Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
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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.
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]
Rick Wakeman of Yes fame guested on "Sabbra Cadabra". Other keyboards and synths were played by the band.
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.
- "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" has been covered by the Swedish melodic death 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 and in the compilation album Jekura - Deep The Eternal Forest.
- The band (həd) p.e. covered the song "Sabbra Cadabra" on the Nativity in Black II tribute album
- The Austrian black metal band Belphegor covered the song "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" for their 1995 album The Last Supper, though the track was not included until the re-release of the album by Last Episode Productions in 1999
- On the In These Black Days cover series, Today is the Day covers "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", Overcast covers "A National Acrobat", and Anal Cunt covers "Killing Yourself to Live" and "Sabbra Cadabra".
Track listing
All songs by Butler, Iommi, Osbourne, Ward.
- "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
Personnel
- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, synthesizer
- Tony Iommi – all guitars, piano, synthesizer, organ, flute
- Geezer Butler – bass guitar, synthesizer, mellotron
- Bill Ward – drums, tympani
- Rick Wakeman – keyboards, synthesizer, piano on "Sabbra Cadabra"
- Will Malone – conductor, arranger
Release history
| Region | Date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 December 1973 | World Wide Artists |
| United States | January 1974 | Warner Bros. Records |
| Canada | ??? | Warner Bros. Records |
| United Kingdom | 1996 | Castle Communications |
| United Kingdom | 2004 | Sanctuary Records |
