PUMP UP THE VOLUME!
THIS MONTH SEES THE REISSUE OF THE CONNOISSEURS’ SABBATH ALBUM, VOL.4. TG ANALYSES HOW IOMMI CREATED THE ALBUM’S HEAVY SOUND
MONSTER DOWN-TUNING
After losing his fingertips to an industrial accident, Tony Iommi had a battle to keep playing guitar. On the Paranoid tour, Sabbath
Eb began playing in to reduce string tension. Vol. 4 became the first Sabbath album recorded entirely in C# standard. A lucky by-product was the monstrous down-tuned effect. They didn’t wear it out by simply chugging on the low C#, though. Most of the riffs are played higher on the neck, with really low notes dropped in occasionally for flavour.
THE CLASSIC IOMMI SG
Other than the new tuning, Iommi didn’t mess with his tonal formula: his 1965 ‘Monkey’ SG Special with P90 pickups made most of the noise. Yup, while diehard metallers insist only humbuckers will do, classic Sabbath relied on single coils.
THE 0-10-10 SETTING
Tony’s Laney LA100 amp was a simple affair with not much gain; you had to dime the knobs to get it to roar. That gave quite a flubby low end, so Tony often set the bass to zero with everything else maxed. That still wasn’t enough, but a Rangemaster treble booster pushed it into meltdown. At those levels, the Laney produced a sub-frequency that almost sounded like an octave-down pedal, adding even more low end menace.
HARMONISED RIFFING
Before Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden, harmony guitars were not yet essential to the metal sound, but Iommi’s awesome intro to Supernaut showed the potential of twin guitar riffing. It’s harmonised a 3rd up on the repeat, a sound Avenged Sevenfold now cannot live without.
THE CALM AMID THE STORM
People told Iommi he couldn’t put an acoustic instrumental on such a heavy album, but the Laguna Sunrise interlude makes the surrounding chaos sound even bigger. The orchestra here also appears at the end of Snowblind, as Sabbath diversified their sound.