Vol. 4 | Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | Sabotage | Technical Ecstasy | Never Say Die! You know the story. Well, you’re probably aware of it ”“ a portion of it anyway. Y’know, the one about some four-piece from Birmingham who somewhat inadvertently invented/discovered heavy metal. The one where the band records three consecutive classics, each one heavier than its predecessor. The one where the left-handed (!) guitarist injures fingers on his right hand and, thus, has to detune the band’s sound, increasing the weight of the music. The one where one of the band’s best known songs was written purely because it needed another as filler.Yes, Black Sabbath’s (early) history and its influence have the ability to rival that of any band in music history. 'Black Sabbath', 'Paranoid', and 'Master of Reality' are classics and act as a triptych paradigm for what is and is not metal. From the band’s debut in 1970 to the release of Master in ’71, Sabbath made perfect move after perfect move, some of which were luck, accident or whatever you wanna call it.Then something strange happened: Sabbath actually progressed with its sound. Whether it was because the band was out of ideas of how to take a monstrous riff and stretch it out to six or seven minutes or because the band just simply wanted to experiment is anyone’s guess. Considering the drugs, and their respective (over)doses involved, either case is equally likely. To wit: Vol. 4’s original title was supposed to be Snowblind, named for the record’s, ahem, anthem about coke. Indeed, whether or not the album’s piano ballad ‘Changes’ was drug-induced or written stone-cold sober can be endlessly debated. But even with experimentation afoot Sabbath never lost its heaviness, only its frequency. ‘Supernaut’ is the single heaviest song that the band has ever and will ever write. That riff has the power to shatter eardrums even when muted.Those hesitant to buy this set of remasters due to the perceived cashgrab by Universal (whose name alone is synonymous with money) should give these a try. The grainy sound of the originals is removed and polished for an infinitely cleaner mix. This, of course, may be a bad thing considering 1.) it’s Sabbath and, 2.) it’s metal. Metal is intended to be dirty and filthy so a clear sound can be understood as, ironically enough, cheapening the product ”“ or, rather, its potential enjoyment. Yet, I have to side with these versions if only because, while I agree that metal is truly meant to be sludgy, I love the fact that the newfound brightness and crispness of Iommi’s guitar on ‘Symptom of the Universe’ and Ward’s and Butler’s rhythm section on ‘Killing Yourself to Live’ is so much easier to hear and take pleasure in. Ward’s crash cymbals come to life in a way never before heard. And that snare on ‘Supernaut,’ my god is it glorious. The “brand new liner notes” featured within the “deluxe digipack formats” on these reissues proclaimed in the press release, however, I cannot speak to because Universal went cheap and sent TLOBF CD-Rs in plastic sleeves. The digipacks might be cool to look at, but I’ll probably never know.Sadly, as one advances through the Ozzy-led years, one glaring truth emerges: Sabbath becomes an investment of diminishing returns. While Vol 4. is its last great ”“ but not classic ”“ album, subsequent efforts reveal Sabbath descending from its pinnacle. What’s most depressing about this is the fact that the musicianship wasn’t leaving with it. The band never went south at their respective instruments. No, just the songwriting became poorer and poorer. This is worse than if they’d written better songs with lessening talent. But as it became more and more obvious, these four were ridiculously talented individuals with no direction. With some bands, no clear direction of a sound can be exciting ”“ like with The Beatles or Led Zeppelin. But that’s because there was a vision there, if only palpable to the subconscious, with these bands. With Sabbath, it was clear from the outset that they were destined ”“ and qualified ”“ to only play one way: loud. Thus, leaving that confined parameter doesn’t work for Sabbath.After the leap from Master to Vol. 4 came another, even larger bound in progression: from Vol. 4’s overall transitional feel to the all out folky (and funky”¦?) Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in 1973. The title might suggest that this is the band’s truly heavy record. Nope. While Sabbath retains the ten-ton riffs and steamroller rhythm section hallmarks, it does so by filtering the sound through three different lenses: prog rock, funk and folk. The first makes sense, as even their early work had progressive influences. But folk and funk? The acoustic instrumental ‘Fluff’ (how apropos) doesn’t fit on the record at all in much the say way that ‘Laguna Sunrise’ didn’t match the general sound of the previous outing. ‘A National Acrobat’ takes all three lenses and combines them into a bizarre trifocal amalgamation clusterfuck. It’s funky, folky and progy but it doesn’t have to be. It’s an engaging listen in that you constantly wonder, “Where are they going with this next?” But it’s not interesting, only confusing. Tellingly, ‘Spiral Architect,’ with its heavy, progressive funk riffage seems to suggest that the band wanted to convince its fans, “We’ll be back next time, promise.”That promise was fulfilled damn near immediately. It would appear that just a year later Sabbath realized that the leaps (forwards or backwards, depending on your personal fandom) were probably mistaken when they attempted the “return to form” record, 1975’s Sabotage. The only real experimental element kept from either or the previous two LPs was the folksy sound and it was kept to an absolute minimum”¦relative to Sabbath’s over self-indulgence, of course. ‘Don’t Start (Too Late)’ acts as the token acoustic dirge, this time lasting 49 seconds. ‘Symptom of the Universe’ has a prog-folk breakdown late in the song but is overall a heavy-as-shit sludgefest. That said, the quasi-show tune ‘Supertzar’ suggests that the band’s piddly experimentationism wasn’t over just yet.Which brings us to the penultimate disc in this re-issue collection, Technical Ecstasy. The most intriguingly named album in the band’s canon is also the band’s most entertaining listen. The opening trio of tracks, ‘Back Street Kids,’ ‘You Won’t Change Me,’ and ‘It’s Alright,’ see Sabbath channeling Heart, Yes and Elton John respectively. Butler’s bass being raised in the mix, especially during ‘Alright,’ and made more brilliant, doesn’t necessarily enhance the (head-scratching) song-writing but it does enhance its listenability even as you ponder what drugs were used during the recording sessions. Keyboards made their overarching influence here more than anywhere previous. ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Change Me,’ and ‘Dirty Women’ are the best examples of this. Once again, the keyboards, as with every other sound, are given a total sonic facelift and sound fantastic ”“ completely out of place, but fantastic nonetheless. Also, side B of the album sees the band embrace American southern rock in the form of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor', complete with rockabilly piano. Then there’s ‘She’s Gone,’ a purely saccharine acoustic ballad with the schmaltziest orchestration of the ‘70s. It’s at this point where Sabbath strayed perhaps the farthest from Sabbath that it ever would ”“ up to that point, anyway.It was clear that by 1977 Black Sabbath was trying shit just for the sake of trying shit. There was no reason or logic to anything on any given album. Sure, it was interesting from, say, a sociological perspective, but it wasn’t coherent according to any standard. Yes, the band still kept to its old sound (a ridiculous concept, considering its debut was only six years prior) but by the end of the Ecstasy era, it’s formerly brand name sound had been twisted and mangled so much that the band that recorded ‘Iron Man’ would require the jaws of life in order to be found.Speaking of mangled, Never Say Die! sits among the most ironically named albums of all time. By its release in 1978, the band had essentially given up being Black Sabbath and started a metamorphosis, one which, had the band continued it, would have transformed them into some wacky incorporation of Molly Hatchet and Mötley Crüe. The title track alone is a tacit admission musically by Sabbath that it had wandered so far off its original path that it couldn’t ever go back while simultaneously an admission lyrically that it tried anyway. ‘Johnny Blade’ is more of the same pathetic, Yes-inspired ‘70s prog rock, something Sabbath as an adult never fully gave up as if it were some kind of teddy bear from its childhood that still provides comfort. If that weren’t enough, the band also tried to be Bad Company with 'Junior’s Eyes'. This, however, shouldn’t come as a surprise given that a different version of the song was originally co-written by Dave Walker, the vocalist who temporarily filled in for Ozzy when he left the group ”“ only to return shortly thereafter. Worst of all, Never Say Die! displayed Black Sabbath’s ability to be boring. Look no further than ‘A Hard Road’ for proof. The riff that opens the song is driven into the ground by minute two and buried under its own shitpile by minute four. (Ditto for ‘Over to You.’) And that’s all the song is: a waltz-esque riff drunkenly swaying back and forth until it passes out. Ward made a Herculean attempt to dress the song up with his uncanny fills but saving this turd was beyond even his demigod reach. Then there’s the freeform jazz section of ‘Air Dance,’ and the altogether clumsy brass section added to ‘Breakout,’ both of which we’ll just pretend never happened.The Ozzy years of Black Sabbath’s catalogue after Master of Reality are really quite the treasure trove of fascination. Each album, Vol. 4 through Never Say Die! are all superbly entertaining in a way that few albums of (partial) catalogues are. But that doesn’t make them great ”“ or even good. As albums by themselves, they’re all passable to some degree or another. But as Sabbath albums, they’re not essential and certainly not canonical. And that’s the nicest I can be about it. Not even the near-classic Vol. 4 is worth it if you own any part of The Trilogy. But it sure was an endlessly compelling downward spiral, wasn’t it?Black Sabbath Official Website