Vol 4
by Black Sabbath

Album
Vol 4 by Black Sabbath
Year: 1972
Release date: Anniversary 1972-09-25 (54th Year Anniversary)
Overall rank: 810th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 686 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1972 (17th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (173rd)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (810th)

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Black Sabbath bestography

Vol 4 is ranked 5th best out of 49 albums by Black Sabbath on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Black Sabbath is Paranoid which is ranked number 50 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 18,037.

Black Sabbath album bestography « Higher ranked (720th)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath This album (810th)
Vol 4 Lower ranked (829th) »
Heaven And Hell

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Vol 4 track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (870 - 170 votes)
Wheels Of Confusion
Average Rating: 87 (170 votes)Comments: View 1
2.
Tomorrow's Dream
Average Rating: 82 (138 votes)Comments: View 1
3.
Changes
Average Rating: 84 (174 votes)Comments: View 1
4.
FX
Average Rating: 63 (114 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Track pick (880 - 170 votes)
Supernaut
Average Rating: 88 (170 votes)Comments: View 3
6.
Track pick (870 - 163 votes)
Snowblind
Average Rating: 87 (163 votes)Comments: View 2
7.
Cornucopia
Average Rating: 80 (133 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Laguna Sunrise
Average Rating: 79 (130 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
St. Vitus Dance
Average Rating: 79 (126 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Under The Sun
Average Rating: 85 (132 votes)Comments: View 0

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Vol 4 rankings

Vol 4 rankings summary
Overall rank: 810th | 1970s rank: 173rd | 1972 rank: 17th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)

Vol 4 collection

Vol 4 ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 686 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 686 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !		09/09/2026 18:06 Johnnyo  Ratings distribution  9,84077/100
 
90/100
 !		08/30/2026 02:27 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,60475/100
 
85/100
 !		08/29/2026 21:01 JR  Ratings distribution  1,12481/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.0/100, a mean average of 80.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.6.


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Vol 4 favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 115 members

Iglou2981
FrancK
duelek
jwalsh97
Pienk
slatsheit
byuzak
0gan
rubkill
Cardboardfolder

Vol 4 forum mentions

This album has been referenced 189 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From matterhornrider 3 days ago in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (43 mentions) →

From BestEverAlbums 07/05/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5364): By steve397
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1970s by ) 1. (1975) 2. by (1973) 3. by (1978) 4. by (1979) 5. by (1971) 6. by (1971) 7. by (1972) 8. by (1972) 9. by (1970) 11. (1977) 13. by (1978) 14. by (1970) 15. (1976) 16. by by by (1979) 19. by (1977) 20. by (1976) 21. by (1978) 22. by…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 07/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5361): By deadhouse
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1970) 2. by by (1965) 4. (1980) 5. by by (1967) 7. by (1959) 8. by by (1985) 10. by (1967) 12. by (1971) 13. by (1959) 14. by (1970) 15. by (1968) 16. by by (1979) 19. by (1966) 20. by (1969) 21. by (1960) 22. by (1959) 23. by…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

Vol 4 comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 39 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/31/2026 15:38 | #315495
Legendary shit. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/24/2026 19:44 | #312778
All of Sabbath's first 6 albums are gold! (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
Rating:  
50/100
From 01/07/2026 23:05 | #312510
Supernaut and Snowblind are both incredible, two of their best tracks. But I was disappointed with the rest of the album overall, it's lacking the consistency of Master of Reality and Paranoid. Don't see the point of FX as a track. Changes is a strange song to be on a Sabbath album but it kind of works for me. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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Rating:  
90/100
From 09/19/2025 05:39 | #310975
This may not be as good as Paranoid or Master of Reality, but Vol. 4 is an essential heavy metal album in its own right. It is the best produced Sabbath album, with the guitar, bass and drums sounding very crisp and refined, with Ozzy’s vocals as good as ever.

A couple songs are a bit of a drop in quality from the rest of the album, namely the filler track, FX, and St. Vitus Dance, but they are still not enough to detract from what is indeed the third best in Sabbath’s career.

Standout tracks:

Wheels of Confusion

Supernaut

Snowblind

Under the Sun (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/01/2025 23:05 | #307353
Une incroyable collections de riffs mais il ne faut surtout pas réduire cet album à cela. Il y a aussi de belles melodies, des changements de rythmes, et de l'expérimentation,... Un des chefs d'œuvre du groupe. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
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