Over this past weekend, Black Sabbath performed their final show in Birmingham, England, which officially concluded a two-year celebration of their historic career. Truth be told, historic doesn’t even feel like a strong enough term to accurately describe Black Sabbath. While this is a very, allow me to emphasize the word very, tough pill to swallow: witnessing three original members of the band, all in their late 60s, perform at peak levels in front of their hometown crowd was the ultimate fairytale ending.
In the United States, most people were distracted by Super Bowl festivities and political chaos. The enormity of Black Sabbath retiring deserved a much larger span of media coverage. This isn’t some ordinary band riding off into the sunset, longtime listeners just said goodbye to one of the most influential, if not, the most influential band in the history of modern music. The equivalent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johann Sebastin Bach just conducted their last symphony.
During the late 1960s, Black Sabbath absorbed the hardest hitting tonalities of American blues and jazz and translated those emotionally spell bounding dynamics into this genre known as heavy metal; an unmatched combination of intensity and sound, which they originated and perfected. Alongside Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, Black Sabbath influenced countless generations of musicians and listeners by painting DaVinci-like portraits that surmised the grim realities of spending their young adult lives in Birmingham, England. Isolation, anger, and hope; Black Sabbath created a new therapeutic outlet to unleash the most hostile emotions one could possibly feel through a healthy musical platform.
Honestly, I nearly shed tears watching their finale on Facebook Live as they took their final bow. Throughout the weekend, I listened to “Snowblind” – my favorite Black Sabbath track – and the tasteful bends in Tony Iommi’s guitar solo right before he transitions into the main riff (2:47 mark); all these years later, I felt the strongest chills across my body and legitimate emotions of grief and inner peace coinciding at the same time. Whenever I listen to the almighty Sabbath, it is the equivalent of discovering an Einstein worthy level of innovation. Even further, their historic catalog is the musical soundtrack to the “Big Bang Theory,” a colossal proportion of extremely powerful sounds that created so much joy and life for millions of listeners across the world.
My love for heavy metal is the definitive trait of my personality; this genre has given me everything ranging from lifelong friendships to self-confidence. Without Black Sabbath, I do not know where my life would be and that is a terrifying thought to say the least. No Black Sabbath possibly means no existence of Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Alice In Chains.
Take a masterpiece like “Into The Void” and just appreciate how the downtuned aura of doominess in the main riff and groove summons the highest level of cathartic aggression nearly 46 years after Master of Reality was released. In my eyes, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are two of the most innovative and brilliant musicians to ever play their respective instruments, as well as the greatest guitar and bass duo in the history of hard rock and heavy metal; their ability to syncopate and simultaneously display such miraculous riffage will never be duplicated.
Original drummer Bill Ward provided the band with such eloquent levels of soothing swing, especially in his approach to hammering the drumkit; the ultimate bounce in songs like “Hole In The Sky” moved listeners as if we danced to prime time jazz in the 1920s. The hollowing depths of darkness in Ozzy Osbourne’s voice as he uttered the words, “What is this that stands before me?” provided us with a sense of comfort that it is okay to confront our biggest fears by embracing our innocence: both the light and dark; this ying and yang duality within our personalities that helps us overcome life’s toughest obstacles.
I had the pleasure of seeing Black Sabbath live twice with both Ronnie James Dio and Ozzy Osbourne; everlasting memories forever entrenched into my heavy metal subconscious; gothic castles, majestic displays of songwriting, and virtuosic levels of musical precision that will never be topped. On behalf of metalheads from across the world: thank you to each and every member of Black Sabbath, both past and present, since we are eternally grateful for your unmistakable contributions to our lives. We could never properly express nor convey our highest levels of gratitude enough; we will listen to your records, watch your live performances, and share the gospel of your greatest accomplishments for generations to come. Without question, Black Sabbath gave us a love that will never die. The symptom of the universe is forever written in our eyes.
https://youtu.be/FYCvRV5ME3w
