Happy Halloween! I have the perfect music review/recommendation to celebrate this spooky holiday: not one but two Black Sabbath tribute albums hot off the presses from the fine folks at Magnetic Eye Records!
Us Sabbath fans have been spoiled as of late with Zakk Sabbath’s Vertigo album, HAZEMAZE’s Paranoid Sessions and now this, a Redux of Sabbath’s underrated Volume 4 and a proper tribute collection comprised of covers from a who’s who of the best Doom/Heavy Psych/Metal bands performing today.
First up, Volume 4 Redux, continuing Magnetic Eye’s Redux series as they have done with Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and Alice in Chains’ Dirt, we get a different band covering every song in chronological order of this classic album. Apart from the opener, “Wheels of Confusion” by the band Thou which I can’t even sit through entirely, the rest of the album is a great, well-rounded update on the original. My gripe with bands like Thou (and Rwake on the “Best of” collection) is that all the screaming/ear-splitting growling really isn’t my cup of tea. To me it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. I’m sorry but I just can’t stand death/black metal or whatever that kind of music is called. That gripe aside, for me some of the highlights are the always reliable High Reeper’s piano-less take on “Changes”, adding some teeth to the melancholic Ozzy ballad. Spirit Adrift’s terrific rendition of “Supernaut”, and in my humble opinion, the stand-out track is the closing number, “Under the Sun” by Zakk Sabbath. I’d heard them play it a few times on live bootlegs but this studio version is pitch-perfect.
Onto the meatier of the two releases, Best of Black Sabbath, featuring 15 different bands covering 15 different tracks spread out through the Sabbath with Ozzy era. We get a lot of variety and fusion of styles here, some nice deep cuts are covered, and a handful of female-fronted bands as well join in to re-imagine beloved Sabbath classics. I was familiar with most of the bands in this collection but it also made me discover some new ones that made me want to further explore their catalogue. That’s the cool thing about compilations like this; you get a generous sample of bands you might not necessarily hear about otherwise. Caustic Casanova’s take on “Wicked World” is fresh and just as relevant today as when the song was written. A female-fronted band I’d never heard of, Mooner, does a stellar rework of “The Wizard”, substituting the harmonica for the flute. Fan-favorites Howling Giant deliver the goods in spades on “Lord of this World”, and Brume blew my socks off with their luscious interpretation of “Solitude”.
Those are just some of the highlights of a fantastic tribute album in Best of Black Sabbath, and a very strong Redux with Volume 4. In all, it’s 25 Sabbath covers dropping all at once to send the fan in you to Sabbath heaven. Or if you prefer, you can sample the songs on Bandcamp, pick and choose the ones you like, and make your own tribute album. In any case, both of these releases come highly recommended.
Magnetic Eye Records’ Bandcamp page: https://store.merhq.com/
Volume 4 Redux’s Bandcamp page: https://store.merhq.com/album/volume-4-redux
Best of Black Sabbath’s Bandcamp page: https://store.merhq.com/album/best-of-black-sabbath
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