review by thomas

Many see the golden Sabbath period from 1970 to 1975 as almost impeccable with one classic album after another. And sure, that period is indeed very strong; but not solid. The – in some ways – very experimental “Vol.4” is partly a “failure”. The ten tracks can be divided into five fantastic ones and five not so good ones. The strong hand is almost a straight-flush: “Cornucopia”, “Snowblind” and “Supernaut” are typical heavy Sabbath monsters with some twists and turns. “Under the Sun” may get my money for the heaviest Sabbath track ever. It’s a dark and gloomy song that in six minutes shifts from one heavy riff to another without losing focus. “Wheels of Confusion” is a mini-epic that features good organ and strong progressive touches, without losing any of the usual heaviness. The weaker hand consists of some pure experiments gone wrong and the usual Sabbath acoustic that always worked so well, here it doesn’t, it just sounds dull and uninteresting. “FX” is just what it sounds like: a short effect experiment. “Changes” is a well-known song, a ballad with just Ozzy’s voice, piano and some mellotron, not bad but not completely successful either.

An uneven album although the weakest songs are not bad, most of them are decent. So this is another “must have” album for the hard rock/metal fans. And as I have already implied; the strong hand is amongst Sabbath’s best ever.