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Rating:
The Black Sabbath are a band of significant influence in the evolution of hard rock towards metal, I admit it myself, although their style, purely from a musical standpoint, hasn't always fully satisfied me. In fact, the granite riffs from the handicapped guitarist Tony Iommi and the shrill voice of Ozzy Osbourne, along with the rhythm section of Geezer Butler & Bill Ward, gave quite a jolt to the '70s rock scene, introducing the basic coordinates of the metal sound and starting to sketch what would later be defined as doom. After the first three albums, Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality, the best of the Ozzy era, the musical proposal of Black Sabbath began to saturate: consequently, Iommi, fascinated by the prog sounds so trendy at the time (having briefly played with Jethro Tull), decided to insert more avant-garde elements into the group's style. The result is Black Sabbath Vol 4, a symbol of the first shift, which in my opinion has more flaws than merits.
If there is one term that can describe this album, it is "discontinuous": the two types of tracks present, namely the classic Sabbath-songs and those a moment more avant-garde, find it very hard to integrate with each other, creating a strong fracture in the compactness of the album itself. Another very, very painful point is that the experiments Iommi decided to propose are absolutely incomplete and confused, musical abortions left halfway that did not convince me at all: what to say about the piano ballad "Changes", with its naive melodies and Ozzy's voice unnecessarily supported by a synthesized echo? Or the very brief "FX", a noise piece whose sense I have yet to grasp? Or even the acoustic "Laguna Sunrise", so wasted and monotonous, far from the minimal perfection of "Orchid" and "Embryo", from Master of Reality? The general impression is that of a jumble of poorly developed ideas, left only in potential, that do not go beyond the dimension of filler. On the other hand, even the "classic" songs do not shine at all: in particular, I wonder how hordes of fans can consider "Snowblind" a masterpiece, which not only does not go beyond what the group has already done in the past but, together with "Tomorrow's Dream", "Supernaut" and "Cornucopia", represents the peak of the Sabbath's stylistic crisis, as they no longer know what to offer to an audience increasingly inclined towards the avant-garde of art rock.
The next album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, will show a greater mastery of means and above all a convincing blend, finally, between sulfurous hard rock and progressive atmospheres. Vol 4, instead, remains a transitional album that says nothing new and at the same time poorly restates what has been done up to that moment, too often overrated and considered on par with a masterpiece.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Tomorrow's Dream (03:13)
Well I'm leaving tomorrow at daybreak
catch the fastest train around nine
Yes I'm leaving the sorrow and heartache
before it takes me away from my mind
Send me love and I may let you see me
Send me hopes that can spin in my head
But if you really want me to answer
I can only let you know when I'm dead
When sadness fills my days
It's time to turn away
and then tomorrow's dreams
become reality to me
So realize I'm much better without you
You're not the one and only thing in my heart
I'll just go back to pretending I'm living
so this time I'm gonna have to depart
03 Changes (04:45)
I feel unhappy, I feel so sad
I've lost the best friend, that I ever had.
She was my woman, I love her so.
But it's too late now, I've let her go.
I'm going through changes.
I'm going through changes.
We shared the years, we shared each day.
In love together, we found a way.
But soon the world, had it's evil way.
My heart was blinded, love went astray.
I'm going through changes.
I'm going through changes.
It took so long, to realize.
And I can still hear her last goodbyes.
Now all my days, are filled with tears.
Wish I could go back, and change these years.
I'm going through changes.
I'm going through changes.
05 Supernaut (04:39)
I want to reach out and touch the sky
I want to touch the sun
But I don't need to fly
I'm gonna climb up every mountain of the moon
Find the dish that ran away with the spoon
I've crossed the ocean, turned every bend
I found the crossing near a golden rainbow's end
I've been through magic and through life's reality
I've lived a thousand years and it never bothered me
Got no religion, don't need no friends
Got all I want and I don't need to pretend
Don't try to reach me, 'cause I'd tear up your mind
I've seen the future and I've left it behind
06 Snowblind (05:34)
What You Get Aint What You See
Things That Don't Come Easily
Feelin' Happy In My Pain
Icicles Within My Brain
(Cocaine)
Somethin' Blowin' In My Head
Winds Of Ice That Soon Will Spread
Death Would Freeze My Very Soul
Makes Me Happy Makes Me Cold
My Eyes Are Blind But I Can See
The Snowflakes Glisten On The Tree
The Sun No Longer Sets Me Free
I Feel The Snow Place Freezing Me
Let The Winter Sun Shine On
Let Me Feel The Frost Of Dawn
Fill My Dreams With Flakes Of Snow
Soon I'll Feel The Chilling Glow
Don't You Think I Know What I'm Doing
Don't Tell Me That It's Doing Me Wrong
You're The One Who's Really A Loser
This Is Where I Feel I Belong
Crystal World With Winter Flowers
Turns My Days To Frozen Hours
Lying Snowblind In The Sun
Will My Ice Age Ever Come?
07 Cornucopia (03:54)
Too much near the truth they say
Keep it 'til another day
Let them have their little game
Delusion helps to keep them sane
Let them have their little toys
Matchbox cars and more kids joys
Exciting in their plastic ways
Frozen food in a concrete place
Your gonna go insane
I'm tryin' to save your brain
Alright!
I don't know what's happening
My head's all torn inside
People say I'm heavy
They don't know what I hide
Take a life it's going cheap
Kill someone no one will weep
Freedom's yours just pay your dues
We just want your soul to use
Your gonna go insane
I'm tryin' to save your brain
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Other reviews
By 2+2=5
Black Sabbath presented themselves as a band devoid of any fear towards sonic experimentation.
Tony Iommi’s riffs shine with their own light yet never seem decontextualized from the melodic structure.
By poeta
When Osbourne took command of the Black Sabbath that year, he deliberately set about relentlessly producing timeless masterpieces!
Those who called Osbourne Ozzy the "proletarian of heavy music" were not wrong, I tell you because he bit the head off a flying rat!
By Nottetempo88
"Vol. 4 marks a stylistic turn from the previously published works by Black Sabbath."
"Under the Sun... a true masterpiece, opening with a very dark riff and ending in a chilling solo."
