SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH

Perhaps the Black Sabbath album for those who don't like Black Sabbath, they really start to stretch out musically on this one. Oddly, this sounds like their least heavy album up to this point; even the follow-up Sabotage sounds heavier. You can almost hear the beginning of Prog-Metal here. I'm not sure who wrote the lyrics here, but bassist Geezer Butler generally wrote most of Sab's lyrics. Anyway, there are some great lines here that sound both trippy and philosophical: "I've lived a thousand times/I found out what it means to be, believe"; "Don't believe the life you have will be the only one/You have to let your body sleep to let your soul live on" Those lyrics are from just one song, "A National Acrobat", one of Sabbath's best songs and one of their most progressive.

Rick Wakeman plays piano and synthesizer on this album, although apparently it is Tony Iommi who plays the synth on "Who Are You?" That song is one of the few examples from Sabbath where the keyboards are more important than the guitar. The mix of acoustic and electric guitars on the title track is well done. On the acoustic instrumental "Fluff" Wakeman adds some tasteful piano and harpsichord. One of the best songs here is "Sabbra Cadabra", another one of their more proggy efforts. I'm not exactly sure without listening to them if Ozzy double-tracked his vocals on the first four albums; but even if he did the effect is more noticeable here. "Killing Yourself To Live" is another great song about suicide apparently, which includes the seemingly out-of-place interjection: "Smoke it...get high". A teenager once attempted suicide blaming this song. Weird.

"Looking For Today" is the most accesible and mainstream song on here, and clearly the worst on the album. It almost sounds like an attempt at a hit single. Fail. One of the biggest problems I find with this album is that Bill Ward's drumming seems to be pushed back in the mix; you don't notice him as much as you do on the first 3, for example. "Spiral Architect" has a string section and sounds symphonic but the song itself is one of the weakest on the album. One of Sabbath's best albums and it deserves 4 stars.