The spirit of Black Sabbath can be conjugated by different minds and attitudes but it won’t loose power and emotion. The bands involved belong to genres ranging from occult to dark prog doom (Black Oath, L’Impero delle Ombre, Confraternita del Vuoto Immenso) to various shades of psychedelia and prog rock, doom and post-metal (Buttered Bacon Biscuits, Misty Morning, Zippo, Vitales Exequiae, Quiet in the Cave), psych stoner and mammoth hard rock (Sergeant Hamster, Witche’s Brew), avantgarde heavy rock (Fuzz Orchestra), variably eclectic thrash metal (Hopesend, Malanoctem) and, not least, experimental psych grind/sludgecore (Viscera///).
This is a truly intense and charming collection of by now classic dark heaviness that will keep you busy with memories about your first encounters (or infection) with early Black Sabbath, the fathers of Doom Metal in particular, and of Heavy Metal in general.
I just want to add a fine text written by Stefano Cerati, one of the best known Italian writers about heavy music and huge lover of Black Sabbath. He recently released a fine, critical book about lyrics in early Black Sabbath albums.
Here is my (free) translation of Stefano Cerati’s introduction to the compilation:
“The contribution that Black Sabbath gave to modern music is much wider than having created a musical genre, Heavy Metal, in spite of the fact that the latter feature alone would deserve enormous admiration.
Black Sabbath’s art is a reference for style, an archetype of work, a unique fusion of styles ranging from blues to rock, jazz and up to psych and prog experimentation and with the involvement of an orchestra and synth into a new rock formula. Black Sabbath have always been ahead of their times and have looked at everyday world with lucid craziness for transforming it in a scary and esoteric way. And this is where their innovative approach resides, i.e. having conceived pop and rock music not as a means for comfortably entertaining the listeners but for scaring and menacing them. The gruesome bell tolls and the rumbling thunder grimly opening the 1970 album Black Sabbath tell us that the happy decade of the Sixties and their issues about peace and love, flower power and hippies, are definitely, formally and ideally a closed chapter. A new era had started drenched with horror, with fear of the Cold War and of Vietnam, of the atomic bomb and of heroin. All of these themes were brightly developed in Geezer Butler’s surreal style.
Hence Black Sabbath’s influence was not constrained simply to the music realm but was also reflected in the ethics of the many who explored the dark side of the human mind in music. Such aspect manifested also in the graphical representation, in the lyrics and in the choreography of live shows that became a reference point for all heavy bands. The early, 1969 - 1978 Black Sabbath line-up, the one including Ozzy, never ceased experimenting till the end while always trying to improve and find new combinations of sounds.
This is the greatest teaching Black Sabbath gave to modern generations: always try and challenge your limits and do not be scared of daring. Only from personality and originality blooms true art.”
Tracklist:
1. Black Oath – Electric Funeral
2. Buttered Bacon Biscuits – A National Acrobat
3. Confraternita del Vuoto Immenso – Solitude
4. L’Impero delle Ombre – Snowblind
5. Sergeant Hamster – Into the Void
6. Hopesend – Embryo/Children of the Grave
7. Witche’s Brew – Paranoid
8. Fuzz Orchestra – Behind the Wall of Sleep
9. Viscera/// – Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener
10. Zippo – Wicked World
11. Vitales Exsequiae – Who Are You?
12. Quiet in the Cave – Sweet Leaf
13. Misty Morning – The Wizard
14. Malanoctem – Sabba Sanguinario (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)
Words: Marilena Moroni
Original post on Mag-Music : HERE
VA. - Hands of Doom, A Tribute to Black Sabbath (Bandcamp link – free download): HERE