Influences And Recollections of a Musical Mind

Written By Braddon S. Williams

Black Sabbath: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Black Sabbath’s first 6 albums are absolutely essential listening for anyone with even a passing interest in heavy music.

I have gone on record proclaiming my love for Sabotage, but 1973’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is a close second for me.

The band were initially faced with writer’s block due to excessive touring and even more excessive drug & alcohol intake, but Tony Iommi came up with the crushing riff for the title song, and the Birmingham bashers were back in the saddle once again.

The whole album is so well balanced, with plenty of the molten lava sludge doom metal that they have exclusive ownership of, but fleshed out with some delicate passages of beauty and melodic depth that came from growing up as a band.

Songs like Spiral Architect and A National Acrobat allowed the record to breathe a little in anticipation of the hammer blows of Killing Yourself To Live and Sabbra Cadabra.

Of course, the title track is one of the absolute killer songs of Sabbath’s entire discography, with Ozzy Osbourne in prime vocal form, raging like a pissed off banshee. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the sound of a legendary band at the top of their game, creating genres of metal as they go along.

Sabbath’s influence is everywhere and will likely continue as long as discontented youth find their way to electric guitars, basses, and drums.