Search - Black Sabbath :: Black Sabbath 4 (Mlps)

Mind blowing riff festival

Joao Nunes | Portugal | 04/04/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not the greatest Black Sabbath fan but listening to this album I get that they had a sound that was very much their own and that had a major impact in a lot of the heavy music that was to come. From Metallica to Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins, the Sabbath' wall of distortion is there. I would go as far as to say that they might not be as brilliant as Led Zeppelin but, in a way, they were more important. Black Sabbath is most of all a sound experience.



More than Ozzy's unmistakable siren vocals, it was Tony Iommi roaring riffs that became the watermark for Sabbath music. And this album is a riff-festival. Each of the hard rocking songs has at least a couple of memorable riffs in it. However monolithic their music was, in this album the songs keep changing, riff after riff, and the second verse is never the same as the first one (check out "Tomorrow's Dream" or "Snowblind").

"Supernaut" is the best track. Great riff, monstrous sound, funky-crushing rhythm. This one really blows out of the speakers.



Then there are a couple of odd ones. "Changes" is very boring but "Laguna Sunrise" is a beautiful acoustic instrumental. "FX" is, well... fx.



All in all, if you like heavy rock with mind-blowing riffage, buy this album. At least you will learn where it comes from.



Oh, and these japanese replicas are the best. Jewel cases should be banned."