Founding fathers of metal Black Sabbath are set to be celebrated with a new ‘Best Of’ due for release next month.
Black Sabbath formed as a blues quartet in Birmingham in the late 60s. Lacking the professionalism of their peers, the group drew inspiration from horror movies and their own emerging drug use to craft something that would have a lasting influence.
Tuning their guitars down a half step to create a dark, murky sound lead singer Ozzy Osbourne’s lyrics spoke of witches, war and of course the sweet leaf. Inadvertently inventing heavy metal, the group were slated by critics in Britain but found enormous success in America.
Osbourne fronted the band until 1979, when his excessive drug use forced the group to throw him out. Black Sabbath lingered on, but it is for their early ground-breaking recordings that they are best remembered.
The new album ‘The Best Of Black Sabbath’ gathers fourteen tracks from the group’s early career. Covering the classic Ozzy Osbourne period of the band, the collection covers the metal heroes’ first eight studio albums.
Opening with hit single ‘Paranoid’ the new album contains many of the band’s defining hits. ‘War Pigs’ openly mentions the occult, and was later covered to great affect by newly reformed rockers Faith No More.
Each track on the album would echo throughout metal, with songs such as ‘Sweet Leaf’ influencing the stoner rock of groups such as Kyuss. Amongst the rest of the album are classics such as ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ and ‘Snowblind’.
Although Black Sabbath are no longer an ongoing entity, the remaining members sometimes re-unite with vocalist Ronnie James Dio using the name Heaven And Hell. The group have been busy recording recently, with the results due for release later this year as the album ‘The Devil You Know’.
Black Sabbath will release their new album ‘The Best Of Black Sabbath’ on June 15th. Tracklisting is as follows:
‘Paranoid’
‘Iron Man’
‘Changes’
‘Fairies Wear Boots’
‘War Pigs’
‘Never Say Die’
‘Children Of The Grave’
‘The Wizard’
‘Snowblind’
‘Sweet Leaf’
‘Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games)’
‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’
‘Black Sabbath’
‘N.I.B’