Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 30 November 1973. It was produced by the band and recorded at Morgan Studios in London in September 1973. The writing process for the album, which began in Los Angeles, California, was initially hampered in part by the band's substance abuse and fatigue following its 1972–1973 world tour in support of their previous album, Vol. 4. While working in the dungeon, Iommi stumbled onto the main riff of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", which set the tone for the new material. In 2001 Butler admitted to Dan Epstein of Guitar World, "We almost thought that we were finished as a band ... Once Tony came out with the initial riff for 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' we went 'We're baaaack!'"
Recording
The spooky atmosphere at Clearwell Castle perfectly complemented the band's practice of playing practical jokes on one another. In the documentary Black Sabbath, Volume 1: 1970–1978 Iommi recalls, "I've got to be honest, we frightened the life out of each other. We had to leave in the end, everybody terrified of each other because we were playing jokes on each other and nobody knew who was doing it... We used to leave and drive all the way home and drive back the next day. It was really silly." In his autobiography Osbourne cracks, "We weren't so much the Lords of Darkness as the Lords of Chickenshit when it came to that kind of thing ... We wound each other up so much none of us got any sleep. You'd just lie there with your eyes wide open, expecting an empty suit of armour to walk into your bedroom at any second to shove a dagger up your arse." Osbourne also writes that he nearly burnt the castle down one night when he fell asleep with his boot in the fire. Osbourne said that when it came to the shenanigans Bill Ward typically "got the worst of it", with the drummer eventually going to bed at night with a dagger.
Although the band's then-manager Patrick Meehan received credit as co-producer, Iommi said years later that Meehan had virtually no actual involvement in the album's production, saying "Meehan's ego got involved, and he stuck his name down as producer". Recording was completed at Morgan Studios in Willesden, North London in 1973. Keyboardist Rick Wakeman of the band Yes (who were recording Tales from Topographic Oceans in the next studio) was brought in as a session player, appearing on "Sabbra Cadabra". Wakeman refused payment from the band and was ultimately compensated with beer for his contribution. Drummer John Bonham was eager to play on "Sabbra Cadabra", but Sabbath preferred to play material other than their own for the occasion. In 2013, the singer elaborated to Mojo, "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." Fuelled by rampant drug and alcohol use within the band, tensions began to mount. Iommi began to resent doing most of the songwriting and studio work, thus having no social life.
The Vertigo LP featured a gatefold cover, with the interior showing a color photograph of translucent members of the band standing in a furnished bedroom.
Release and reception
Black Sabbath released Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in late November 1973. For the first time in their career, the band began to receive favourable reviews in the mainstream press, with Rolling Stone calling the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair", and "nothing less than a complete success". Later reviewers such as AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia cite the album as "a masterpiece, essential to any heavy metal collection", while also displaying "a newfound sense of finesse and maturity". The album marked the band's fifth consecutive platinum selling album in the United States. It reached number four on the UK charts, and number eleven in the US. In the UK, it was the first Black Sabbath album to attain Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in February 1975. The album would go on to be regarded in high esteem by the band members themselves; when asked by Guitar for the Practicing Musician in 1994 which songs he would like to see on the upcoming Black Sabbath box set, Butler replied, "Probably anything off of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The song "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" itself. It was a whole new era for us. We felt really open on that album. It was a great atmosphere, good time, great coke! Just like a new birth for me. We had done the first four albums and done it that way. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was like Part Two of your life. It was a weird feeling; a good feeling." In his memoir, Iommi calls the album "the pinnacle".
The song "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" has been singled out for praise by many hard rock and heavy metal guitar players, with Slash from Guns N' Roses stating to Guitar World in 2008, "The outro to 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' is the heaviest shit I have ever heard in my life. To this day, I haven't heard anything as heavy that has as much soul." Brent Hinds of Mastodon agrees, telling Nick Bowcott in 2008, "The 'dreams turn to nightmares, Heaven turns to Hell' riff at the end of that song is unbeatable." Kirk Hammett of Metallica cites "Killing Yourself to Live" as his favourite Black Sabbath song, revealing in the Holiday 2008 issue of Guitar World that "A lot of people gravitate toward the album's title track, 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', but for me this is the stand out cut on the album." Metallica would later cover "Sabbra Cadabra" on their 1998 covers album Garage Inc.
Dave Williams of Drowning Pool stated that he would want the album with him if he were stranded on a desert island. Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth has praised "Spiral Architect", which is "mostly based around Ozzy’s voice, Iommi’s acoustic guitar and Will Malone’s string arrangements. It’s also the last one out on the record – an honorary spot, as everybody into vinyl knows."
Track listing
Note: The initial Castle Communications CD release from 1986 (NELCD 6017) also featured a live version of "Cornucopia" from Live at Last as a bonus track. The subsequent Castle CD release (CLACD 201) returned to the original tracklist.
Personnel
Black Sabbath
- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals <small>(all tracks except 3)</small>, synthesisers <small>(tracks 5 and 6)</small>, tambourine, handclaps <small>(track 7)</small>
- Tony Iommi – guitars <small>(all tracks)</small>, piano <small>(tracks 3, 4, and 6)</small>, synthesiser <small>(track 5)</small>, harpsichord <small>(track 3)</small>, organ <small>(track 7)</small>, flute <small>(track 7)</small>, handclaps <small>(track 7)</small>, bagpipes <small>(track 8)</small>
- Geezer Butler – bass <small>(all tracks)</small>, synthesiser and Mellotron <small>(track 6)</small>, handclaps <small>(track 7)</small>, noise <small>(track 8)</small>
- Bill Ward – drums <small>(all tracks except 3)</small>, bongos <small>(track 2)</small>, timpani <small>(tracks 6 and 8)</small>, handclaps <small>(track 7)</small>
Additional personnel
- Rick Wakeman – piano and Minimoog <small>(track 4)</small>
- Wil Malone – conductor, arranger <small>(track 8)</small>
- The Phantom Fiddlers – strings <small>(track 8)</small>
Production
- Produced by Black Sabbath for Excellency Productions
- Engineered by Mike Butcher
- Coordination: Mark Forster
- Tape operator: George Nicholson
- Cover artwork: Drew Struzan
- Cover concept: Pacific Eye & Ear
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Chart (1973–1974)
! Peak<br/>position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
| align="center"| 5
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)
| align="center"| 25
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| align="center"| 57
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! scope="col"| Chart (2020–2021)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
! scope="col"| Chart (2025)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Croatian International Albums (HDU)
| 20
|-
! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 94
|}