Black Sabbath Sabotage CD

Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne (vocals); Tony Iommi (guitar); Geezer Butler (bass); Bill Ward (drums).
Additional personnel: English Chamber Choir (background vocals).
Principally recorded at Morgan Studios, London, England.
Years of constant touring, alcoholism, and drug abuse finally began to affect Black Sabbath around the time of their sixth release, 1975's Sabotage. While it's not a bad album (in fact, it's one of their most underrated), you can sense that the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Vol. 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate. But guitarist Tony Iommi again comes equipped with an arsenal of sturdy, ultra-heavy riffs, as evidenced by the raucous album opener, "Hole in the Sky," as well as the drug-induced anthem "Symptom of the Universe" -- both tracks coming as close to garage rock as Sabbath ever got. But the album's biggest surprise is the melodic, synth-laced "Am I Going Insane (Radio)," which is more akin to '70s power pop than to the band's patented doom metal (although the lyrics are what you'd expect -- detailing a person's downward spiral into dementia). Although often overlooked, Sabotage remains an interesting and challenging release. ~ Greg Prato
While many hard-core Black Sabbath fans consider 1975's SABOTAGE to be the band's most underrated album, it can also be pointed to as the beginning of the end for the original Osbourne-Iommi-Butler-Ward line-up. Osbourne was starting to feel disillusioned with the group, and the seeds for his highly successful solo career in the '80s were being planted. That said, SABOTAGE was the last Sabbath album to truly contain all of the components that made the quartet one the most popular heavy metal bands of all-time, before it pursued less focused musical detours.
The album's most surprising cut is undoubtedly the tripped-out psychedelic rocker "Am I Going Insane (Radio)," which would be included a year later on Sabbath's greatest-hits collection, WE SOLD OUR SOUL FOR ROCK N' ROLL. Other standouts include the crushing album opener, "Hole in the Sky," as well as the ultra-stimulated rager "Symptom of the Universe," which would be used later as an opener for Ozzy Osbourne's 1982 solo live album of Sabbath nuggets, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. While those just discovering Sabbath should stick with such landmark recordings as PARANOID, MASTER OF REALITY, and SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH, there are more than just a few highlights on SABOTAGE.Q (1/01, p.122) - 4 out of 5 stars - "...Highly underrated..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.81) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Tony Iommi's idea bank was overflowing and, as the band improved, he became more inventive, pushing the metal envelope with every new song."