Black Sabbath - Vol 4 - VINYL LP

2015 Sanctuary Records UK repress180g Vinyl LP?Vol. 4 is the point in Black Sabbath's career where the band's legendary drug consumption really starts to make itself felt. And it isn't just in the lyrics, most of which are about the blurry line between reality and illusion. Vol. 4 has all the messiness of a heavy metal Exile on Main St., and if it lacks that album's overall diversity, it does find Sabbath at their most musically varied, pushing to experiment amidst the drug-addled murk. As a result, there are some puzzling choices made here (not least of which is the inclusion of InchFXInch), and the album often contradicts itself. Ozzy Osbourne's wail is becoming more powerful here, taking greater independence from Tony Iommi's guitar riffs, yet his vocals are processed into a nearly textural element on much of side two. Parts of Vol. 4 are as ultra-heavy as Master of Reality, yet the band also takes it's most blatant shots at accessibility to date - and then undercuts that very intent. The effectively concise InchTomorrow's DreamInch has a chorus that could almost be called radio-ready, were it not for the fact that it only appears once in the entire song. InchSt. Vitus DanceInch is surprisingly upbeat, yet the distant-sounding vocals don't really register. The notorious piano-and-Mellotron ballad InchChangesInch ultimately fails not because of it's change-of-pace mood, but more for a raft of the most horrendously clich?d rhymes this side of Inchmoon-June.InchEven the crushing InchSupernautInch - perhaps the heaviest single track in the Sabbath catalog - sticks a funky, almost danceable acoustic breakdown smack in the middle. Besides InchSupernaut,Inch the core of Vol. 4 lies in the midtempo cocaine ode InchSnowblind,Inch which was originally slated to be the album's title track until the record company got cold feet, and the multi-sectioned prog-leaning opener, Inc