Siamo nel 1973 ed i Black Sabbath, ormai sulla cresta dell'onda grazie al planetario successo di Paranoid (1970), sfornano il quinto atto della loro epopea musicale: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Solo osservando la copertina (in cui compaiono demoni, teschi ed il 666, numero biblico dell'anticristo) si intuisce quale dovesse essere il clima che circondava il Sabba Nero in quegli anni...

L'album si apre con la meravigliosa title-track caratterizzata dal pesante riffone (in puro Tony Iommi's style) che fa da tellurico sottofondo alla sgraziata e malefica voce di Ozzy Osbourne, ottime le parti in cui Iommi "strozza" la distorsione per ricreare un certo effetto "jazzato" che ben si amalgama con la voce del "Madman" Osbourne. Scossi dal passaggio di "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" ecco che le nostre orecchie vengono assalite dalle cadenze tombali del riff di "A National Acrobat", brano che richiama in un certo qual modo "Electric Funeral" (presente su Paranoid) per il suo andamento tipicamente doomeggiante. Dopo la strumentale "Fluff" (una vera magia di Iommi), si giunge alla rockeggiante "Sabbra Cadabra" (indubbiamente la track più "allegra" del disco) che smorza un po' il clima plumbeo che si è respirato fino ad ora con un tono decisamente meno catacombale. I cattivi pensieri tornano con la successiva "Killing Yourself To Live" dove già solo il titolo esplica molte cose... Suggestiva e ricca di cupo fascino è "Who Are You" in cui il suono della chitarra di "baffo" Iommi si sposa a meraviglia con le tastiere (che per l'occasione vengono suonate da Rick Wakeman degli Yes) creando una miscela accattivante e nello stesso tempo atipica per un gruppo come i Sabbath... Allegra ma un po' scontata la successiva "Looking For Today" (sicuramente la song meno riuscita di questo meraviglioso album...) che prepara il terreno al trionfale ingresso a "Spiral Architect", brano che rivaleggia con la title-track nella scelta della gemma del disco. L'apertura è affidata ad un "lisergico" arpeggio di Iommi che fa da rampa di lancio per l'ingresso della voce di Ozzy. Caratterizzata da un arrangiamento abbastanza complesso (Iommi dà libero sfogo alle sue attitudini più "progressive") la track scorre via che è un piacere quasi come se scivolasse leggiadra su un tappeto di rose (attenzione alle spine però...!); probabilmente una delle migliori composizioni di Iommi & Co.

Quest'album può essere definito come un "affresco" della carriera del Sabba Nero dove tutti gli elementi che caratterizzano il suono della band vengono messi in evidenza, sicuramente Sabbath Bloody Sabbath rappresenta il picco creativo della prima formazione, negli anni successivi i Sabbath sforneranno ancora degli ottimi album ma il fascino e la follia del periodo con Ozzy Osbourne alla voce non lo riusciranno più a ricreare...

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (05:45)

02   A National Acrobat (06:13)

A National Acrobat

I am the world that hides
The universal secret of all time
Destruction of the empty spaces
Is my one and only crime
I've lived a thousand times
I found out what it means to be believed
The thoughts and images
The unborn child that never was conceived

When little worlds collide
I'm trapped inside my embryonic cell
And flashing memories
Are cast into the never ending well
The name that scorns the face
The child that never sees the cause of man
The deathly darkness that
Belies the fate of those who never ran

Well I know its hard for you
To know the reason why
And I know you'll understand
More when it's time to die
Don't believe the life you have
Will be the only one
You have to let your body sleep
To let your soul live on

Love has given life to you
And now it's your concern
Unseen eyes of inner life
Will make your soul return
Still I look but not to touch
The seeds of life are sown
Curtain of the future falls
The secret stays unknown

Just remember love is life
And hate is living death
Treat your life for what it's worth
And live for every breath
Looking back I've lived and learned
But now I'm wondering
Here I wait and only guess
What this next life will bring

03   Fluff (04:08)

Instrumental

04   Sabbra Cadabra (05:57)

Feel so good I feel so fine
Love that little lady always on my mind
She gives me lovin' every night and day
Never gonna leave her
Never going away

Someone to love me
You know she makes me feel alright
Someone who needs me
Love me every single night

Feel so happy since I met that girl
When we're making love
It's something out of this world
Feels so good to know that she's all mine
Going to love that woman till the end of time

Someone to live for
Love me till the end of time
Makes me feel happy
Good to know that she's all mine

Lovely lady make love all night long
Lovely lady never do me no wrong
I don't wanna leave ya
I never wanna leave ya
Anymore no more

Lovely lady
Mystifying eyes
Lovely lady
She don't tell me no lies
I know I'll never leave ya
I'm never gonna leave ya
Anymore no more

05   Killing Yourself to Live (05:41)

How people look and people stare
Well I don't think that I even care
You rot your life away and what do they give?
You're only killing yourself t live
Killing Yourself To Live!
Killing Yourself To Live!

Just take a look around you, what do you see?
Pain, suffering, and misery
It's not the way the world was planned
It's a pity you don't understand
Killing Yourself To Live!
Killing Yourself To Live!

I'm telling you!
Believe in me!
Nobody else will tell you
Open your eyes!
And see the lies!
Oh yeah!

Smoke it!
Get high!

You think that I'm crazy and baby I know that it's true
Before that you know it I think that you'll go crazy too

I don't know if I'm up or down
Well the black and whites are blue and brown
The colors in my life are all different somehow
Little boy blue's a big girl now

So you think it's me who's strange
But you've never had to make the change
Never give your trust away
You'll end up in paying till your dying day

06   Who Are You? (04:10)

07   Looking for Today (05:01)

It's complete but obsolete
All tomorrow's become yesterday
In demand but second hand
It's been heard before you even play

Up to date but came too late
Better get yourself another name
You're so right but overnight
You're the one who has to take the blame

Everyone just gets on top of you
The pain begins to eat your pride
You can't believe in anything you knew
When was the last time that you cried

Don't delay you're in today
But tomorrow is another dream
Sunday's star is Monday's scar
Out of date before you're even seen

At the top so quick to flop
You're so new but rotting in decay
Like butterfly so quick to die
But you're only looking for today

Everyone just gets on top of you
The pain begins to eat your pride
You can't believe in anything you knew
When was the last time that you cried
Looking for today

Glamour trip so soon to slip
Easy come but oh how quick it goes
Ten foot tall but what to fall
Hard to open yet so easy to close
Front page news but so abused
You just want to hide yourself away
Over-paid, but soon you fade
Because you're only looking for today
Looking for today

08   Spiral Architect (05:31)

Sorcerers of madness
selling me their time
Child of God sitting in the sun
Keeping peace of mind
Fictional seduction
On a black snow sky
Sadness kills the superman
Even fathers cry

Of all the things I value most of all
I look inside myself
And see my world
And know that it is good

You know that I should

Superstitious centuries
Didn't time go slow
Separating sanity
Watching children grow
Synchronated undertaker
Spiral skies
Silver ships on plasmic oceans
In disguise

Of all the things I value most in life
I see my memories
And feel their warmth
And know that they are good

You know that I should

Watching eyes of celluloid
Tell you how to live
Metophoric motories
Say give, give, give
Laughter giving, love is showing
me the way
Spiral building architect
I build, you pay

Of all the things I value most of all
I look upon my Earth
And feel the warmth
And know that it is good

You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should

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Altre recensioni

Di  mista

 "'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' è un meraviglioso anello di congiunzione tra le epoche dei Sabbath."

 "God knows as your dog knows: il verso più figo."


Di  sanvalentino3

 "Il capolavoro forse involontario del gruppo."

 "Il disco suona fresco, ispirato e dinamico. Incredibilmente il cantato di Ozzy è efficace e imprescindibile ai pezzi."