Here are the five heaviest Black Sabbath songs… without Ozzy Osbourne!
This is not meant to diminish the Prince of Darkness, merely a means to break from the usual fanfare of those first six legendary Sabbath albums. Sure, Ronnie James Dio gets his due (even if Dehumanizer doesn’t reap as much acclaim as it should), but other Sabbath singers are an afterthought in the minds of most.
Why the Tony Martin era in particular (The Eternal Idol, Headless Cross, Tyr, Cross Purposes and Forbidden) seems to get written off entirely is one of metal’s greatest mysteries. Do metal fans really think Tony Iommi didn’t write anything worth their while for an entire decade?
It is utterly ludicrous to dismiss the non-Ozzy/Dio eras, and that means the records with Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes, too.
If you need convincing, that’s what we hope to achieve with these five song selections. Or maybe you’re are a longtime champion of these forgotten parts of Black Sabbath’s catalog and are here to see if your favorites are represented.
READ MORE: Ronnie James Dio’s Five Best Doom Metal Songs (Outside of Black Sabbath)
Whatever the case, let us bow at the altar of the almighty RIFF and dive into some seriously heavy Black Sabbath songs from outside of the Ozzy era.
The Five Heaviest Black Sabbath Songs (Without Ozzy Osbourne)
Singer: Tony Martin
There’s a strong push and pull to “The Sabbath Stones.” It opens with thundering, dramatic pauses an an eerie vocal from Martin, who brings some Dio-like mysticism to the forefront.
This Tyr pavement-pounder is rather dramatic, even employing some delicate moments that immediately call to mind “Children of the Sea.” It’s these lighter moments that perfectly set up Iommi’s bludgeoning riffs as Cozy Powell brilliantly tests the structural integrity of his drum kit.
“The Sign of the Southern Cross” (Mob Rules)
Singer: Ronnie James Dio
With Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath reinvented themselves, renewed by the vocal prowess of Ronnie James Dio, fresh out of a three-album run with Rainbow and Ritchie Blackmore.
Mob Rules saw more new blood injected into the band by way of drummer Vinny Appice. While he didn’t have nearly as much swing as Bill Ward, the material Sabbath were writing didn’t call for it.
One of the best examples of Appice’s calculated, forceful drumming is exemplified on the ultra doomy “The Sign of the Southern Cross.” Marked by a desert-wandering bass line and Dio’s shimmering voice and ominous storytelling, Iommi worms his way in and out of the track with a herculean riff. The pace is unrelenting and that feature riff, every time, feels like one last burst of energy — one final gasp — from an exhausted body pushing onward.
