Review Summary: Sabotage is a criminally underrated absolute classic that surpasses Paranoid as my personal favorite Sabbath album.
In 1975, Black Sabbath released their sixth studio album, that would go on to be their last worthwhile one for years to come. When people talk about classic Sabbath, they most commonly mention that Black Sabbath through Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are classics, Sabotage is okay, and Technical Ecstacy and Never Say Die are crap. Don't listen to people who rag on Sabotage, because it outshines everything that they'd put out since Paranoid, and, in my opinion, could be the pinnacle of their career.
The material here is certainly diverse, although slightly favoring their earlier, heavier work over their more recent, synth-heavy, progressive stuff. Two of the album's eight songs are instrumentals, both of which having completely different approaches and sounding fantastic in their own way. But I'll get to them later. There's a synth-heavy radio friendly rock song (Although despite "radio" being in the title, it's not actually a radio edit or anything like that), two slower pounders featuring riffs-aplenty, and three progressive metal masterpieces, one of which no doubt was a major inspiration to the thrash metal movement. With this startling variety, the Sabs put their entire skillset on display, showcasing all of their strengths.
Sabotage is certainly classic Sabbath's most earnest and authentically emotional album. Part of this comes from their excellency at cultivating an emotional atmosphere or mood here, with acoustic codas and quiet sections thickly layered with, say, an organ and some atmospheric guitar work. But perhaps the biggest draw towards their ability to convey these feelings is Ozzy Osbourne's vocal work. Ozzy's voice here is at its peak here, sounding the best in Sabbath history and possibly the best in his entire career. There's a truckload of conviction in his voice on this album. Listen to his despair-laden wails during the softer sections of The Writ, or his bursts of anger in Megalomania. Even in songs that aren't so emotionally involved, such as Hole in the Sky, he still gives it his all, delivering the lyrics with all the emotional grit in the world.
Hole in the Sky is one of the album's two major "hits". Featuring a bouncy and heavy main riff that no doubt would have been 100% completely vicious if it were played just a couple semitones lower. Yeah, Iommi doesn't play at C# on this album, instead most typically playing in F# (though far from the whole album is played in that key), but make no mistake; it's still Tony freaking Iommi, and the guitar is still thick. Iommi's riffage is still fantastic, too. But anyways, Hole in the Sky is a fairly straightforward four minute opener. In contrast with the rest of the album, it mostly sticks to the same slower, Sabbathy groove the whole time, as well as a simpler verse-chorus structure. Then comes Don't Start (Too Late), their best acoustic instrumental since Orchid. Like Orchid, it hits a certain creepy vibe, with obviously double guitar tracks finding an eerie harmony. Don't be caught off guard, though, because the aggressive opening riff to other big hit of the album, Symptom of the Universe, comes crashing out of nowhere. This whole song is absolutely ferocious proto-thrash, matched with Ozzy's shouting. Like Hole In The Sky, the lyrics to this song are trippy sci-fi explorations, but Ozzy's performance would have you believe this is the heaviest stuff ever. After four minutes of one awesome riff after another and a terrific solo comes a sudden acoustic guitar-laden outro. The progressive sections here sound incredibly layered, like those on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but they're more effective here, perhaps thanks to the beefier production. You can hear Iommi delivering more great licks even as the song fades out. Starting out ferociously and ending on a softer note, this is the first "progressive" type track on the album
Next up is Megalomania, the longest song here and a spectacle of early prog metal, clocking in at nearly ten minutes. (And none of that is unfocused [if awesome] bluesy jamming!) By the time this album rolled around, Sabbath had learned to be masters at cultivating a hell of an atmosphere. Thus, the quieter, densely layered opening to Megalomania is executed with perfection. Soft drumming from Bill Ward, quiet acoustic guitars, and emotional lead work from Iommi set the song's dreary opening mood. The filters on Ozzy's voice don't detract from his emotional performance. With "I hide myself inside the shadows of shame/The silent symphonies were playing their game", Ozzy sounds crushed by despair. With "Why doesn't everybody leave me alone now?", Ozzy sounds sick and tired of everything. This track continues in this gloomy fashion until picking up with that awesome driving riff, picking up momentum as the song's narrator finds his way out of despair. "Well I feel something's giving me the chance to return/It's giving me the chance of saving my soul! Beating the demigod, I'm fading away/I'm going backwards but I'm in control!" Ozzy shouts away with victory as the protagonist finally earns his coveted happy conclusion. "
FREEEEEE!" Black Sabbath were the masters of doom in the '70s...but they could tell a story too, damn it! Thrill of it All is mostly more straightforward, opening with a monster of a riff that just screams "Iommi". After a bit, the song transitions into the midsection, consisting of this awesome riff that sounds more rock than metal. God, it's a good riff! Then they go into a triumphant, partially synth driven section. Like the previous song, the ending here is rather upbeat.
Supertzar is another example of this era of Sabbath's excellent skill at cultivating an atmosphere. In fact, this song is all atmosphere! Featuring harps, glockenspiels (at least that's what I think that is), driving percussion, incredible and powerful driving guitar riffs, and most importantly a beautiful performance from the English Chamber Choir, Supertzar could have served as the opening to Megalomania or the similarly long ending track The Writ, and been incredibly powerful. Instead, it leads in to the album's weakest number, Am I Going Insane (Radio). Note that "radio" is just British slang for "crazy", so it fits the title. Even if it is the weakest track, focused around synthesizers rather than even featuring a single guitar riff, I don't think it detracts from the album as a whole, if only because this one's super catchy and the rest of the album is absolutely ***ing brilliant. Case in point, the incredible closing track, The Writ. Starting with quiet bass, the guitars, drums, and loud vocals burst forth out of absolutely nowhere. Not only were the lyrics written by Ozzy, his performance here is the absolute grittiest in Sabbath history, and possibly in his whole career. He really drives a lot of this song, angrily ranting against the figures that were "sabotaging" the band. Iommi's licks here are great as usual, sure, but Mr. Osbourne is at his most outright
fierce, with fifteen tons of sheer grit and conviction behind his voice, and his vocal lines are arguably more memorable than Tony's work here. "ARE YOU SATAN, ARE YOU MAN?!" Then Iommi comes in with one of his classic heavy riffs and takes over a bit, but Ozzy's impressive ranting continues. "You are nonentity, you have no destiny/You are a victim of a thing unknown!" Then Iommi comes in with some heavy riffs, along with despairing lines from Ozzy as the song gets more emotional. More riffage as the song fades out. Featuring a wide range of emotions covered by Iommi's guitar playing and Ozzy's vocals, as well as moments featuring glockenspiels and acoustic guitars, The Writ is the third of the album's monolithic titans of progressive metal mastery. But wait! At the very, very end, one can barely hear Ozzy and Bill goofing off in "Blow on a Jug", the album's true closer. "Be like me, and blow on a jug!" Ozzy's silly voice atop Bill's piano playing concludes the last good Black Sabbath album featuring Ozzy Osbourne for 38 years.
Oozing variety, progression, and atmosphere, Sabotage likely represents Sabbath at a zenith. If Paranoid is their best album before they would get into experimentation, featuring their "big hits" and bearing the most well known ingredients of Sabbath's sound, then Sabotage is the pinnacle of their more progressive years. It's probably more straightforward than Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but it still nonetheless showcases an immense capacity for emotion, atmosphere, development, and yet, raw heaviness and aggression. Black Sabbath reaches a true peak with Sabotage, from the sick grooves of Hole in the Sky, to the brooding introduction of Megalomania, to the triumphant conclusion to Thrill of it All, to the frenzied, aggressive mayhem mixed with a sense of melody that is Symptom of the Universe. Not as iconic as Paranoid, but it doesn't need to be, because it drips with absolute brilliance. 5/5!
RECOMMENDED TRACKS/BEST OF:
Symptom of the Universe
Megalomania
Thrill of it All
The Writ
