Review Summary: The classic Sabbath shows their more dynamic side. It's a bit inconsistent sometimes, but still a great album.
Black Sabbath's 1972 LP, Volume 4, is the fourth consecutive solid release from the legendary British metal pioneers, although it doesn't fully live up to the standard set by its predecessors. On Volume 4, they certainly retain many aspects of the classic Black Sabbath sound. Iommi still writes and plays some super-cool heavy riffs. Geezer's bass playing is less noticeable for the most part here, but is still great. Bill's drumming is still pretty complex. One song on here almost got him fired; specifically, Cornucopia, which he said "had some patterns that were just horrible". Ozzy's vocals are a little less raw and unrestrained than on Master of Reality, but still suitably heavy.
However, Volume 4 also introduces more departures from the classic Sabbath sound, with the hit ballad Changes and other experiments with a softer sound like Laguna Sunrise, not to mention one track which is just echo-y guitar sound effects. There's still some heaviness here, of course; some of their heaviest riffs ever can be found in Cornucopia and Under the Sun. But this tendency towards more progressive and dynamic songwriting, while introduced in Master of Reality, would truly develop here.
The rather long Wheels of Confusion opens with an excellently emotional and bluesy introduction before transitioning to the "main" riff, which sounds like a classic '70s rock riff infused with that trademark Iommi heaviness. It's a pretty good song all its own until about two minutes and a half minutes in, where they start to speed up with some neat synthesizer noises. I guess you could call that a bit of a foreshadowing to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, where many songs featured synth-heavy sections. After that fun little upbeat section is a return to the standard song, which is just alright. Overall, I wouldn't call this one of Black Sabbath's best songs, and I would call it a weak opener. But then comes the final, gloomier section, sometimes subtitled The Straightener. This part kind of recalls the intro, in a way. It's got a good heavy riff behind it, as well as a nifty clean guitar supporting it as well. Tony solos here for like, what, two minutes? That ending section really makes this track a lot better for me. The next track, Tomorrow's Dream, is under half as long and much less sluggish. The riffs here are fun and rockin', not exactly heavy, but still headbangable or perhaps fist-bangable. There's a super memorable vocal section from Ozzy about halfway through. "When sadness fills my days/It's time to turn away/And then tomorrow's dreams/Become reality to me!" Next up is Changes, one of the band's most well-known songs (that's probably misattributed to Ozzy's solo material fairly often). No guitars or drums here, just a piano riff, a Mellotron for extra emotion, and Ozzy's emotionally charged delivery of gloomy, introspective lyrics reflecting on a lost lover (Think Solitude). I never considered this one too much of a standout among Black Sabbath's career, but it's nonetheless probably their most well-known song that isn't on Paranoid. It's still effective, just not exactly brilliant. I preferred Solitude. FX isn't heavy either. It's not even a "song", actually, just the sounds of the band members hitting Tony's guitar with stuff with an echo effect added. They must've been on a
lot of coke to think it was a good idea to leave this one on here.
Have no fear, however, because next up is a trio of excellent heavy numbers. The first, Supernaut, is a definite album highlight. It's heavy, but instead of going for an ominous, slow approach, they sound pretty energetic here. This one features very nice riffage, driving drums from Bill to keep the momentum, and galloping bass from Geezer that's more noticeable when the guitar is quiet. The lyrics, which probably don't have much meaning and are more than likely just coked out (if rather inspirational) nonsense, are still pretty cool, especially when being loudly wailed by lovably crazy frontman Ozzy. This would probably be a bit repetitive, but there's a small, excellent solo from Tony, and a brief (but nonetheless very, very cool) jam section featuring a quiet acoustic guitar and some alternative percussion. Snowblind is about cocaine, in case the title and the whisper of "cocaine..." after the first verse didn't tip you off. The album was originally going to be titled that, because of how in love they were with the stuff at the time. The record company had it changed to avoid controversy, though. Anyways, this song is probably the most typical of what most people would characterize Black Sabbath as at the time, pretty slow paced (which isn't a bad thing, because the Sabs were the best at that) with excellent riffs from Iommi. There's a pretty entrancing moment at around 1:40, which is made better by Ozzy. I'd compare it to the little melodic section in Tomorrow's Dream. Good soloing here as well, with the addition of a string section towards the end. Again, this was an example of Black Sabbath's developing progressive side. The last of three consecutive heavy juggernauts is Cornucopia. This one's a real riff titan, definitely the heaviest song on the album up to this point. The opening riff in particular is an absolute monster. The pretty complex drum patterns in this song were really tough for Bill Ward, and I don't blame him for having a rough time with this song, because...just listen! Even Ozzy's vocals are super heavy here. "
You're gonna go insaaane!" I can't describe the super heavy riffs and awesome upper paced jam later on in the song well enough, so I'd only recommend you check it out, because it's a Black Sabbath essential, to me.
Laguna Sunrise isn't the most out of place section of the album overall (Looking at you, FX), but it's probably the most out of place proper song. Black Sabbath's earlier stuff was rooted in psychedelia, so Planet Caravan made some sense. However, that doesn't mean that Laguna Sunrise isn't beautiful and rather effective, because it's both of those things, definitely bringing to mind the imagery the title would suggest. It leads in well to St. Vitus Dance, which is overall a more upbeat sounding song. It honestly reminds me more of straightforward '70s rock, although the "louder" of the two main riffs definitely has an increase in heaviness factor thanks to Iommi's monster guitar sound. Not too many ideas in this song, which is probably why it's over in about two and a half minutes. If this album gets too gentle for what you'd expect out of Black Sabbath, never fear, because Under the Sun opens with an absolute
mammoth of a beastly riff. This is probably my absolute favorite of the album. The lyrics to both Under the Sun and its subtitled midsection Every Day Comes and Goes are superb on Geezer's part, promoting a sense of individualism that befits the music. The midsection is a lot faster than the sludgier main song, and features terrific soloing from Tony, but then they go back into the main heavy riff. When it sounds like it's gonna be over, there are really a couple more minutes left. The sound of a gong (or perhaps just an extended reversed cymbal effect) introduces the last part of the song, which comprises of one last heavy riff underneath Tony shredding away (Or whatever a good word would be, I'm tired of just saying "soloing".), ending another good Black Sabbath album.
Volume 4 was their least heavy album overall up to that point. I also feel that it doesn't match the greatness of its three predecessors. Not only is it not as bone crushing, it doesn't have as much memorable value, and there's stuff like FX and Laguna Sunrise. Look, the latter isn't exactly a bad song, it's actually quite pretty, and a good listen when going through the whole album front to back. But compared to the rest of the record, it kind of lacks substance. It also leads into St. Vitus Dance, which is doesn't have nearly as many ideas as the other songs and somehow manages to be shorter than an acoustic instrumental interlude that immediately precedes it. Again, neither of these songs are exactly bad, but they show a bit of inconsistency, compared to their other stuff at the time. Yeah, I guess "Behind the Wall of Sleep" didn't exactly exude tons of ideas, but that was on their debut, and before they'd released Paranoid and Master of Reality. Therefore, even as the songs grow more diverse, Volume 4 feels like a bit of a step down. But don't let that give you the wrong impression, because it's still definitely a worthwhile classic Sabbath album. 4/5.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS/BEST OF:
Supernaut
Snowblind
Cornucopia
Under the Sun
