Sabbotage - Song By Song

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

It's time to assess the songs on my second favourite album of all time: Sabbotage


The album starts with Hole in the Sky, quite possibly the best opener on any album, love the lyrics, love the riff, all round just love this top 10 track.

[Vyn]

I agree, what a great choice for an opening track. It doesn't fuss around, the song gets right to it and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. 

[Typhon]

I agree, what a great choice for an opening track. It doesn't fuss around, the song gets right to it and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. 

Ditto.  And it's nice to see some input from Vyn on such matters. 

[Zzzptm]

I once read a review that described the album as a soundtrack for the invasion of Poland. I can hear a reason for that metaphor in Hole in the Sky: it lurches forward like a main battle tank, relentless and purposeful. The demons of modernity swirl around in the music and lyrics, like in Rodin's "The Gates of Hell."



The directness of the track signals a step away from the progressiveness of SBS, but it's not going back to the blues-rock of their earlier period. We'll still get some proggy stuff on Megalomania and side two, but this is straight up hard rock, no faffing about at all.

[Charger]

Hole In The Sky is along with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath the best Ozzy era opener that's for sure.

Nice, fast and furious track with a killer riff and great preformance from the entire band.

Vocally I'd say Ozzy was at his absolute peak on this album and the first side of the album is nothing short of pure gold but more about that ofcourse later.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Don't Start Too Late and Symptom of the Universe go hand in hand so although separate tracks I'll do them together.

Don't Start Too Late is one of the better classically influenced instrumentals in their catalogue, it should be a little longer if I'm honest... and then without a pause...

Symptom of the Universe is a challenger for my all time favourite Sabbath song. Heavy as hell, it has one of Bill's best drum patterns. The lyrics are great and the accoustic section at the end is pure genious!

[Zzzptm]

Symptom of the Universe definitely does the heavy thing correctly. I have no idea about the lyrics, I think it's the drugs talking. But so what? Ozzy's delivery is part of his finest hour of material. Iommi's solo section in the middle absolutely floored me when I first heard it and it's always been one of his best solos in my view.

And then, hey, what? Acoustic? After all that heavy? Huh? Totally caught me off-guard not just on the first listen, but quite a few more listens thereafter. I was so used to acoustic leading into heavy from other bands... well, now I know the traffic flow can go both ways. Taken on its own merits, the acoustic section is just as rich as the heavy part. And it works out, once you get used to it. It makes even more sense when the lead-in to Megalomania begins.

[Charger]

Don't Start is very oddly placed nice little instrumental. Between two of Sabbath's heaviest fast songs is an odd place to be in but it works because it's so short. Anything longer and it would dilute the aggression.

Symptom Of The Universe...what can I say...another one of those true classic Sabbath tunes...

An absolutely iconic riff once again from mr. Iommi. Also one of those riffs you instantly start humming when you even think about the song.

The lyrics are a bunch of non sense that's for sure...Love is the Symptom Of The Universe? Uhmmm...okay. Yeah too much drugs for Mr. Butler. But honestly this song is musically so brilliant that you can very easily just ignore the silly lyrics...and Ozzy's vocal preformance my goodness. One of his absolute finest...in fact only second to one other song, but more about that bit later...

The acoustic part is an odd one. I remember playing this song to a school mate of mine back in the day who had only heard some Death Metal band's version of it (he was a big death and Black metal fan) and he couldn't believe the acoustic part was part of the same song! I had to play it twice and show him the booklet before he believed it wasn't a part of another song.

I honestly love the change...sure it doesn't really fit the song at all which I think is the reason why it is so brilliant. Only a band like Black Sabbath would have the guts to do something like that...

[Typhon]

Don't Start (Too Late) is a fine Lead In to a song that makes the latter half of my Top 10 favorites.  The fact that there is not even a second of silence between the LI and the next song tells me that one should not be heard without the other, and I love the way they pair together.

I recall when I first heard Symptom Of The Universe (45 years ago, yikes  ) being blown away by the super speedy riff.  But then when the acoustic side took over, I was like "Wait, what the heck?  ".  Then after repeated listens I began to think, "Hey, this works!  "  How the band knew it would work, just adds to the musical genius that is Black Sabbath.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Moving on to Megalomania. This is a song which fits perfectly with the overall sequence of songs, in itself it's a top 20 song for me but is essential to complete the first 5 tracks which (I may have mentioned before) is the greatest 26 minutes of music ever recorded. I've only one minor gripe with the song and that's Ozzy's vocalising over the final climax section, it just seems to get in the way.

I wonder if it would have worked so well if they stuck with the working title of Adolf Hitler?

[Typhon]

Megalomania is quite a journey, to say the least.  It is practically 3 songs in 1.  The transitions are seamless, all the melodies work, and with all due respect to KDC, I have no problem with Ozzy's vocalizing over the final section.  This is not a Top 10 favorite of mine, but it is close.

[Charger]

And then we come to the magnum opus of the original line up.

Megalomania is without a doubt their high water mark in every respect.

Musically it is nothing short of brilliant. The tempo changes, the riffing, the soloing the drumming and the bass lines...

And this is also where Ozzy's vocals peaked. He sang his ass off on this one. Don't know how many takes it took for him to do those vocals (probably quite a few) but the end result is as near flawless as in Ozzy's case is possible. He never reached this vocal standard again.

This is also the longest lyric of any Sabbath song and it doesn't have a whole lot of repetition either.

The best song of the original line up hands down. A pretty damn near perfect piece of music in all of it's complexity.

Suberb...just suberb. Also this is the song that pretty much ended the line of great music from the original line up...everything that came after this (starting with the B-side of the album) was a giant drop in quality in every possible sense.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Thrill Of It All comes next, which is another of my favourites and the last part in the greatest musical 26 minutes of all time. I love the stripped back beginning and the way it builds.

[Typhon]

The first half of The Thrill Of It All kicks your teeth in, then the second half eases you off.  Seems like an indication that the rest of the album will not be so intense or heavy.  At least that's the way it feels to me.  I still like the song though.

[Zzzptm]

And then we come to the magnum opus of the original line up.

Megalomania is without a doubt their high water mark in every respect.

Musically it is nothing short of brilliant. The tempo changes, the riffing, the soloing the drumming and the bass lines...

And this is also where Ozzy's vocals peaked. He sang his ass off on this one. Don't know how many takes it took for him to do those vocals (probably quite a few) but the end result is as near flawless as in Ozzy's case is possible. He never reached this vocal standard again.

This is also the longest lyric of any Sabbath song and it doesn't have a whole lot of repetition either.

The best song of the original line up hands down. A pretty damn near perfect piece of music in all of it's complexity.

Suberb...just suberb. Also this is the song that pretty much ended the line of great music from the original line up...everything that came after this (starting with the B-side of the album) was a giant drop in quality in every possible sense.

Coming in from the weekend, catching up. I'm going to agree 100% with Charger here. It's the best of the best of the best, Megalomania is.