Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (studio album)
by Black Sabbath

This is my third favourite Sabb album coming in a very closely behind the self-titled album with Paranoid being my no. 1 pick.

In just three years the band had produced four fantastic, ground-breaking albums and undertaken extensive tours and then came into the studio to produce their fifth album in just over three years.

By all accounts, the initial attempts to write songs for Sabbath Bloody Sabbath were unsuccessful. Tony Iommi said "Ideas weren't coming out the way they were on Vol. 4 and we really got discontent. Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything” Not too surprising when you consider the workload of the previous few years.

For me, sometimes you’re in the right frame of mind for you to have an instant connection to an album, sometimes it takes a little longer. With this album, my connection was instantaneous. I thought that it was the most mature album up to that point and possibly of their whole career.

One final anecdote about the album. Rick Wakeman was brought in as a session player, appearing on "Sabbra Cadabra". He refused payment from the band and was ultimately compensated with beer for his contribution. So Rock N Roll.

One last word from Ozzy. He said that Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was "the beginning of the end" for Black Sabbath's original line-up. Speaking to Mojo he said "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was really the album after which I should have said goodbye because after that I really started unravelling. Then we ended up falling out of favour with each other."

I think that makes total sense as I would argue that this is the last great Sabbath album (although there were others which were good).

From lleon79 07/30/2025 20:40

Probably my favorite Sabbath album so far!

From VictorVale 01/23/2023 11:58

Brinca com o tempo das musicas, com o peso e complexidade.

From rockbluesfolkjaz 02/25/2022 19:39

It's not at the top for me as a favorite, but it's definitely Sabbath's most melodic album. The song arrangements and chord changes are above and beyond what Sabbath usually did. Love it!

Very consistent good Sabbath album, no weak tracks. Best tracks for me are The National Acrobat and Killing Yourself To Live. This is not masterpiece on level of Paranoid or Master Of Reality or even the debut, but this is slight improvement from Vol 4. I still don't like the mix and some Ozzy's vocals here that's why score isn't higher.

An album full of good music and consistency with not one song being average or below. The instrumentation is very experimental as well and add on top the vocal and you have a deadly combo. They maintain this same style all the way through which makes the record feel very cohesive and it feels complete when you finish it. The title track and Sabbra Cadabra are my two personal favourite tracks but you can pick more. However, I do think the production lets the album down a bit with it sounding a bit underwhelming in places where it should be hard hitting. Also, it is missing the truly exceptional songs that they usually have on their records. Overall, a well thought out and interesting sabbath album but I do think it is a little flawed.

Not as good as Sabotage.

A perfect marriage of sabbath's heavy sound, and their experimental sound

My first Sabbath album, and MAN what an album it is. Very special. I can't imagine anything capturing the vibe of this album again. Sabbath were on a creative streak with this album. So damn good.

It's also hilarious that this is ranked 666th of all time on this site. Is that a coincidence lol

The title track plays in my head all day every time I listen to it.