Black Sabbath - Sabotage (1975)

After some experimentation in both "Black Sabbath Vol. 4" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", Black Sabbath chose to go back to the rock sound they had in their earlier albums. Their 6th effort, entitled "Sabotage", is a more straight forward album from the band, a album that let the band pull off some steam since they were being sued by their former management during the time they recorded the album. This difficult time weakened the band in general later on, but it might have strengthen the band in this perticular album.

It feels again like the band is making music they want to play, and you can definitely hear it. Tony Iommi's riff are not only memorable, but they are groovy as well. Ozzy does a good job on the vocals and Bill Ward's drumming is just how you want it to be like. Could have wished for more of Geezer's bass, but it does not bother me that much.

Altough there are no songs in "Sabotage" that has gotten a world wide recognition, the album still has some nice gems in it. The most famous song from this album is probably the 9 and a half minute long "Megalomania" that is almost two songs merged into one. It starts of in a slow psychadelicmood which eventually evolves into more of a straight forwards rock song with a nice groove and an awesome riff. Also kinda like the keyboards in the end. Another personal favourite is the fast and thrilling "Symptom of The Universe", which is probably the fastest song the band has made during that time.

Those two songs stands out a little extra in "Sabotage", but the album itself contains 7 high quality songs ("Don't Start (Too Late)" not included since it is a useless intro track) that have different personalities and strengths. "Supertzar" is a spiritual instrumental with cool riffs and a heavenly choir, "Hole In The Sky" is a simple riff based song with no complications, and"The Writ" is a long smooth song that closes the album in a fine way. These are just some of the types you will encounter while listening to "Sabotage", and this versatility makes "Sabotage" a very exciting album, that just presents surprise after surprise. No songs are the same, but no song really skew off from the general direction the album is heading towards.

Except for the clothing choices on the album cover, everything works perfectly fine in "Sabotage". The good selection of songs and the more straight forward approach makes this one of the best Black Sabbath album up to date. There is very little to dislike about this rock album, and I can also feel that the band itself was very pleased with making this record. Definitely one of the band's finest records during the Ozzy era.

Songs worthy of recognition: Megalomania, Hole In The Sky, Symptom of The Universe, The Writ

Rating: 9/10 Supertzars