Although it was not their last album with Ozzy, Sabotage
very much plays as the breaking point for original-lineup Sabbath. Already the heaviest band on earth, struggles
with drug addiction and legal issues with their record label created the
perfect storm for their fifth album to reach unheard of levels of volatility,
heaviness, and experimentation. On
Sabotage, overblown grandiosity coexists with outright aggression, and
unpredictability reigns supreme. I was
about 14 when a borrowed copy from my dad’s vinyl collection became the first
rock music to legitimately scare me. I
haven’t been able to get enough ever since.
Lead song Hole in the Sky is one of the band’s most
immediate rockers, and the churning, perpetual rhythm of Symptom of the
Universe laid the foundation for the upcoming "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" and is often credited with initiating the thrash metal aesthetic. These guys had always been scary, but it’s
clear from the beginning of Sabotage that now they’re pissed off. While their earlier material preferred to lurch
about in dark atmospherics, Sabotage’s opening tracks are straight downhill;
less menacing than they are pummeling and overbearing. It starts getting weird with the aptly-named
side-one closer Megalomania. The track
grinds its way into larger-than-life territory via Ozzy’s coked-out obsession
with tracking his vocals several times over and drummer Bill Ward’s similar
deal with “backwards cymbal” and other effects.
The band had never sounded more unhinged, yet it all seems to fit. Megalomania does not surpass a snail’s pace
until nearly four minutes in, instead alternating between sullen laments and depraved
cries of agony- all seeming to come from unfathomable depths of murk. By the time the song kicks into gear halfway
through, you know you’re at the mercy of a madman. The band clearly hits a stride though,
delivering their familiar aesthetic with bursting immediacy and edge.
Side two opens with The Thrill of it All, which begins as
a solid riff-based track but very quickly grows out of itself to the point of
pomposity. The song is okay, it just
becomes too bouncy and light for the albums context, sounding much more like
what Ozzy would go on to do with his solo career (a trap also succumbed to by
later song Am I Going Insane). However,
it gives way to the gloriously devilish Supertzar; a grinding instrumental that
immediately restores all of the evilness that Sabbath had built their legacy
upon. Tony Iommi unleashes one of his
darkest guitar riffs, only to be dramatically harmonized by a catholic-esque
choir. On a promising album that
threatened to blow itself out of proportion, Supertzar is brilliantly placed, taking
the top off while simultaneously bringing the band back to its roots in a big
way.
The albums final epic The Writ opens with a droning bassline
before giving way to a jarringly hostile verse section; which lyrically seems
to depict the wrongdoing of the band’s record label at the time. Whatever the case, The Writ ends Sabotage in
remarkably fitting fashion. The track
plays as much too overblown for the band’s own good, while also devastatingly
suffocating in its heaviness. It should
also be noted that during the song’s midsection I used to be absolutely sure
that Ozzy was chanting “Matt…” which increased its impact tenfold... I still choose to believe, though it
apparently is “rat”.
