SABOTAGE

For the very first itme, the opener of the album will just be an average song. Nothing to do with all their previous ones (on each out of their five prior albums). And the weird feeling goes on with the very short (fortunately) "Don't Start". I always wondered about the use of a fifty seconds track. In this case a dull guitar intstrumental. Come on Iommi ! You've used us to better than that ! Much better !

"Symptom Of The Universe" reverts to the great standards. and mixes the heavy sounds with some acoustic/ funky ones at the end of the song. If this must be their musical evolution, I can only applaude. But don't be wrong. This is not a song for young schoolgirls. Heavy beat is there; only tempered during a very much later stage with a softer mood : that's all. And that's pretty much fine with me.

"Meglomania" starts almost as a psychedelic song (but just for a minute or so). It is the longest "Sabbath" studio track so far. After the psyche intro, the song will build up crescendo and will turn to a classic "Sabbath" song. Solidly anchered to its heavy metal roots, this song has an inflexible beat during the last six minutes. Extremely violent (which is not always a synonymous of heavy). Still, it is a bit repetitive and it is not my fave "Sabbath" overall one, but on this album it stands out as one of the highlights. It ends up as a good hard-rock song.

One of the highlight is "thrill Of It All". A great hard-rock song with a lots of theme changes, wild beat, catchy melody. The album keeps on the good track, finally. And the next song, although not a classic "Sabbath" one is almost proggy for most of it. Imponent choirs, almost an opera (!). This should have been an intro of an epic which we won't never have...Domage (what a shame!). This is completely out of their traditional catalogue (but on the good side).

The next song "Supertzar" is very strange. Fully "Floyd" oriented ("Piper"). Completely psychedelic, crazy, funny. Thousands of miles again from their usual production. The long closing number "The Writ" will also include some extra-terrestrial moments. In the midst of the most heavy stuff, the listener will be plunged into some acoustic parts. All of a sudden. An original way to close this album.

IMO, "Sabotage" is the weakest of all "Sabbath" albums released so far. The best rating I can think think of would be 2.5 stars. Since the band is an integrant part of my youth, I will upgrade it to three stars.