Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
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| Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Black Sabbath | ||
| Released | 1 December 1973 (UK) January, 1974 (US) |
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| Recorded | 1973 | |
| Genre | Heavy metal | |
| Length | 40:05 | |
| Label | Vertigo (UK) Warner Bros. (US) Castle (UK) 1996 Sanctuary (UK) 2004 |
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| Producer(s) | Black Sabbath | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Black Sabbath chronology | ||
| Vol. 4 (1972) |
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) |
Sabotage (1975) |
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the fifth studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1973 (see 1973 in music). Sabbath expanded upon their slow, crunching style of music and added synthesizers and orchestral arrangements to create their most progressive and creative album yet.
After the recording of their previous album, Black Sabbath, Vol. 4, the band hit a dry spell and could not come up with any songs for their new album. After locking themselves away to focus and come up with new ideas, guitarist Tony Iommi stumbled upon the riff to the title track, which has been called "the riff that saved Black Sabbath." After this song was completed, the others flowed freely.[citation needed]
A big difference between Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and its predecessors is the songwriting style. The album begins with the heavy riff of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and ends with the string-laden, “Spiral Architect”. Some fans felt the new style signaled the beginning of the end for the band while others felt that Black Sabbath were simply expanding their sound which had been relatively unchanged through their first 4 albums.[citation needed]
Notably, Rick Wakeman of Yes fame was responsible for much of the keyboard work on this album. Wakeman was a friend of the band, and had traveled with them on tour. His contribution is most evident on "Sabbra Cadabra" and "Who Are You?".
[edit] Covers
- Thrash metal band Anthrax released a cover version of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" on their "I’m the Man" EP.
- Metallica released a cover version of "Sabbra Cadabra" on their 1998 covers album Garage Inc., with part of "A National Acrobat" in the middle.
- Swedish band The Cardigans released a cover version of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" on their 1994 release Emmerdale.
- "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" was also covered by Bruce Dickinson along with Godspeed on the Nativity in Black tribute album.
- "Killing Yourself to Live" has also at times had subtitles of "You Think That I'm Crazy" & "I Don't Know if I'm Up or Down".
- "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" has been covered by the Swedish Viking metal band Amon Amarth.
- German darkwave band Sopor Aeternus released a cover of A National Acrobat (called "Tabor C'alan O'itana") on their box set Like a Corpse standing in Desperation.
- The band (həd) pe covered the song "Sabbra Cadabra" on the Nativity in Black II tribute album
[edit] Track listing
- "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" – 5:45
- "A National Acrobat" – 6:15
- "Fluff" – 4:12
- "Sabbra Cadabra" – 5:59
- "Killing Yourself to Live" – 5:42
- "Who Are You?" – 4:10
- "Looking for Today" – 5:03
- "Spiral Architect" – 5:29
All songs by Butler, Iommi, Osbourne, Ward.
[edit] Credits
- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, synthesizer
- Tony Iommi – all guitars, piano, synthesizer, organ, flute
- Geezer Butler – bass guitar, synthesizer, mellotron
- Bill Ward – drums, tympani
with
- Rick Wakeman – keyboards, synthesizer, piano
- Will Malone – conductor, arranger
