Celebrating 50 years of Brum metal legends

Three new albums in tribute to Black Sabbath are being released DAVE FREAK reports

IT’S the best of Black Sabbath but not as you know it as the 50th anniversary of the Brum rock legends is celebrated with a series of new releases. The Best Of Black Sabbath (Redux) features 15 new renditions of classic Sabbath tunes by some of the heaviest bands residing at the

‘doom’ end of rock’s metal spectrum.

Kicking off with a relatively loyal yet loose take on 1978’s Never Say Die by Californians Earthless, the double-album continues with new versions of such tracks as The Wizard (by Mooner), Solitude (from Year Brume) and Paranoid (a particularly grinding rendition by Elephant Tree).

The first cut to be lifted from the album, compiled by specialist US rock label Magnetic Eye Records (MER), is Wicked World by Caustic Casanova (streaming now) – a song which first appeared as the B-side of Sabbath’s Evil Woman single in 1970, and then on US versions of band’s eponymous debut album.

“Covering a song is always an interesting experience,” says Jake Kimberly, guitarist with the Washington DC-based Caustic Casanova. “You want to do it justice, but also make it your own. Is there anything worse than a stale rendition that merely recreates the original note for note?

“We spent weeks working on Wicked World. We tuned it down, and broke it down part-bypart, investigating where we should be true to the first Black Sabbath album, and where we should venture into other sonic territories. “Sometimes you just have to play together and feel your way through a piece of music. That’s how we created the more ambient section, which took the place of [Sabbath guitarist] Tony Iommi’s solo. We wanted to keep the heavy energy going and growing through the middle, so we further embellished and even wrote new parts – for a Sabbath song, it seems sacrilege, but we did it anyway – adding twin guitar leads and riffs that fit the upbeat pulse we were after.” Discussing how performing their version of Wicked World live has gone down with US audiences, Jake says: “As expected, it was a crowd pleaser. Nothing gets people on your side quite like Black Sabbath.” Alongside the release of the Best Of ..., MER are also releasing another compilation, Volume 4 (Redux), a salute to Black Sabbath’s seminal, self-produced 1972 opus. Discussing the influence of the original Vol.4 album, which many consider to be Sabbath’s best, Nate Garrett, founder of Arizona metal merchants Spin Adrift (who’ve covered

Supernaut for the tribute) says

Zakk Sabbath have re-recorded Black Sabbath’s debut album as Vertigo

simply: “Black Sabbath are the reason that I am in a band.” Unlike Caustic Casanova, Nate was keen for his version to be close to the source.

“We stayed pretty true to the original because it is such an incredible song,” he says. “However, a lot of our trademarks are there – extra guitar harmonies, crazy moog whooshes, all sorts of things we love to do.” Among the others contributing to Vol. 4 (Redux) are High Reeper (who revise ballad Changes), former High On Fire man Matt Pike, 1970s survivors The

Obsessed, and Zakk Sabbath, the Sabbath covers band fronted by Zakk Wylde, perhaps best knows for playing guitar with Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. Zakk contributes the album’s final track, Under The Sun.

Zakk Sabbath have also re-recorded all of Sabbath’s self-titled 1970 debut as Vertigo – a nod to Sabbath’s original record label, Vertigo Records – again for MER.

Approaching the recording,

bassist Blasko (who’s also played with Ozzy) says that the trio aimed to embrace the spirit of the original, “extending a solo here or slowing things down because that’s what [Sabbath] tended to do on stage.”

Discussing the appeal of the 1970 album, Blasko says: “The bulk of the material on Black Sabbath is deep-cut, really experimental stuff.” In a nod to the bygone era, Vertigo is a vinyl-only release; it’s not available on any streaming services.

“The fan experience with the physical product is irreplaceable with digital and streaming,” Blasko explains. “We wanted to capture that authenticity.”

Black Sabbath were formed in Birmingham in 1968 and released their first two albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid, in 1970. After original members Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne started to fracture in the late-Seventies, the band continued with various line-ups and reunions before eventually calling it a day in 2017. Their final appearance was at the Genting Arena, Birmingham (now rebranded Resorts World Arena).

ZAKK Sabbath’s Vertigo is out now. The Best Of Black Sabbath (Redux) and Vol. 4 (Redux) are both released on October 30. For more details, see: magneticeyerecords. com