Black Sabbath - Album Analysis - Case Study Example

Writer’s name] [Professor’s name] [Course title] [Date] Album Analysis Introduction In 1968, the band black panthers changed their name to Earth, The rock band Earth had written a song, Black Sabbath, about a man facing he devil during the biblical apocalypse. To avoid confusion with another band named Earth, they called themselves Black Sabbath after the song: a link between heavy rock and the occult was forged. In 1969 the heavy Sabbath released their first album, entitled "Black Sabbath", on February 13, 1970 and immediately had a "cult" following in Britain as well as America. It was released in April 2004.Ozzy and Black Sabbath played heavy, dark, almost evil tunes. Much in the same way Bill Monroe took elements of gospel and mountain music and created bluegrass, Black Sabbath did the same thing to invent heavy metal. Analysis Black Sabbath's debut album used the finest elements of then existing heavy music, and added a little British blues and mixed them together with creepy lyrics along with the most massive riffs ever used on tape. They had eponymous numbers like "The Wizard" and "Wicked World," this album undoubtedly was the beginning of heavy metal. Tony Iommi's guitar riffs can be continuously found in the songs. The rhythm part of Geezer Butler along with Bill Ward have used things which are like jazz many heavy metal bands have tried to use the Sabbath formula. And although a lot of you who only think Ozzy acted in on reality, with Black Sabbath he'll scare the wits out of you and you will appreciate him doing so. In 1970, four Birmingham boys released their first album; it hit the top 10 in the UK and later on the top 40 in the US. Black Sabbath had done a good job in their blend of sinister, scary rock and mythic lyrics which set the base for heavy metal. Many heavy metal bands were influenced by it ever since. The quartet -- Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne -- released 9 whole intensifying albums Sabbath was savaged for a sound that few outside its fan base understood or appreciated. Like virtually all heavy metal bands that would come after it, Sabbath was regarded as a blot on rock's increasingly progressive, politically aware soul. Stoned-out, dumb, awkward, inexpressive, over amplified and hideous: definitely rock was falling to an all-time low with this satanic nonsense, Some of the old prejudices continue; in recent years, the band has twice been passed over in voting by the music business "intelligentsia" for admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The songs in the album were: 1. Black Sabbath 2. The Wizard 3. Behind the Wall of Sleep 4. N.I.B. 5. Evil Woman 6. Sleeping Village 7. Warning The album‘s song black Sabbath had intense lyrics like: Big black shape with eyes of fire Telling people their desire Satan's sitting there, he's smiling Watch those flames get higher and higher Oh no, no, please God help me! The shortest song in the album is sleeping village. Ironically this song only has one verse and seems quite different from the other songs in the album. It talks about peace after the sun rise. There is no element of evil in this song. The title track is an all time classic track the intense lyrics have a Satanic touch and are synchronized with an equally satanic musical vision; this gives the track an extremely scary outlook. People have tried listening to it with the lights off, and they end up turning them back on with in a minute. The most horrifying and chilling line is “like the gates of Hell opening up,” along with the blues type jam-based ending - and to top it all off the talent of soloing guitarist Tony Iommi makes it worth while. Geezer Butler is the band’s Bassist, moreover the drummer is Bill Ward, he plays the drums as if a heard of elephant is running through the jungle. Getting scared is not every one’s way of enjoyment, some people prefer something light. They also composed a song in this album about a good wizard who fights against the forces of evils. “The Wizard.” The song’s prominent features are the harmonica, this is quite usual for a heavy metal satanic band. Especially “N.I.B” is a wonderful song about Satan falling in love. “Warning” is another wonderful Wong in this album. It has a classic mid-tempo touch and is sung by Ozzy and Ward. Both songs wizard and N.I.B really catchy and fun to hear, these songs proved that the band was developing their creativity. But, the album can use a little serious editing and less meaningless guitar soloing; it seemed as if the band released the album in a hurry. They didn’t have enough songs, composition or lyrics for an entire album and thus ended up doing a little plodding and giving exceedingly long performances. The album also has some weak points. One of them is the song 3 and the tortuous song 5. Song 3 is 10+ minute while song 5 goes past 14 minutes. Some of their lyrics are also quite bad like “take a body to a corpse if you want all remorse”. However it is still an extremely cool album, how ever they should pay more attention to their musical vision and keep their music simple, however this prominent weakness could not stand in the way of their success and they succeed in becoming the essence of heavy metal world. The one thing about the early Sabbath releases is that they are very visual. The power of the bass, drums and guitars grab you but the lyrics capture the imagination, bringing on visions in the mind's eye. Many bands have come after but very few have held the same captivating power of early Black Sabbath. If you are a fan of metal, you owe it to yourself to own this album. (Wiggins p1). The Black Sabbath’s fast road to fame and sky high sales of their first album in 1970 resulted in division of rock music audience, after the release of Black Sabbath heavy metal now added to be rated, teenage listeners who were too young were not allowed to hear the satanic lyrics of Sabbath's dark view of a aggressive and evil world in their songs. In tracks such as “the black Sabbath "N.I.B." and " evil woman Sabbath took its jazz- blues background to new extremes. In this music, Sabbath redefined rock: It was slower and denser than anything that had come before, with guitar riffs that seared themselves in the memory, lurching bass lines that redefined "low end" sound, and unusually agile cinder-block drumming, topped off by a vocalist who cut through the wall of sound with a buzzsaw tenor. With dire lyrics and sullen attitude, the band was radically outof step with all that had come before and totally in sync with the youth-culture existentialism that was to come. song after song the listener realizes that the scary tone of Sabbath's music due to the guitarist Tony Iommi's continually using the minor key tonic/subtonic shift of E and D" along with the " regular usage of semitonal intervals. The small chapters on history tend to entertain his elected audience, on such famous line is “the grown-ups who were there at the time and who lived through it." Apart from one song which involves a continuous usage of 4/4 riff on a B power chord, this compliments their other mixes of chord. They use amazingly complex and important guitar work with a course of astonishing, and stable, melody" and noting that yet another is "wonderful in its sporadic cruelty and splendor. Black Sabbath has been labeled the Beatles Of heavy metal. Anyone who's serious regarding metal will also tell you that heavy metal means Sabbath. Every have metal band that has written a wild twelve-minute number should thank them for it. There's a straight line you can sketch back from today's metal, all the way through 80’s heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath. Sabbath's darkness can be seen in Marilyn Manson songs. All strong themes can be found on Black Sabbath's records: beauty, violence, and the seven lethal sins. Their music can touch heart so much that feel like taking a walk with the one you love the most or you feel just like setting the gun on their head and pulling the trigger. Sometimes both feelings even take place in the same song. The title song has all the elements of a black Sabbath song this is its seditious and gloomy and evil, but it's also striking. Sabbath is simple yet amazing. The album black Sabbath gives a novel message in each and every song. They didn’t use anything fancy. They did wonders just by using your basic bass, drums, guitar and vocals. Black Sabbath's rhythm part does not consist of adequate props. If you pay attention to the manner that Geezer Butler and Bill Ward play off of each other that is where the core of the intensity of the music is. Along with Ozzy's astonishing voice and to top it all off, the heartbeat of heavy mental music the guitarist Tony Iommi, and it's an inevitable energy. You feel as if there are mountings come down. Sabbath has always had a way with the heavy, slow, wall-of-guitar pieces -- it's a style that has often been imitated, but never really duplicated “Iommi played fluidly and viscerally, and Ozzy once again nailed every note in his yearning melody. Evil Woman comes across quite powerfully, particularly as its dynamic shift in the bridge section gave way to a hair-raising coda. Outstanding. Heavy metal does not get any better. The songs in this album takes the screaming, long-neglected old-skool metal Black Sabbath, gives it a big, rejuvenating,s loppy kiss of melody and finesse, ruffles its hair and sits it back up at the high table of rock. Given the poverty of thought of much current heavy guitar music, it is a real delight to hear something that sounds so, well, classic. Listen in awe as the band plays their set so zorched out of their minds that Ozzy forgets lyrics and guitarist Tony Iommi misses chords. It is arguably one of the best live recordings you'll ever hear of this legendary monolith of a rock band--I'm sure true Sabbath fans will agree with me. This double-disc CD will take you back to the mid 70s when Black Sabbath was a young, super-charged group, The album has heavy, dark, almost evil tunes. However and Black Sabbath (cf, The Wizard and Black Sabbath, from their Ozzy Osbourne period) allude to the age old struggle between the forces of good and evil. (Matthew p1). Their music is more reminiscent of classical than one would think. Black Sabbath first part is extremely exceptional. The song wizard start off with a harmonica, this seems quite awkward considering the theme how ever the entire band managed to maintain the satanic aura of the album, Iommi and Butler mostly deliver the massive goods, however Ward's jazz based drumming and Ozzy's crude charisma show their wonders in "N.I.B.", followed by a useless bass solo which lasted for forty whole minutes , however this time the band truly manages to inculcate the song with a good judgment of elegance and a little of Iommi's best solo. Audience even has a liking for their astonishingly accessible song "Evil Woman," a straightforward and parched riff-driven rocker, although Butler's heavy bass-line along with Osbourne's vocals, which are more melodious than ever. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is an ingenious, daring and sinister song along with Ozzy’s vocals is like those in iron man. Nevertheless, the sound of the song is reminds the listeners of well written rock album , it had an organic and clear sound , with a heavy vague bass sound and drums you can really feel. Providentially, the sonic pleasure can't make up for residue of the rather average second half. The auditory introduction of the "Sleeping Village" is a pleasant distraction from the conventional heaviness, although what follows this is something extremely the brilliant. They used Iommi's double-tracked solo likewise, "The Warning" is more or else just a long solo by Iommi, which shows he can do a good job; however he cannot keep up the tempo for a number of minutes. However the lyrics sound quite old at times. There are too many long solos by Iommi. This greatly drops the quality of their debut album. However Ozzy’s lyric and performance seem to cover the gaps. Black Sabbath is one of the most influential albums, an essential ancestor of extreme rock'n'roll and the heritage for every new metal group. Their primeval blues-rock grind laid the foundations for metal's temple of doom: soul-sucking noise, tortured lyrics and a sense of unhinged menace. Conclusion In decades past, Sabbath was savaged for a sound that few outside its fan base understood or appreciated. Like virtually all heavy metal bands that would come after it, Sabbath was regarded as a blot on rock's increasingly progressive, politically aware soul. Yet with each passing decade, it becomes increasingly apparent that the original Sabbath was a band like no other. Not is it album the cornerstone of any hard-rock library, they are the foundation of a musical style that has endured three decades. That music is heavy metal, and though it has never gotten its due from the mainstream, it was the soundtrack for countless teen-age dreams (and nightmares). There were heavy albums before black Sabbath, but Sabbath took the term “power chords” to a new level. Guitarist Tony Iommi’s slowed-down mutant blues riffs, drummer Bill Ward’s big grooves, Geezer Butler’s throbbing bass and dark lyrics (which occasionally espoused the virtues of love and God) and of course Osbourne’s signature high-pitched whine, all crystallized by a macabre image and subject matter, sparked controversy and became the de facto image for much of the genre. Maybe these heavy-metal veterans have just gotten too good for their own good, turning out music that is, bottom line, just fine. There’s nothing particular to criticize in a sturdy album of well-crafted, well-sung songs, but also little to set one’s head banging. For all the satanic verses, there’s little heat. Thus to conclude it can be said that black Sabbath is an album that gave heavy metal new life. Because of this album now heavy metal bands even turned to satanic and dark verses. Each member of the band did the band did their best to make the album a success. There are setbacks like extremely long solos. But those setbacks are over shadowed by the dark and intense lyrics sung by Ozzy. Each song in the album is darker and more intense then the last. This creepy album makes one want to scream out loud, however for those who enjoy horror movies it the best thing they have ever heard. Work cited Marsh Dave and Stark Mike; Black Sabbath: An Oral History. Harper Entertainment. 2002 p4 Matthew O’Gorman; Rockers wrongly labelled as ‘mods’, 2004 p1 retrieved from Rosen Steven and Osbourne Ozzy; Black Sabbath Sanctuary Publishing, Ltd.; Revised edition 1990 p23 Tangye David and Wright Graham; How Black Was Our Sabbath: an Unauthorized View from the Crew; Pan Macmillan UK 2005 p45 Wiggins Keavin; Now from Darkness There Springs Light, 1998 p1 retrieved from Read More