Black Sabbath wrote the book on heavy, and their first decades worth of albums represent the Old Testament in the book of metal. From the clanging opening chords of Black Sabbath and lumbering sirens call of War Pigs to the demons cry of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and proto-thrash riffs of Symptom of the Universe, the Iron Man laid the blueprint for the genre on their first eight albums.
Those LPs will now make up a new vinyl-only box set, The Vinyl Collection 1970 1978, which is due out September 6th. And because die-hard Sabbaholics likely already own the bands canon, the group is including a reproduction of Evil Woman seven-inch (backed with Wicked World) and a new 12-inch compilation of their mono singles, dubbed Monomania (a pun off their Sabotage deep cut Megalomania), which includes two previously unreleased mixes. The set will be available only as a numbered collectors edition, limited to 3,000 copies.
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The band played its final concert in Birmingham, England where they had formed in 1968 in 2017. After that, they did one last jam session privately, which they filmed for a DVD release. It was so weird saying goodbye after the sessions, Iommi told Rolling Stone that year. Nobody really knew what to say to each other. It was a bit embarrassing really. I think we just sort of said, All right, Im going.'
That same year, Metallicas Lars Ulrich named the bands Sabotage LP as his favorite from the band, in a list he made of his favorite metal albums for Rolling Stone, and explained why he liked that one more than the others. The first Sabbath record I got was the one before this one,Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, he said.[But Sabotage] had a little bit more of what I would call an up-tempo energy than some of the other albums, so thats probably also part of the reason that its my favorite. Obviously their sound got a little more advanced as it went on. Theres a simplicity to some of the earlier records, that Im appreciative of, but sonically,Sabotageis the best-sounding record.
The Vinyl Collection 1970 1978 contents:
Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid (1971)
Master of Reality (1971)
Vol. 4 (1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1974)
Sabotage (1975)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Never Say Die! (1978)
Monomania track list:
Side One
1. Evil Woman (Dont Play Your Games With Me) *
2. Wicked World
3. The Wizard
4. Iron Man (Edited Version)
Side Two
1. Paranoid
2. Into The Void (Edited Version) **
3. Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath (Edited Version)
4. Its Alright
5. Radio Spot For Black Sabbath
* previously unreleased in North America
** previously unreleased