Review Summary: Cinematic, Exploratory, Yet Not Perfected
Well, it's not so long that every great band begins to run out of gas, and the mighty Sabbath who had put out three great albums in a row in a mere two-year span would start to experience a slight slump. However, the keyword here is
SLIGHT. If anything, this album is a very rewarding near-miss, and still holds up as one of their greats despite the shortcomings. It's worth noting it was the first to really dive into way more variety and playing with experimentation more often and in very creative ways. Still, it's the weakest of the first five Sabbath albums, and this approach would be perfected on their next LP.
Iommi's riffs are intricate and creative strokes on the canvas of sound, with Bill Ward drumming moving worlds between pulverizing his drumkit and gently grazing it softly as a feather, Geezer goes all in and so does Ozzy, these all result in some of the best songs the bands ever made. "Snowblind", for example, despite the topic being on it being a love letter to cocaine, the metaphor use in the lyrics is nothing short of genius and the way the song plays out is almost theatrical; the inclusion of the explosive bridge after being used to a more mid-tempo sound, only for it to erupt again in the final verse with a mellotron giving the sound of an orchestra is brilliant.
"Supernaut" is great and one of Bill Ward's greatest drumming, with a percussion solo that really brings the song to life, even John Bonham couldn't help but be blown away by it, wanting to play it at a few jam sessions each band had together. "Under The Sun" is one of the heaviest tracks ever created both lyrically and musically, with a genius riff and great lyricism that reads like poetry. The switch up in the bridge of the song is marvelous and gives you its own unique flavor, almost like a completely new song in the middle of the main one. "St. Vitus Dance" is more of a hard rock tune that is like a nod to the more simple songs of the 60s, and personally, I've got to say it is my favorite. I dig the lighter feel of this one, and the more carefree feeling of it. "Wheels of Confusion" and "Cornucopia" are amazing too.
Now, remember how I mentioned that this was a bit of a slump? "Laguna Sunrise" is a short instrumental piece with a much more laidback attitude, it's quite a weak track but not damning enough to be considered bad while "Tomorrow's Dream" is where we get our first bad song, it being another more hard rock tune but this time it drones and gets boring pretty quick despite its short length, sounding the most unoriginal of all the material here. Surprisingly enough, it is followed by two absolutely atrocious songs one right after the other unfortunately and combining all these points brings it down a bit.
"Changes" is "Solitude" but done poorly with some of the cheesiest lyrics the band has made and Ozzy's voice in the ballad really sounds out of place and unfitting for such a style, with him going out of his range. Ozzy had already demonstrated a year prior that he can indeed do amazing vocals for ballads, but somehow messes it up and gets annoying here singing so off-key that glass will probably shatter within a two mile radius of wherever this song plays. The mellotron used to emulate the sound of a orchestra falls flat here, sounding very much like the plastic that modern chart-climbing pop would embrace and the song lacks any emotional depth with a looped piano being repeated endlessly through the track while "FX" is a godawful abomination that should be counted as a sin against all of humanity.
Overall, it still manages to be quite great and one of the strongest of their discography, but it definitely isn't masterpiece level, and definitely not as unified track-by-track as an album as their first three releases.
1. Wheels of Confusion: ★★★★★
2. Tomorrow's Dream: ★★
3. Changes: ★
4. FX: 💣
5. Supernaut: ★★★★★
6. Snowblind: ★★★★★
7. Cornucopia: ★★★★
8. Laguna Sunrise: ★★★
9. St. Vitus' Dance: ★★★★★
10. Under the Sun: ★★★★★
