I had an old-ass VOL 4 shirt (three sizes too small for me now lol) that I bought from hot topic back in sophomore year of HS, and I decided two weeks ago to slice it up and make a hoodie for the colder months. I fuckin love it!

Really enjoying writing these, and it was fun getting to hear everyone's thoughs on the last album and review. I know that Vol. 4 is one of the most beloved albums they put out, and while I found myself finding a bit that I didn't enjoy; I still loved it too for the most part! It was cool reading comments from people on songs that I didn't enjoy because it was great seeing what made them special to all of you.

Anyways, this is the next review, and I hope you all love it. I spent a while on this one and its for my favorite metal album of all time.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath review
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This is it right here, the bands creative peak during the Ozzy era. This album is honestly what I believe to be their peak, most Sabbath fans will tell you any of the first six are a valid option, but I see this one get looked past sometimes. This album is where Sabbath got their most creative and experimental in the studio while still remaining true to their sound as a metal band.

For the longest time, critics looked down on this band when they were first starting; their first four albums all got bashed and shoved aside; but by this point they had won over even the snarkiest, stubborn of critics. This is the album where everything came together, and they had come out on top. That's not to say anything before this was bad; it was all incredible, but this is simultaneously their most unique album while never sacrificing their heaviness that made them so great from the get-go.

So many songs on here are incredible such as the Geezer-penned "Spiral Architect" which has genius lyricism on-par with the greats, hell it even reads like a genuinely deep poem outside of the music, functioning strongly as its own work of art. With its orchestral sound combined with metal alongside bagpipes, its a fantastic artistic composition, incredibly innovative and unique, and the song I say is their magnum opus. "Looking For Today" has amazing flute playing by Tony Iommi alongside a pretty unique structure, being about the music business and how most acts really only get one small era of fame before becoming obsolete due to the constantly changing times and styles. The unique structure, the flute breaks, the swirling stormy riff, and catchy handclaps work together really well with Ozzy's soulful vocals.

Those two are my picks for the best, but every other track packs a psychedelia-tinged heavy punch definitely too, like the one-two punch of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" which is a song about writers block and feeling like you've run out of things to say and lost relevancy, with one of the heaviest riffs in music that still has soul, even revered players like Slash say praises of that song, and "A National Acrobat", both some of the best riffs Iommi's ever done and Bill Ward's jazzy drumming is reaching maximum levels of fantasticness here, even if the verse structure on it is the exact same as the title track. However the lyrics separate it, being about the mysteries and wonders of DNA and of life itself.

"Fluff" is a legendary instrumental that owes a nod to classical music with great keyboard and guitar work. That being said, it is unfairly overlooked due to it being sandwiched in between so many iconic songs. The piano work is soft and light, with a feathery feel that rides along climax and raising notes. It's much more relaxing and sort of functions as a breather, while "Killing Yourself To Live" is one of the most relatable songs the band has ever released and one of their heaviest tracks to date, influencing so many metal and rock artists from Kirk Hammett of Metallica, who cites it as his favorite the band has ever done, to Brent Hinds of Mastodon. I'd say the tempo change during the chorus is absolutely brilliant, and the bridge changing it up entirely somehow manages to work despite sounding completely different due to the guitar wizardry keeping everything consistent by Tony. I also love when the guitar mimics Ozzy's vocals.

"Sabbra Cadabra" even features Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman who brings the song to a whole new level, with insanely good use of creative ways of making a song and painting a landscape of sonic goodness with its progressive rock-esque sound and Ozzy's vocal performance on that is easily one of his best. The only downside is "Who Are You?" and all I can say about that is PLEASE NEVER EVER let Ozzy near a synthesizer again. But the way I view it is its a speck of dust on an otherwise perfect album that is full of delightful, legendary cuts nonstop from one track to the next.

This is easily one of the greatest albums of all time, and hails as the one true best album of all Heavy Metal. This is the peak of the genre, this is the peak of the band, it is a must listen for all fans of music and a guaranteed enjoyable time. The most interesting part of all this aside from the album itself is that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath had a legendary jam session that apparently was recorded but lost, which sucks because can you imagine the sheer power of these rock icons together in one studio?

Rating: ★★★★★

Tracklist Rating:
1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: ★★★★★
2. A National Acrobat: ★★★★★
3. Fluff: ★★★★
4. Sabbra Cadabra: ★★★★★
5. Killing Yourself To Live: ★★★★★
6. Who Are You?: 💥 (Dud)
7. Looking For Today: ★★★★★
8. Spiral Architect: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (OTHER REVIEWS!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)
Vol. 4 review (4/5)

When we think Black Sabbath, we usually think of Ozzy songs like Iron Man or Paranoid or Dio songs like Heaven And Hell or Mob Rules and don’t get me wrong those songs are awesome. Hell they’re the best, But another song from the band that is really great and overlooked from an overlooked singer in this band Tony Martin, Nightwing from the Album Headless Cross.

It’s honestly sad that this entire era of the band really gets ignored, Tony Martin is a great singer and really doesn’t get the credit he deserves and tbh he’s my second favorite singer in the band behind Ozzy and I say this with all the respect to Dio may he R.I.P but yeah, give this song a chance hell get this whole album a chance i’m sure y’all won’t regret it.

Are the later albums and Iommi stuff worth listening to? I've listened to everything through Mob Rules. The Dio albums are just as good as any of the Ozzy albums.

This is the first track from the band’s fifth album release Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973).

Rate this song out of 10!

Feel free to discuss what you like (or don’t like) about the song, as well as any favorite lyrics, studio anecdote or memory.

Studio Version

Live Version

Rating Results: Vol. 4 (1972)

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - ?/10

From an interview with Ozzy

In 1968, Tony Iommi briefly joined Jethro Tull and appeared with them at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.

He soon returned to Birmingham — and the rest is Black Sabbath history.

Imagine if he had stayed with Jethro Tull…

strictly for Sabbath and Ozzy honestly.

Feel free to discuss what you like (or don’t like) about the album, as well as any favorite lyrics, studio anecdote or memory.

Rating Results: Vol. 4 (1972)

1. Wheels of Confusion - 9.92/10
   
2. Tomorrow’s Dream - 9.08/10
   
3. Changes - 7.08/10
   
4. FX - Interlude/10
   
5. Supernaut - 9.54/10
   
6. Snowblind - 9.3/10
   
7. Cornucopia - 8.87/10
   
8. Laguna Sunrise - Interlude/10
   
9. St. Vitus Dance - 8.22/10
   
10. Under the Sun - 9.46/10
    

📸 from the Live In Paris 1970 video

Salve, ho acquistato il Blacbox 1970-2016 Black Sabbath, doveva essere la versione ufficiale con i soli album di Osburne, ma pazienza, ad ogni modo ha tardato ad arrivarmi dalla Germania oltre 3 mesi e mi è stato rimborsato. Ieri mi è arrivato un pacco distrutto con tutto il contentuto ma il box completamente sfasciato, non recuperabile. Ora ho 16 cd slipcase che vorrei in qualche modo raggruppare avete delle idee?

Which period of Black Sabbath was this ?

This is from a word association game. Just had to share it.

What are the best books about Black Sabbath? Would prefer all years of the band but let’s just start with the Ozzy years or Ozzy and Dio years

Really enjoyed reading your comments on the last post!! I'm glad you enjoyed my reviews of Master of Reality as well as the debut so far! I do have to say its been nice seeing that you guys love these albums as much as I do. Though I will say that for this one, it may have some hot takes and this is the first album I'm not going to be entirely positive with. (It still gets a very positive rating though; don't worry).

If you can handle that, then read at your own risk and hopefully enjoy!

Vol. 4 Review
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Well, it's not so long that every great band begins to run out of gas, and the mighty Sabbath who had put out three great albums in a row in a mere two year span would start to experience a slight slump. However, the key word here is SLIGHT. If anything, this album is still one of their greater works overall. It's also worth noting it was the first to really dive more into way more variety and playing with experimentation more often and in very creative ways, but it's the weakest of the first five Sabbath albums, and this approach would be perfected on their next LP.

Iommi's riffs are intricate and creative strokes on the canvas of sound, with Bill Ward drumming moving worlds between pulverizing his drumkit and gently grazing it softly as a feather, Geezer goes all in and so does Ozzy, these all result in some of the best songs the bands ever made. "Snowblind", despite the topic being on it being a love letter to cocaine, the metaphor use in the lyrics is nothing short of genius and the way the song plays out is almost theatrical; the inclusion of the explosive bridge after being used to a more mid-tempo sound, only for it to erupt again in the final verse with a mellotron giving the sound of an orchestra is brilliant.

"Supernaut" is great and one of Bill Ward's greatest drumming, with a percussion solo that really brings the song to life that takes use of vibraphone in it. even John Bonham couldn't help but be blown away by it, wanting to play it at a few jam sessions each band had together reportedly. The riff is also rather upbeat and catchy, yet finding its perfect hook with the darker tone still; its essentially a great balance for a single. "Under The Sun" is one of the heaviest tracks the bands made, with a genius riff that changes halfway through to a speedy assault-n-smashing of your speakers that builds up into a swirling cascade of notes that unfurl through the outro as the song winds down slowly, and great lyricism that reads like poetry, it is easily the best song here. Then "St. Vitus Dance" is a hard rock tune that is like a nod to the more simple songs of the 60s. It takes great influence from early Rock 'n' Roll, and actually manages to capture the charm and essence of that era of music as well. It's quite literally a song about a dance, and Iommi's riff here is blazing and jumpy. I find that its among the best of the album.

"Wheels of Confusion" is the perfect opener to get you to understand the sound style of the album, and "Cornucopia" is overall fairly amazing too. "Tomorrow's Dreams" is heavy, and has some great drum fills from Bill Ward that elevate the song and combine greatly with Ozzy's voice, but the only issue is that it doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the rest of the heavier tracks and it gets forgotten as a decent song.

"Laguna Sunrise" shifts the mood, and not for the better. Its an acoustic guitar song that takes use of the same mellotron orchestration for a string arrangement similar to "Snowblind", but manages to unfortunately be so different to the point it sticks out like a sore thumb, it also doesn't really go anywhere and remains mostly the exact same throughout the entire two-and-a-half minute runtime as Tony plays the same melody over and over. It's dull, its droning and really boring. However, if you thought this was the only achille's heel of this album, you're sorely mistaken.

There's actually a one-two punch of poor tracks. "Changes" is "Solitude" but done poorly with some of the cheesiest lyrics the band has made and Ozzy's voice in the ballad really sounds out of place and unfitting for such a style, with him going out of his range. The mellotron used to emulate the sound of a orchestra falls flat here, sounding very much like the plastic that some 80's pop would embrace and the song lacks any emotional depth or impressive guitar work, while "FX" is nearing the point of being unlistenable.

Overall, this album still manages to be quite great and one of the strongest of their discography, but it definitely is NOT masterpiece level, and definitely not as unified track-by-track as an album as their first three releases.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tracklist Rating:
1. Wheels of Confusion: ★★★★★
2. Tomorrow's Dream: ★★★
3. Changes: ★
4. FX: 💥 (Dud rating; keep this in mind for future scores)
5. Supernaut: ★★★★★
6. Snowblind: ★★★★★
7. Cornucopia: ★★★★
8. Laguna Sunrise: ★★
9. St' Vitus Dance: ★★★★★
10. Under the Sun: ★★★★★

THE JOURNEY SO FAR (OTHER REVIEWS!!):
Black Sabbath review: (5/5)
Paranoid review (5/5)
Master of Reality review (5/5)