Warthur Whilst previous Black Sabbath albums included a few synthesisers and keyboards here on there, their use was mainly restricted to the occasional stab at more progressive rock-sounding tracks between the heavy songs that were their main focus. On Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the group finally integrated the synthesisers into the main songs on the album, perhaps inspired by the influence of Rick Wakeman, who had befriended the band whilst they were recording the album whilst his own band, Yes, were recording Tales from Topographic Oceans, and even agreed to sit in as a guest musician on the uplifting Sabbra Cadabra.

Elsewhere on the album, the band integrate the doomy sound of their first two albums with the more mainstream approach of Volume Four on songs such as the title track and Killing Yourself to Live, whilst songs like Spiral Architect and A National Acrobat involve new heights of experimentation and complexity which suggest a fusion of progressive rock and proto-doom metal. Whilst modern-day prog metal acts don't revere this album to the same extent that today's doom metal artists and sludge merchants worship the first two or three Sabbath albums, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath still deserves to be acknowledged as one of the first albums to suggest that sort of blending of the styles. Arguably, it's the last Sabbath album to be quite so trailblazing and influential, at least in terms of the Ozzy era.

bonnek On Sabbath Bloody Sabbath they tried to expand their style a bit by tying some progressive moog doodling from mr Wakeman, who puts in a fine performances here by the way (take it from a non-fan :) They also tried to diversify their song writing into something more polished and mature. This has certainly charmed the progressive rock audiences but even though it works quite well on some songs, the attempts to broaden the sound can not mask that things were going downhill for Sabbath.

Especially Ozzy has lost something for me, he’s sure singing very passionately and he looks fresh and crisp like a schoolboy on the back cover but he has this very winy tone in this voice here, it's not the human incarnation of the hoofed Prince Of Darkness anymore but rather resembling the sound of a goat that you stepped on the tail.

Anyway, the first two tracks together with Sabra Cadabra and Killing Yourself are brilliant, the rest of the album gets painful at times. Especially the vocals on Looking for Today and Spiral Architect are mediocre, not to say cringe-worthy. Too far fetched for Ozzy’s possibilities. Even Wakeman’s nice mellotron parts can’t mask that.

My conclusion is that Sabbath should be applauded for the ambition and the drive to go forward and explore other lands. But it doesn’t sound like they felt very good at easy there. The most effective songs on the album are the simplest ones.

Besides, some band pictures reveal that Iommi had cut his hair and his moustache during this period. That sounds like a serious identity crisis to me! 3.5 stars.

Time Signature Metal bloody metal...

Genre: hard rock / heavy metal

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is yet another great album by metal pioneers Black Sabbath. Given that this album was released in 1973, it's actually quite well produced, and musically, it's mostly a solid hard rocking effort.

The title track and "National Acrobat" are both heavy and melodic, and with a sense of melancholy to them, and they are among some of my favorite metal and hard rock tunes ever, and Ozzy's vocals are exceptionally good on "National Acrobat" I think. "Killing Yourself to Live" and "Who Are You" are also heavy and doomladen with riffs that only the likes of Iommi could come up with. The latter also makes use of rather spacy synths, which workd fine. The acoustic tracks on the album are also very captivating, but I must admit that I think that the hard rockers "Sabbra Cadabra" and "Spiral Architect" are a bit mediocre by Sabbath's standards (althouhg I do like the uplifting main riff od the latter).

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" is a nearly perfect metal/hardrock album which belongs in any metal and rock collection.

Pekka By 1973 Black Sabbath had been shaping up a new heavier brand of rock with four excellent albums, and with that year's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath they were definitely not slowing down. The über-heavy riffing of the title track must have been as shocking for general public at the time as the devilish orgy depicted on the front cover, and while pushing for new extremes in heaviness they once again managed to produce a very diverse album of high quality songs.

One of the great underappreciated gems in the Sabbath discography is A National Acrobat, part of which Metallica had the sense to incorporate into their cover of another track of this album, Sabbra Cadabra. The former is a mostly mid-tempo multi-part song featuring some masterful riffs by Tony Iommi and a wild instrumental section, while Sabbra Cadabra is a surprisingly fast and happily rocking song about love, interestingly featuring the prog wizard Rick Wakeman on keyboards. They both sandwitch a lovely acoustic instrumental called Fluff, and next up is one of my absolute Sabbath favourites, Killing Yourself to Live. Great groove, melodies, and the chorus riff is absolutely crushingly fan-tas-tic. And did I mention Ozzy's vocal work which just keeps on getting better by the years? It does, and would still be even better on the next album.

This album is unfortunately held from complete greatness by two rather fillerish tracks. Who Are You with it's campy scifi synthesizers and the plain rocker Looking for Today just aren't nearly as impressive as the rest of the material, but luckily nothing I'd ever want to skip either. The album ends on a high note with Spiral Architect, a fitting rather calm closer with some nice string accompaniments.

Despite slight inconsistency one of the finest Black Sabbath albums ever and a classic heavy metal album worth everyone's time.

SouthSideoftheSky No "fluff" here!

After the somewhat directionless Volume Four, Black Sabbath once again got back on track with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. With this album, Black Sabbath really started to take their progressive ambitions seriously. The progressive aspects had, of course, been there all along in their music, and albums like the groundbreaking debut or the masterpiece Master Of Reality were particularly strong in progressive tendencies. With the exception of Master Of Reality however, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was Black Sabbath's most progressive album up to that point and also one of their best very best ones. I guess that Master Of Reality and Sabotage will always be my favourites, but Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is really great too. There are no weak moments as such on this album, but I feel that there is less urgency and flow here than on Master Of Reality and Sabotage. Still, nearly every track here is a true classic!

The excellent closer Spiral Architect features a very symphonic introduction and Sabbra Caddabra, which has a more Rock 'N' Roll feeling at times, features a guest spot by none other than Rick Wakeman on keyboards! It is a common mistake to think that Rick played keyboards on the whole album but it is clear to my ears that the rest of the album's keyboards were not played by Rick. Fluff is Toni Iommi's traditional acoustic piece and it is again a very good one, perhaps it is a bit too long for its own good, though.

For me this is one of Black Sabbath's best albums and a near-perfect album in its own right. A must for all fans of the heavier side of Prog or the proggier side of Heavy Metal.

Very highly recommended!

Raff By 1973, the Birmingham quartet had already taken the rock world by storm, and were ready to explore new musical pastures. For a band whom many consider to be the antithesis of progressive rock, they had worn those influences rather visibly on their first, legendary album, and occasionally on the three that followed. However, for their fifth release, Black Sabbath decided to pull out all the stops, and record an album that bears more than a simple relation to prog, all the while keeping true to their metal roots.

The first clearly noticeable thing about "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (besides the elaborately, stylishly disturbing cover artwork) are the vastly improved production values, which emphasize the complex song structures and confer a definitely more melodic quality to the band's music - instead of pushing for a raw, 'wall-of-sound' effect like on their previous releases. Clarity is the key word here - Tony Iommi's monstrous, hypnotic riffs shine like rough diamonds, enriched by the constant presence of keyboards (courtesy of prog legend Rick Wakeman) and other assorted instruments which in the past one would have hardly associated with BS. The rhythm section of Butler and Ward is also more distinctly audible, and not reduced to a murky background roar. Moreover, it is quite evident that the individual members' technical proficiency has improved, as well as their compositional skills. All of this makes SBS the band's most musically accomplished album so far.

While the title-track opens the album by closely following the style of Sabbath's earlier albums, with Ozzy's voice at its whiniest over Iommi's crunching, relentless riffing - a real, heavy metal behemoth of a song - "A National Acrobat" (at over 6 minutes, the longest song on the album) suddenly steers things into a different territory. In spite of the band's trademark riff galore, there is also an air of melody and sophistication which is further developed throughout the album. Gentle, wistful instrumental "Fluff" offers a moment of respite before "Sabbra Cadabra", the only track in which Wakeman is explicitly credited, contributing his brilliant piano lines to this driving, energetic heavy rocker.

The second part of the album is also the most progressive, with keyboards taking centre stage, and song structures becoming increasingly more elaborate. The sneaky, obsessive synthesizer riff of "Who Are You?", mimicked by Ozzy's eerie vocal tones, relaxes into a beautiful piano interlude. "Killing Yourself to Live", one of the most complex songs on the album, contains a bitter, sarcastic indictment of the music industry, driven by Iommi's corrosive riffing and Ozzy's sneering vocals. While "Looking for Today" is a more upbeat piece, featuring assorted keyboards and even flute, "Spiral Architect", one of the album's highlights, alternates slow, melancholy, orchestra-backed parts with more dynamic, riff-driven ones. Incidentally, the sci-fi-inspired lyrics are somewhat reminiscent of what their American 'counterpart', Blue Oyster Cult, were doing in the same period.

One of the earliest examples of crossover between progressive rock and heavy metal, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" has a lot to offer to the discerning listener. Even if lacking the shock value and groundbreaking power of their self-titled debut, this is an awesome slice of heavy yet intelligent music, and (together with that big favourite of mine, 1980's "Heaven and Hell") their most mature offering.