check out their first three albums. They are all different.
Black Sabbath - to me, this album sounds like folk rock. Not a favourite album of mine, but you will never hear them play this kind of music again.
Paranoid - their crowning glory. It's Classic Rock material. Never again do they write such great, memorable and accessible songs.
Master Of Reality - this is the prototypical Black Sabbath album, and their best until Sabotage topped it. Really, if you like Sabotage, I think you will like every album from Master Of Reality up to Sabotage. Those two just happen to be the best, in my opinion, of that run of consistent albums. It's this run of albums which defines this band's contribution to a certain style of heavy metal, I think.
"Black Sabbath Is Not Quite finished..." Submitted on: 2009-09-07
After Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath returned with 1975's Sabotage with less of the orchestral arrangements from the previous album and returning to more straightforward rock. After the experiments from the last album they returned to more straightforward rock. Sabotage is known to be brilliant and to most fans it's the last of the great classic Sabbath with Ozzy albums. To me it's a classic and one of the best albums by Black Sabbath. But there's also a common judgement that Sabotage is one of Sabbath's worst efforts (with Ozzy) and that after SBS the band lost it for the 70s. Well, as you might have guessed I do not agree with this statement and believe that Sabotage is one of the band's strongest albums and holds up pretty well to the other ones. I like it a lot because it's not an overheard one like say Paranoid, it's different but still very good and brings something different and heavier.
The album opens with Hole In The Sky, a bombastic shocker of an opener, a seemingly philosophical song and one of my favourite songs on the album and I feel it's one the best things the band ever did. It's also a song that Ozzy wouldn't sing often after the album's tour as its too high for him. Then Don't Start (Too Late) follows, an acoustic instrumental that we are used to get from the band by this point in their history. It's not bad but I think that the other instrumental song, Supertzar is so epic here that it makes this one forgettable. Symptom Of The Universe is next, highly memorable for being one of the first true heavy metal riff, the song is just amazing as it gets to an acoustic part and then gets back to the heavy riff topped with Ozzy's screaming vocals. Megalomania is not cited often when Sabbath is talked about, it's the band's shorter songs that take the credit, but this is something else. It's a masterpiece that is hard to describe, it's great and then it gets even better as it switches to another tempo and an evil voice sings with Ozzy, then there's the solo and then it gets even faster until the conclusion, you're just left sitting there realising you've heard something amazing.
Thrill Of It All is a slow rocker, it's not one the high points of the album but it's still pretty good. Supertzar is an epic instrumental talked about earlier, it's just so mysterious with the choir at the beginning and you just have the riff and some percussion at some places and that's it. You just have this intriguing title and that's it. Am I Going Insane (Radio) is Ozzy's showcase, it's him alright as he sings "tell me people, am I going Insane?" it's a great song you get a feeling here of what he would be doing in his solo career. Some may be intrigued by the (Radio) mention, it's actually british slang.
Sabotage is one of my favourite Sabbath albums for many reasons; it's heavier in some ways, epic, it's got some much underrated songs and just some the best stuff they've ever done. It's just underrated, one may think that. Let it be known, I think the band hit their creative peak with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (maybe before) but Sabotage is in no way boring, underachieving or a repeat of past work: it stands strong on its own. As someone already said, it might be the most consistent album Sabbath has done (at least during the Ozzy era), every song has something good to offer. So if you thought the band was over at this point I suggest you give it a listen and we'll see.
Perfection again. Submitted on: 2009-05-22
What can I say? While I LOVE "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", in my opinion it wasn't perfect and it broke their streak of perfect albums. The first 4 albums are essential and perfect in almost every way, then "SBS", while great, was a bit of a letdown for me, but... they went right back on track with "Sabotage" again. Simply perfect.
Sabotage is a true hidden gem Submitted on: 2009-04-12
This record is an absolute hidden gem. I was in high school in 1975 and a friend gave me this album because he did not like it. I wore the vinyl out playing Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe over and over and over until my ears bled. I dug Hendrix and Zeppelin at the time and I thought Sabbath was okay, but not of the same calibre, until I heard these two songs. I literally wore the the record out and blew my speakers cranking these two songs wide open for hours on end. The guitar work on Hole and the drumming on Symptom are top notch stuff. Ozzie sounds like Kurt Cobain pouring his guts out on Hole in the Sky. So many Black Sabbath fans I know have not heard this before, and I really enjoy turning them on to this album. Great stuff. Crank it!
The Best Ozzy Era Sabbath Album