Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

by Black Sabbath

Overview

With 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, heavy metal godfathers Black Sabbath made a concerted effort to prove their remaining critics wrong by raising their creative stakes and dispensing unprecedented attention to the album's production standards, arrangements, and even the cover artwork. As a result, bold new efforts like the timeless title track, "A National Acrobat," and "Killing Yourself to Live" positively glistened with a newfound level of finesse and maturity, while remaining largely faithful, aesthetically speaking, to the band's signature compositional style. In fact, their sheer songwriting excellence may even have helped to ease the transition for suspicious older fans left yearning for the rough-hewn, brute strength that had made recent triumphs like Master of Reality and Vol. 4 (really, all their previous albums) such undeniable forces of nature. But thanks to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath's nearly flawless execution, even a more adventurous experiment like the string-laden "Spiral Architect," with its tasteful background orchestration, managed to sound surprisingly natural, and in the dreamy instrumental "Fluff," Tony Iommi scored his first truly memorable solo piece. If anything, only the group's at times heavy-handed adoption of synthesizers met with inconsistent consequences, with erstwhile Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman bringing only good things to the memorable "Sabbra Cadabra" (who know he was such a great boogie-woogie pianist?), while the robotically dull "Who Are You" definitely suffered from synthesizer novelty overkill. All things considered, though, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was arguably Black Sabbath's fifth masterpiece in four years, and remains an essential item in any heavy metal collection. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

Product Details

Release Date:	01/26/2024
Label:	Rhino
UPC:	0603497828081
Rank:	10841

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Black Sabbath   Primary Artist
Bill Ward   Handclapping,Drums,Bongos,Timpani
Geezer Butler   Bass,Fuzz Bass,Mellotron,Nose Flute,Synthesizer,Handclapping,Guitar (Bass)
Rick Wakeman   Piano,Mini Moog,Synthesizer
Ozzy Osbourne   Vocals,Synthesizer,Handclapping
The Phantom Fiddlers   Strings
Wil Malone   Conductor
Tony Iommi   Flute,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Bagpipes,Harpsichord,Synthesizer,Handclapping,Guitar (Steel),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Mike Butcher   Engineer
Black Sabbath   Producer,Arranger,Composer
Bill Ward   Composer,Lyricist
Geezer Butler   Hands,Composer,Lyricist
Ozzy Osbourne   Hands,Composer,Lyricist
Ronnie James Dio   Composer
Wil Malone   Arranger
Tony Iommi   Composer,Lyricist