TECHNICAL ECSTASY

Technical Ecstasy is the seventh full-length studio album from UK heavy metal act Black Sabbath. For many people this is where it all began to go wrong for the band and by many fans of Black Sabbath this is considered a very disappointing album. Sabotage (1975), which is the predecessor to Technical Ecstasy, did show that the band wanted to explore other territories than their patented dark and doomy heavy metal style, but it was still a very succesful album that holds some of Black Sabbath´s greatest and most heavy songs. Technical Ecstasy were in terms of sales almost as succesful as Sabotage (1975). The album peaked at number 13 on the UK charts and at number 51 on the US charts (Sabotage peaked at number 7 on the UK charts and number 28 on the US chart). In terms of artistic success Technical Ecstasy is a questionable album. Ozzy Osbourne was in fact so dissatisfied with the final result that he left the band in November 1977 ( The other main reason being the growing ego clashes between Ozzy and Tony Iommi). He would return for a last album with the band though (Never Say Die! (1978).

The music is still in heavy metal/ rock style but not as doomy or heavy as on their previous albums. Songs like Back Street Kids, You Won´t Change Me, Gypsy, All Moving Parts (Stand Still), Rock 'N' Roll Doctor and Dirty Women are all heavy metal/ rock songs of pretty high standard but without reaching the hights of previous efforts. In addition to the six heavy metal/ rock tracks there are also two ballads on the album in It's Alright and She's Gone. The former sung by drummer Bill Ward. The latter features orchestration. There´s an extensive use of piano and keyboards on the album compared to the instrumentation on previous albums.

The musicinanship is good and the production is professional and well crafted.

Something is lacking on the album IMO and I agree with the majority of the fanbase that this was the beginning of the end for Black Sabbath. The most annoying thing on the album for me is the piano which is used in some of the songs. That piano takes out all the trademark heaviness which is what I mostly enjoy about Black Sabbath´s music. If this had resulted in the band exploring progressive territories or experimenting with song structures I would have been able to forgive this new feature in the music. This is not the case though and all songs are simple in structure and the keyboard and piano parts are rather trivial to my ears. I wouldn´t call Technical Ecstasy a bad album or a below average album by any means and I will rate it 3 stars. It´s just not an album I listen to very often.