Reading about the life of Ozzy Osbourne is kind of bewildering, and sometimes disturbing (everyone knows about the bat, but he apparently also snorted a line of ants once… somehow). To stick with the music, though, he released some legendary stuff over his decades-spanning career, especially as the frontman of Black Sabbath, being the band’s lead vocalist throughout the 1970s, on their first eight albums.
There was one ninth Black Sabbath album with Osbourne, released in 2013, while different singers served the frontman role at other points in the band’s run (including Ronnie James Dio and Tony Martin). It’s also fair to say that most (though not all) of the band’s classic albums were done with Ozzy Osbourne, and him being the first lead singer in the band helps his name be synonymous with Black Sabbath, too. The following is a ranking of all nine studio albums Black Sabbath did with Osbourne as the lead vocalist, starting with a couple of misses and ending with some absolute classics of the whole heavy metal genre.
9
‘Never Say Die’ (1978)
When Never Say Die kicks off, it doesn’t initially sound too bad, since the title track is up first, and it’s about as decent as the album gets. You don’t know that initially, though, or you probably don’t, if you’re just getting around to these less well-known Black Sabbath albums, like, today. It could happen. It could be someone’s reality, the one they’re a master of and stuff.
After “Never Say Die,” right at the start, things kind of fall apart. The album doesn’t really sound like Black Sabbath, and in hindsight, it doesn’t feel too surprising that Ozzy Osbourne pursued a solo career separate from the band after the release of this one (thankfully, he returned for one more studio album, plus some live shows later on). Since Heaven and Hell, the first Black Sabbath album without Osbourne, was genuinely very good (and a big improvement on the previous two albums), maybe it was for the best, at that time.
8
‘Technical Ecstasy’ (1976)
The weirdness here starts – but certainly doesn’t end – with the album cover, because it’s anyone’s guess what’s going on there. Technical Ecstasy keeps feeling odd once you tear your eyes away from that cover long enough to engage the album with your ears. It’s the first slight miss Black Sabbath had, to be perfectly honest. Sure, Never Say Die missed a little more, but Technical Ecstasy was that first unfortunate misstep, and perhaps the first non-essential album of Black Sabbath’s, too.
There are releases without Osbourne from the 1980s and 1990s that are technically Black Sabbath albums and are a little worse, but still, there’s just not much by way of reasons to spend time with Technical Ecstasy. The two longest songs here, “You Won’t Change Me” and “Dirty Women,” aren’t bad, but everything else is surprisingly forgettable. There isn’t a ton of passion or life here, which is odd when you consider how good the first six Black Sabbath albums were.
7
’13’ (2013)
You know, it’s better than you might expect, or than you might fear. 13 is, unsurprisingly, not as good as the classic Black Sabbath albums Ozzy Osbourne was a part of, and they are going to be gotten to momentarily, but it’s good that 13 exists to stop those other two albums from being the last official ones with Osbourne. It’s a way of ending things on a comparable high, albeit not a high for the band’s overall discography, by any means.
It’s familiar territory, for the band. They sound a bit like they’re playing the hits, even if they’re not technically hits, and are instead songs that just sound recognizably Black Sabbath in nature. If you like the band’s ‘70s output, you will find things to generally like here, but if you’re after things you’ll actually love, that’s not guaranteed, by any means. There isn’t much to be truly wowed by with 13, but again, it not sounding too bad overall is definitely something. And it’s worth listening to over Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, for what that might be worth.
6
‘Sabotage’ (1975)
Like Technical Ecstasy, the cover of Sabotage is perhaps a little iffy, but unlike Technical Ecstasy, Sabotage is a pretty good album overall. It was the sixth album Black Sabbath released, and so if you look at its placement here, and notice it’s #6, that kind of suggests it was the weakest Black Sabbath album at that point in the band’s history. Like, that’s technically true.
The album itself is not weak, though, with the first half being especially strong, comprising “Hole in the Sky,” “Symptom of the Universe,” and “Megalomania,” with the last of those songs being almost 10 minutes long, because Black Sabbath just could, one assumes (the second track here, “Don’t Start (Too Late)” is more of an interlude than a real song, since it’s so short). If anything, Sabotage could’ve benefited from having its best songs spread out a little more, because the second half, while not terrible by any means, doesn’t quite have the same impact as the first half. It’s not a deal-breaker, and Sabotage is still good even with that notable imperfection.
5
‘Vol. 4’ (1972)
Unsurprisingly, Vol. 4 is the fourth Black Sabbath album, but it just misses out on being the fourth-best overall. Sorry. Compared to Sabotage, it’s an improvement in the sense that the best songs here are all spread out a little more. It’s like Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, honestly, with the evenness of its distribution, starting with the fact that the opening and closing tracks here (“Wheels of Confusion” and “Under the Sun,” respectively) are both highlights.
And then rounding out the first side of the album, you’ve got “Supernaut,” right before the second side of the album gets kicked off in style, thanks to “Snowblind.” Those songs are all great, while just about every other song is at least pretty good… except for the strange “FX,” which is a little too long to be just an interlude, and is technically the album’s fourth song. That fourth song on Vol. 4 could’ve probably been cut, truth be told. It doesn’t add much, but otherwise, this is essential Black Sabbath.
4
‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ (1973)
And now here’s the fifth Black Sabbath album, which was not called “Vol. 5,” and was instead given the pretty great name of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Again, it has to be acknowledged that it would’ve felt nice to put album #5 at #5, and Vol. 4 and #4, but Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is just a little better than the album that preceded it. For starters, it helps that there are no goofy interludes blown up to the length of a full-on song (or something close to full-length) here.
It’s eight decently lengthy songs, with even the shortest ones exceeding four minutes, and a couple of the longest ones being around the six-minute mark. Everything has room to breathe on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and the result is a well-balanced and very consistent album. Highlights don’t jump out quite as much, because of this, but there is still that title track which probably shines the brightest (which is saying quite a lot, since everything here, to some extent, shines).
3
‘Black Sabbath’ (1970)
Black Sabbath introduced themselves to the world with an album called Black Sabbath, and the very first song on that debut album was “Black Sabbath.” It’s like, how much more Black can the Sabbath get? (The answer is none. None more Black). No, but seriously, it’s an incredible opening statement from the band as they open their first album. The band’s overall energy and feel are set perfectly right from the start.
Funnily enough, it’s not even the best Black Sabbath album of 1970, just because this year had them at such a creative peak, they went ahead and released another all-time classic rock/metal album later that year. Black Sabbath, as in the album, is pretty much just as essential, though, and almost as good. If you’re looking for highlights beyond the title track, you’ve also got “N.I.B.” and “The Wizard,” but honestly, you can’t really go wrong with any of the seven songs found on this debut studio album.
2
‘Master of Reality’ (1971)
Black Sabbath didn’t waste any time with their third album, Master of Reality, following on from the first two albums of theirs which both dropped in 1970. The momentum was maintained, to say the least, with these first three Black Sabbath albums ultimately being their three best, with Master of Reality being a good one to pick as your favorite if you’re worried about making too obvious a pick… but hey, the obvious pick was picked here. You don’t have to scroll very far now to see that confirmed.
Anyway, Master of Reality is a little shorter than most of the classic Black Sabbath albums, at just over 34 minutes all up, but it keeps most of the songs fairly long, with two of its eight tracks being interludes, and the rest exceeding five minutes in length. “Sweet Leaf” feels like it might represent the album peaking early, as the first song here, but then you’ve got “Children of the Grave” at the halfway point, and “Into the Void” at the very end, to cast doubt on that whole idea. It’s paced and sequenced well throughout, and has well and truly earned its status as a classic (not to mention influential) metal album.
1
‘Paranoid’ (1970)
This is the one. This is the album that you can play for people who don’t think they like metal, and convince them to at least like some metal, or this metal. Paranoid is a defining heavy metal album, you know? Maybe it’s the heavy metal album, very much satisfying as a hard rock album, too. Perhaps therein lies its appeal and approachability, because there is super immediate and instantly attention-grabbing songwriting on offer here.
You get it from the very start, with “War Pigs,” and then the second track, “Paranoid,” is potentially even better, or at least even snappier/more immediate. From there, it’s pretty much non-stop greatness. Almost every song here is worth a shout-out, with even the strange and quiet tracks here playing a role in the flow of the overall album. Paranoid is basically perfect, and an album that pretty much refuses to get old, even if it is technically kind of old, having existed for more than 55 years at this point. Here’s to it sounding just as good 55 decades from now, too.
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