Vol. 4

First time really listening to a Black Sabbath album. The album is heavy and at times intense, but there are some really beautiful moments at times as well. I also found that I resonated with a lot of the lyrical content much more than I anticipated I would. I'll make sure to check out more of their work in the future.

About as heavy as it gets. Nothing beats that opening riff in supernaut

Monolithic, hard as granite and thick as sludge hard rock/metal album. There are some softer moments (with some nice mellotron action) to let you catch your breath, but for the most part 'Vol. 4' slaps harder than your mum.

70's Black Sabbath is unbelieveably good. Sludge/stoner metal is a genre I can't get enough of, so this recommendation fell on happy ears! The album starts off with the +7m30s musical journey of "Wheels of Confusion / The Straightener", which shows those pretentious prog-rockers exactly how this sort of thing is supposed to work. Following that is the far more straight forward verse/chorus/verse growl of "Tomorrow's Dream". And then a ... piano and synthesized strings!? "Changes" is a beautiful departure from the general feel of the album, which is mirrored on the other end of the album by "Laguna Sunrise". Both offer a moment of calm, to catch your breath from all of the rock in between. And then the album ushers you out, the same way it welcomed you in, which the medley of subtracks brought together in "Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes" For those that have never looked into Sabbath, or that might've been turned off to the band by tracks like "Crazy Train", I think "Vol. 4" is a much better album to form your opinion on. Regardless, I appreciate the album both for what it is and for what it represents in the evolution of rock and metal. Super glad to see it on the list!

Debatably, Black Sabbath laid the groundwork for various subgenres of metal with individual songs from their early catalog, exploring cosmic psychedelia on one track, symphonic accompaniment on the next, and sludgy, downtuned riffing on the song after that. If the theory that Sabbath forecast a great deal of metal to come, Vol. 4 represents the earliest ancestry of doom metal as one of the band's darkest and most confused early documents. The three albums that came before 1972's Vol. 4 weren't short on dread and doominess, but the band's increasingly heavy mutations of blues-rock were kept from the brink of collapse by relatively streamlined production and aspirations for pop accessibility. By the time of Vol. 4, the band were certified rock stars, indulging in drugs and partying on an accelerated level. These excesses are reflected in the overall murky sound of the album, lyrical themes of a slippery grasp on reality, and weird stylistic curveballs that range from an out-of-nowhere soul breakdown in the middle of "Supernaut" (otherwise one of the most intense songs in the band's catalog) to stoned twiddling with delay effects on "FX" to the beautifully placid instrumental "Laguna Sunrise," consisting of Tony Iommi's classical guitar and full orchestral backing. This was the first album where Iommi and the band acted as producers, and their boundless experimentation went hand in hand with consuming ungodly amounts of cocaine, to the point where they originally wanted the album to share a title with its centerpiece "Snowblind," a plodding and bewildered ode to the drug. The record company ultimately vetoed the idea and the band acquiesced. Paradoxically, the scattered mindset and muddy atmosphere of Vol. 4 became its defining factors and resulted in some of the heaviest material the band would create. Ozzy Osbourne's patented wraith-like wails begin to come into their own on anguished rockers like "Tomorrow's Dream" and "Cornucopia," and take on a tenderness that Sabbath had never attempted before on the piano/Mellotron ballad "Changes." It's a somewhat awkward jerk from the tearful sentimentality of "Changes" to the paranoid proto-sludge of "Under the Sun," and many songs have similarly strange quick turns in composition, fumbling mixing choices, or different overall textural quality from track to track. Black Sabbath's collective mental state would further devolve on their next two albums, and by the late '70s they were virtually a different band. Though clouded by substance abuse, Vol. 4 found Sabbath at a creative peak that teetered on the edge of going off the rails completely. It's messy and bewildered, but stands as one of the band's most captivating and influential documents in all of its bizarre, damaged brilliance. [Source: https://www.allmusic.com/album/vol-4-mw0000199950]

I'm a big fan of everything Sabbath did between Paranoid and Sabotage. This album marks a slight change in their sound, expanding their range a bit. I especially love "Supernaut" on this album for it's unexpected sudden turn into an acoustic/percussion jam like a miniature parade going right through the middle of the song. Sabbath always entertains.

Laguna Sunrise is perhaps one of the best non-lyrical rock song ever. Changes is a force. This album is a riot!

I've always loved Sabbath's first 3 records, but for some reason I never got around to the 4th. I can solidly say, it holds up to their standard, and more; I think I like it even better than Masters of Reality. Guess the cocaine really worked!

so, of course i knew OF sabbath - but i really never listened to them. i'd somehow heard Changes before, but that was it - except for supernaut, which is a) easily my favorite on this album, and b) humorously, the least-played track, according to spotify. anyway, this one was so good, i went back and listened to it again, just to be sure. and yeah, it held up. amazing.

Another perfect Sabbath album. Sound is more upbeat and poppy than previous efforts, but still 100% Sabbath. I guess lots and lots of cocaine compared to booze will change the sound a bit. A rare instance where a band's sonic evolution changes from the original sound while keeping up the quality and not stagnating.

IM GOOOIN’ THRU CHAANGES

I had their self titled debut on here a week ago, and Vol.4 suffers by comparison, I'm afraid, and that's mainly because of "Changes" (and, I guess, "FX"). They just completely mess up the flow of this album. I quite like "Changes" as a song in its own right, but it makes such a dent in the tone of this album, I dunno, maybe because it's piano based? Fave track - "Supernaut", I reckon, though I have a soft spot for "Laguna Sunrise" too. All the tracks apart from "Changes" and "FX" are pretty solid,

Cocaine is responsible for some terrible things, like Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, but it is also responsible for this masterpiece, so we’ll call it a wash.

You can only trust yourself and the first six Black Sabbath albums. The rhythm section of Butler and Ward are in my top 3 all time. I didn't need to listen to this one again for the millionth time, but I did anyway. A perfect slab of metal.

Once again, I am very pleasantly surprised by Black Sabbath. I really really love this. It's more psychedelic rock than heavy metal and a few songs barely count as "rock" music: Changes is a piano ballad for crying out loud and Laguna Sunrise could play over the end credits of a Western. I think Lenny Kravitz took some psychedelic funk inspiration from Supernaut when making Are You Gonna Go My Way. There were a few tracks that started out just ok for me but then they'd hit a bridge or a transition or a melody line that made me weak in the knees. The last track Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes is the most like what I would have expected from Black Sabbath and I'm glad the entire record wasn't like that. But there's enough variety here to make that track a welcome ending. I don't know how often I'll listen to this but 20-year-old me would have listened a lot and I'm going to let her give it five stars.

Simply incredible in all its drug-fueled excess. Sure, it drags around the middle of side 1 with Changes and FX, but kicks back with Supernaut and never lets go.

An excellent choice to end my 7-day dry patch. Started off a bit underwhelmed but then I turned it up loud, and by the 2nd run-through it was clear that the opening track is a heavy prog masterpiece. After 3 listens most of the songs became familiar old favorites. What a drummer! Looks like there could be a lot of Black Sabbath in my future. Hail Satan etc

Ozzy has such a great rocker voice. This album is great and I love the early 70s metal. Has the right amount of kick and. Ompared to the other sounds from this era, it's pretty intense. Tame today, sure, but the guitar licks sound crisp and creative. There were also some surprising easy going songs that also were nice. My favorites were Wheels of Confusion/ The Straightener, Changes, Supernaut, and Laguna Sunrise.

What a cool album! Such great riffs with a super dark guitar tone. Ozzy’s voice creates such a spooky and haunting aura around these songs. Shockingly, you find sincere and heartfelt moments throughout. You can see how metal was slowly forming in this album, more than a decafe before Metallica made it big.

You can imagine the cocaine hanging in the air in the LA studio during this recording session. Truly epic guitar and drum composition, mixed with haunting rhythms for Ozzy to lay on a thick layer of buttercream icing onto this devil’s food cake of an album. 5 stars.

The best album they made.

OH MY GOD

Didn’t know Changes was originally their song. I loved this album, hadn’t listened to a full Black Sabbath album intentionally before.

They set a precedent for other creators of the genre. It's what you want from Black Sabbath

Amazing. Great musicality, dynamic range, black sabbath has a lot more variety/talent than I thought before. Faves: Changes, Supernaut, Laguna sunrise, Under the sun

Dynamic, melodic. Easy to see why this album makes a best list. I could do without the beeps and bops in the middle, but it works well as a transition in tone. Love Laguna Sunrise, what a nice breath of fresh air.

Had not listened to a whole album of theirs. More varied than expected.

Great stuff. I want to hear an R.L. Burnside version of Supernaut. Solid album from start to finish. I think their first two albums are better.

Creo que entre las cosas que sacaré de esta dinámica es mi admiración por Black Sabbath. Macizo todo, incluidos los interludes, digamos, instrumentales y hasta con sonido muy distinto a lo pesado de las canciones. No skips, trae "Changes" que sí me parece muy buena y todo bien, suena grande en conjunto (y eso que no es mi género predilecto). 10/10

Early days of real metal 5 star

wheels of confusion: graaf nummer, diepe tekst, lekker depressed, thats what sabbath does best. the straightener: I LOVE MYSELF SOME GOOD SOLOKES. Tomorrows dream: oke nummer, niet t beste hier. Wel weer coole gitaren Changes: Man man man, in het begin dacht ik BIG MOUTH HYPE. maar nu echt al vaak beluisterd, de stem is spooky de rekst pakt en de piano maakt het af. big shoutout naar de OGS for this one. FX: ik voelde hem niet maar als ge op genius leest waar het vandaan komt maakt het het wel echt leuk. Supernaut: een leuke positieve song, steviger en sneller dan de rest. gekke riff en gekke solo. gitaren shredden boyzzzz. snowblind: normaal de titel van het album, maar mocht niet door de obv link naar drugs. nice bridge, riff is niceeeee33333 cornucopia: deeep Laguna sunrise: leuk toch die sunrise st. vitus' dance: die goede storytelling. Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes: weer van die goede riffs en goede teksten. Normaal geen black sabbath fan maar dit was echt de turntables, ga er meer naar luisteren en dit album zeker nog meer luisteren. Zo divers en sterk. Duidelijk een album over drugs en de gevolgen van drugs in hun leven.

Already loved this album!

yaaaaassss

Not my favourite Sabbath.....but still can close my eyes and imagine how revolutionary this would have been at the time

Not as many of the hits that I love but still fueled my afternoon work nicely

For the perfection of pure, heavy riffing, go to Sleep's "Dopesmoker"; for the Platonic heavy, insane guitar noise, listen to Big Black's two LPs. But for the primordial sludge of inspiration and dead ends that minted this kind of slow, distorted rock, smoke this and the preceding two Black Sab records. Most of the songs are three quarters brilliant, with awkward instrumental passages shoved in that suggest the band were glancing at prog contemporaries. When I was a teenager, I dumped Black Sabbath as soon as I got into Sonic Youth et al; there's something stubbornly naff about them. I'm now at an age where I find that charming. The inward groan when "Changes" hit my ears for the first time in three decades was displaced by a mesmeric trance. "I'm going through chaaaaanges...."

Desolate.

Never really listened to sabbath but I like them. Gives me a zeppelin vibe

Shaking my head at all the five star reviews. There's not much great about this album. I was an Ozzy fan back in the day, but this falls short of greatness and just a smidgen better than cow poo. Heavy sound but a lot of senseless noise with no direction.

Black Sabbath is epic, but this album is not. Maybe it’s the cocaine but they missed with Vol. 4.

I don't understand song #4 on Vol 4. So I won't listen to this more than once per year. I know it's Ozzie and Sharon will probably find me and make me a eunuch...

This is one of my all time favourite albums. Black Sabbath did so much for the heavy music movement, that it is difficult to ephasize how important the band is, especially the first four records. They almost single handedly spawned the doom metal genre, but also had huge influence in all of the heavy and extreme forms of music today.

Love it

Super biased here, i love Black Sabbath. This was never my favourite Ozzy’s Sabbath era’s album, but the riffage is massive, the sound one of their best and compositions are quite different. I would chose 4.5/5

Really enjoyed this album. Quite a range of songs to savour. Some may argue that 'Changes' and the drug induced FX don't sit well and interrupt the rythym of the album. I think they add some reflection time to the album. The pioneers of heavy metal finding a more experimental approach to the discipline. Is this the best Sabbath album? Probably not. But is this better by a country mile than any other Heavy Metal album at the time or even since? Probably. No reason not to give 5 stars.

I wrote one of my GENIUS reviews about how Black Sabbath is weird and iconoclastic, etc. But the machine ate it somehow. One of the main points was how unusual it was that at the nadir of the soft rock era, these blokes went to Southern California and came back with Supernaut. Brilliant. Not even going to take off a star for "Changes" as much as I want to. God I hate that song.

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Another brilliant album - never knew I like black sabbath so much. Great variation, lyricism and overall vibe. Not quite as strong as their debut but still brilliant.

So great !

This is my first time seriously listening to Black Sabbath and this is definitely a 5/5 record. Simply fantastic. I’m going to dig deeper into the discography this weekend.

Perfect

Excellent instrumentals. I could never get fully into the vocals though. Still, overall amazing album! Tossup between 'Supernaut' and 'Snowblind' for faves though.

Wow, I didn't expect a lot from Black Sabbath. I've heard their debut album before in this challenge. It was good and an important piece of rock history. But 'Vol 4' blows it away. There's so much going on in this album without being overly indulgent or too much to process. It's just a great rock album with heavy guitars, furious drum breakdown, and simple minimalist ballads to balance it all out. The experimental 'FX' is maybe a little pointless but it doesn't overstay its welcome. The addition of the mellotron adds so much with so little. It gives it an unearthly feel that the music desperately needed. What a great surprise this one was.

Awesome Riffs. Powerful and melodic

Black Sabbath is a foundational band for me. Iron Man was one of the very first things I learned on guitar in 8th grade. Even though its been almost 20 years, I'd still never listened to Vol 4. It's been a to do list album forever, but never executed on. In short, it rips. It does everything I love in a Sabbath Album. Ozzy sounds great, Tony is running the infinite riff factory at full production, Bill is shuffling out jazzy yet heavy beats, and Geezer is thumping and noodling all over the place. I loved the background organ on The Straightener. That part marked a bit of a departure from Sabbath albums past. I am also always a sucker for Tony Iommi's melodic soloing jam sections (e.g War Pigs). My fun fact for this album. Charles Bradley does an amazing cover of Changes. There's a live youtube video of him describing how he heard the song after his mother died, and how hard it hit him in that moment. He then goes on to give one of the most emotional performances I've heard anyone give. I like the Sabbath version, but I'll always see that as Charles Bradley's song now. Snowblind is also one of my favorite Sabbath Riffs. Album cover: (A) Very impactful graphics.

This is a very diverse and mature album. A dark and foreboding sound with a lot of lighter surrounding elements, and even a decent amount of swing make this an excellent album to listen to, head bang to, or reflect to. No skippable songs, and everything has a reason for being there. A complete masterpiece

(for dramatic effect) have i never listened to rock before? they might have done something w this heavy metal business.. im a first time sabbath listener so i just realized this is ozzy osbourne's band.. wheels of confusion - starts w that distinctly 70s sound 10/10 on easing me in changes - simp sad boy music is a tale as old as time. i feel like i just heard this song in a movie too & needed to know the name first 3 seconds of supernaut had me thinking of mitski nobody lmao. ok but forrealsies i think i declare supernaut my fav but sheeeesh talk about a no skips album im impressed

Just awesome

I like this significantly more than I thought I would. Peak Sabbath.

Back when Ozzy was on just enough drugs for the music to sound good

Very very good album loved every bit of it except FX. Supernaut is my favourite number here but changes and snowblind are a close number 2

Sabbath at their best. Album rocks.

Ya know this is a really good band if they can take their foot off the gas a little and still come with all of the horsepower.

not as good as paranoid, but still a phenomenal album in its own right.

A really good album that I'd listen to again, I liked Tomorrow's Dream and Changes the best.

Love this album from when I was 12 years old, still sounds great.

Jacking off

This is just stunning, so excellent

Loved every minute

The first Black Sabbath studio album I ever heard (well, after some compilations) and it blew my mind...

9/10 Ma to, vozi me Ozzy jutrom ranim. Nisam slušao ovaj album do sada, mislim da sam samo njihova prva dva albuma preslušao, ali baš puno puta. [..] Jao što ja volim ovaj rokenrol jebote. Krene mi pjesma i kao ma da, nije loše nije loše, ali kad krenu u solaže, ajme meni, oči idu naopačke [..] I onda me lupi s ovim nježnim Changes, znači klavir, melotron i Ozzy, dosta nježan trenutak, nadam se da će krenut vrištati uskoro, inače bih mogao i zaplakati [..] Malo drkanje po dileju i gitarskim žicama pa peglaona, može brate, deri ga! [..] Jebiga, volim taj rokenrol Petica, ovo ću sigurno još preslusavati.

I enjoyed it a lot

YEAHHHHHHH SABBATHHHHHH

I guess any of the first 6 Sabbath albums are incredible, but this one especially has become possibly my favourite. The opening track, Snowblind, the closer, SUPERNAUT (what a song). Album is just packed with some of Sabbath's best riffs and keeps it interesting with the song structures too.

Fuck yeah!!!

Great!

Great stuff.

proggier than I thought it was gonna be YO piano part. this is sick. there's actually a lot of Ozzy solo stuff that's like this but with a lot more production. it's all sick, Ozzy rules. these guys are doing "Noise Rock," in 1971! tight. there's some of the bluesy stuff. drums = fuck yeah the prog is back. I had no idea that Black Sabbath were my favorite prog rock band. these all rule the drum fills rule

Favorite Tracks: Supernaut Changes Snowblind

I will quickly swipe any excuse I can get to talk about Black Sabbath. But, for as much as I love this band, I had actually only heard Paranoid all the way through. So this got me even more excited, because I could hear an album from this band for the first time again. Some might say that choosing Black Sabbath Vol. 4 over Master of Reality is a strange choice. But I think you could choose any three or four albums from 1970 to 1975 and be fine. Because they were just that consistent. Anything with the original lineup is pretty much golden. And this record does not disappoint. It’s fucking awesome. I would have thought that because they had already achieved quite a bit of success up to this point, they would abandon the doom metal parts of the music. But this actually has some of Iommi’s heaviest sounding riffs, at least from what I’ve heard. It may not be as heavy as the album that preceded it. But every member is just so good here. Ozzy sounds absolutely spot on, and I think Tony, Bill and Geezer all give career defining performances on tracks like Wheels of Confusion and Supernaut. As if Paranoid wasn’t career and genre defining enough. That’s the part that makes this band so wonderful. Nobody was really doing anything like this at the time. Metal was in its very early days, so to have a group that put out music which still feels so special and unique over 50 years later is wild. St. Vitus Dance is easily the least interesting song. It’s less metal and more hard rock, and it’s nothing special. Laguna Sunrise is a folk song of all things. And one I surprisingly don’t mind. And Changes is a weird one. I was initially led to believe maybe it was a David Bowie cover. But when listening to it, I knew for a fact that I had heard that chorus elsewhere, I just couldn’t think of where. To learn that Black Sabbath made that song was weird. But overall, this is another excellent album from one of metal’s strongest groups ever. Rating: 9/10

LOVE Sabbath and this might be my favorite album of theirs. It goes as hard as their earlier stuff at points, but also has a lot more range.

Not the best Black Sabbath-album.... but still Black Sabbath!

MY EYES ARE BLIND BUT I CAN SEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I'm going through changes.

Black Sabbath always seemed like one of those bands that was overrated. Three songs in, I'm starting to get it. Changes is a great song, love this version, love the Charles Bradley version, just a great song. You can hear the similarities between Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin...two sides of the same 70s coin, one more blues rock, one more heavy metal. This album is great, Ozzy Osborne is a more intelligible singer than he is a speaker. Maybe Black Sabbath is underrated? I haven't been familiar with a single song yet but this rocks. Maybe it's just their hits I don't love. There are a lot of metal bands that owe a huge debt of gratitude to Black Sabbath. Another plus, varying song lengths, but an average of about four and a half minutes. 10 songs, 42 minutes, that's right in the zone in terms of number of songs and average song length. There are a couple of songs that I'm not sure how they fit in, good songs, but just seem a little out of place on this album.

Wow what a great album. I had no idea I would like Black Sabbath so much. The only thing I really associated them with was Ozzy Osbourne and he was truly more of a reality star to me. I never watched the reality show but being in middle school in the early 2000s you couldn't avoid at least hearing about him. I had an idea in my head of what their music would sound like but it was much more melodic than I expected. I think in my head it used to be metal=death metal screaming and it's not been until more recent years I unlearned that. I thought this album was beautiful in spots which surprised me. I particularly like the guitars on the album but everything blends together amazingly to make beautiful music. It's hard to even pick out favorites, but I would say that "Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener", "Supernaught", "Snowblind", and "Laguna Sunrise" stood out to me most on first listen.

An excellent album. Not their best, but nonetheless way better than a lot I've heard from this list so far.

Coke-fueled madness, seriously the Devil's music. 20 years after Elvis was possessed by the devil into shaking his hips, Sabbath showed them what a real demonic possession would look like. Trail blazing album, total brutal metal before metal was metal.

The first Black Sabbath album I ever bought and one of their best.

I was big into the first four or so Sabbath records a few years back. Forgot how good this one is. Maaaaaaybe the greatest hard rock album ever??

I'm not sure if I could say this is my favorite Black Sabbath album, but this one has a magic that no other has. While this album doesn't have some of the more well known bangers, the while album takes me away to another place. This album is important.

Glad to have fixed the fact I only heard Paranoid and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. This was brilliant! It had range, and was a really fun listen.

The first 6 Black Sabbath records are as good as music gets. Flawless band.

Never bothered with Sabbath much, so glad this dropped. Supernatural, Snowblind and especially Under the Sun must have influenced any number of bands. They more or less invented a genre or two. I can't believe Ozzy shot his wife. I will listen again so that's a 5.

BL: I’ve listened to their S/T & Paranoid so I think I’ve got Sabbath pretty locked down at this point. The origins of that slow doom / stoner metal sound is something I’ve fallen completely in love with and I can’t wait to hear even more of it. AL: I take back a lot of what I said in my initial before listening. I definitely did not have Sabbath pinned down. In the opening two tracks it followed the standard formula. Then we got hit by a cocaine fuelled super ballad “changes”, a track I was aware of (but for some reason had only ever heard covers of). Then it continues on in classic sabbathian fashion. “Snowblind” being a standout here. I loved this record a lot. As I love sabbath. Always pushing the boundaries, always trying to evolve, I have nothing bad to say about them or this record. FT: “Wheels of Confusion / The Straightener”, “Changes”, “Snowblind”, “Laguna Sunrise” 5/5

Nice

ES – se on jumalten juoma ES – Jonnen parhain kuoma ES – se saa keulimaan moposi ES – suuttuu opesi ja oposi, kun koulun käytävillä yhä huutelet sä meemejä vaikka kello välitunnilta jo sisään soi, tietokoneluokassa Viljamin veljeä hakkerointiasioissa konsultoida voi. ES – ikäraja viisitoista ES – ei kielto janoa poista ES – jostain löytyy hakija ES – hyvän päristelyn takia, aina jonkun sentin voihan siitä lisää maksaa, että Tero jolla ikä riitti sulle tölkit toi. Graffiteja piirrellä nyt iltaan asti jaksaa, Juusokin kun litran sitä tyhjään mahaan joi. under the sun

apparently, this came up in my rotation previously. here's my review from back then: so, of course i knew OF sabbath - but i really never listened to them. i'd somehow heard Changes before, but that was it - except for supernaut, which is a) easily my favorite on this album, and b) humorously, the least-played track, according to spotify. anyway, this one was so good, i went back and listened to it again, just to be sure. and yeah, it held up. amazing.

Pleasantly surprised at this album. I had always thought of Black Sabbath as a band I listen to when they come on, but not a band I would go out of my way to listen to... and I never had till now. I really enjoyed this album and was surprised how many songs I added to my liked list on Spotify. Very good and enjoyable album.

Amazing album!