As a big “Black Sabbath”
fan I have to tell you that, if you can
only own one Sabbath album, then this
should be it. Now I’m not saying that
most Black Sabbath albums are not good.
(How can anything with Toni Iommi on lead
guitar be bad?) In fact, the first six
are out and out classics with “Heaven
& Hell”, “Born Again”, and the wonderful
“Re-union” album joining these ranks.
It’s just that Volume 4 has got it all.
Already international superstars upon
its release, “Volume 4” consolidated their
position as the world’s number one Heavy
Metal band, a position that has never
seriously been challenged. (have you heard
Creed’s new album “Weathered”? Talk about
a load of Sabbath Wannabes.)
Whilst recovering from tour exhaustion,
Sabbath promised that their new album
would be more experimental, more progressive,
and unbelievably heavier than anything
they had ever done before. This was quite
a claim from a band whose last album had
been the classic “Masters Of Reality”.
The opener “Wheels Of Confusion” was straight
away a departure for Sabbath, clocking
in at over eight and a half minutes. This
was not some rambling heavy blues based
jam, but a well structured epic with its
inspiration coming from what was termed
at the time as Progressive Rock, only,
of course, played the Sabbath way. It
proved that the band had no lack of inspiration
either musically or lyrically. Ozzy singing
Geezer Butler’s words with real menace.
“Lost in the wheels of confusion
Running Thru Valleys of trees
Eyes full of angry delusion
Hiding in everyday fears”
“Wheels Of Confusion” transforms from
crunching power chords into a glorious
Sergio Leone pastiche, overlaid with thundering
guitars.
Bursting through the speakers after this
was the new single at the time “Tomorrow’s
Dream”, the Sabbath first single since
worldwide smash hit “Paranoid”. A song
that is about as commercial as Heavy Metal
can get.
Then came the real shock, horror of horror,
Sabbath do a ballad. Not only a ballad,
but a piano led ballad that would not
have been out of place on a Barry Manilow
album. Fans were always prepared for Sabbath
to experiment with different styles, and
after the hard rockin “Paranoid” had given
them a well deserved hit and a following
of teenage girls. It is still frightening
to imagine the audience of Radio 2 (Britain’s
very staid radio channel) listeners this
song would of attracted, had it been released
as a single and been a hit.
But from here on out it’s pure Sabbath
with Toni Iommi taking the lead and laying
down some of his best known heavy riffs.
Although it’s not all just a bunch of
loud detuned e-chord riffing as there
are plenty of subtler moments, especially
in the two instrumental Iommi solo spots
“FX” and “Laguna Sunrise”, Vol 4 also
catches Ozzy at his outrageous best. You
can almost hear the frills on his jacket
bashing together as he stomps along with
the rest of the band in the heads, down
no nonsense mindless boogie sections of
the songs. Geezer Butler not only gives
Ozzy some wonderful lyrics to sing, but
lays down some bass work that was going
to become the temple plate for all players
of the four string guitar for years to
come. Bill Ward is the only drummer for
Black Sabbath. Full stop no argument.
If you are a stranger to Black Sabbath’s
Volume Four and you like your rock music
hard heavy with genuine excitement, acquaint
yourself.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
