SABOTAGE
As for the album design? I like it. I always thought pictures of the band members were good on an album. And aside from that overexposed yellow image of Ozzy on Vol 4, (which didn't even look like Ozzy to me) no album of theirs had featured photos of the band on the cover. So this was the first time a Black Sabbath album had photos of the band members on the front cover. (Paranoid had a photo of the band inside the cover, and Master of Reality had that poster. And Vol 4 had photos of the band inside the cover as well. But none had photos on the cover until this one. The mirror adds a good effect. I read somewhere that they didn't plan on the wardrobe element of this photoshoot. It was a last minute idea when one of them realized they should be wearing something other than everyday street clothes. Thus, the tights we see on Bill Ward, and the gown we see on Ozzy. Whatever. I like this cover design.
Hole in the Sky
The lead song on every album is a great song, and so is this one. Hole in the Sky has a great riff, great singing, and great lyrics. It's a great song and a ten out of ten.
Don't Start (Too Late)
This is another acoustic guitar intro to another fantastic song. Much like they did on Master of Reality. An acoustic guitar intro to a super heavy metal song. It works perfectly and it's a ten out of ten.
Symptom of the Universe
This song, as I alluded above, is nothing short of fantastic. Just as the acoustic guitar intro ends, the heavy metal riff of this song blasts in and hits you like a ton of bricks. (That description came from Tony Iommi himself, when referring to another song he had recorded on an album in the future.) But clearly, it was this song where that happened first. Even more so than on Master of Reality. Ozzy sings great, the lyrics are great. and the song ends with another acoustic performance by Iommi as Ozzy wraps up the singing. When they played this song live they ended it before the acoustic part. and as another side note, my friend predicted they would play this song first at the concert in San Francisco. He was right. That made him two for two, and needless to say, it's a ten out of ten.
Megolomania
This is one of the longest songs on a Sabbath record to date. Over nine minutes long. Almost ten. I don't think it needed to be that long. But whatever. It begins with a slow riff and speeds up later with a cow bell. It's a good song, and many Sab fans love this song. Do I? No. That doesn't mean I don't like it. I do. But I don't like it as much as other Sab fans seem to. It is a good song, make no mistake, I am not dissing it. But I don't rate it as high as other songs. So I will give it an eight out of ten.
The Thrill of It All
The lead off song to side 2 of the vinyl, and it's another great song. Is it a masterpiece? I had said that my friend and I gave that description to a song very rarely. So I wouldn't go there with this song. But it is a great song. Great singing by Ozzy, great lyrics, and a great song. So a ten out of ten.
Supertzar
This is an unusual song. No singing by Ozzy, but there are vocals by some all male choir. I suppose it fits into the Black Sabbath catalog of songs because the riffs by Iommi combined with the male choir voices give it a Medieval and/or Gothic sound. But to me, it's not something I would have expected. That doesn't mean I don't like it. I do. It's a good song to be played before Sabbath comes onto the stage for a live performance. And that's just what they did many times at the concerts I went to. But this is an honest review, so I will give this song a six out of ten.
Am I Going Insane (Radio)
This song is a song I never liked. I don't like the composition and I don't like the lyrics. Perhaps if the composition was better I would like the lyrics. As it is, it's an atypical Black Sabbath song, which unto itself is not a reason to dislike it. Other atypical songs were just fine by me. Not this one. And what does "radio" in parentheses mean in the title of the song? My friend guessed it meant that they thought this song might get some radio time. I don't know and I never did know. What I do know is I don't like the song, so it gets the lowest rating of any Black Sabbath song yet. A four out of ten.
The Writ
The laughing dubbed at the end of the prior song turns into crying, or wailing for the start of this song. And then a distant bass riff begins. It's a good riff and then a loud heavy metal chord hits, and Ozzy starts the singing. It's a good song, and another long one. Over eight minutes. It changes from loud to soft and loud to soft with Geezer's bass filling in, then the loud heavy metal chords take over. I don' t think it needed to be over eight minutes long, but it still works. Sabbath likes to have a great song conclude their albums, and I think that they believed this one qualified for this album. To me it does, but it's just not as good as the other songs, like Fairies Wear Boots, Into the Void, and Spiral Architect. It's still a worthy song, but I'll give it an eight out of ten.
So, in conclusion, this is a great album, and Black Sabbath has six straight albums that feature great heavy metal songs. I like the fact that they got heavier in this album than they were in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. When the song Symptom of the Universe hit, there was no doubting that. It was my only critique of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath at the time, that they had lightened their sound. And I was thinking they were giving in to their critics that criticized the heaviness of their music. I loved the heaviness of their music, so any lightening of it was not okay with me. So this album, for me, was Sabbath returning to their roots, meaning their heavy metal roots. They invented the sound, and they were owning it! That is what I wanted to hear, and that is what I wanted them to do.
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