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seem to do justice to the whole album. There are no filler tracks on the first six albums that Black Sabbath produced; this is one remarkable aspect of these albums. There is not one track that I can honestly say is weak until we get to the seventh album Technical Ecstasy. If I must select some "Snowblind" and "Supernaut" would be my personal favourites on Vol 4, famed for their unforgettable Iommi riffs, (but we could say that about a lot of his tracks) but the whole album is a joy.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath followed next in what was the bands heaviest and most technically daring album to date. The opening track "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" powers the album along in another Iommi signature riff, spelling out the doom of a tortured soul in turmoil. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is considered by many to be the bands true masterpiece, for me it is a deliciously heavy album to listen to with the likes of "A National Acrobat," "Killing Yourself to Live," "Who Am I," being offset by the gentle "fluff". The album, like the tortured images of the front cover, is an album that will stay with me forever.

Sabotage, the band's next album is likewise a heavy album, sharing similarities with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. "Symptom of the Universe" is easily for me the very best track on the album, a real tearer of a song, powerful and unforgiving; it is a constant source of inspiration to many of today's more extreme metal acts. There are some lengthy tracks on this album in the likes of "Megalomania" clocking in at nearly 10 minutes and "The Writ" at over 8 minutes making this album seems like an epic in many ways.

The next two albums Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, spell the end of the road for the wild front man Ozzy Osbourne, and despite a few memorable tracks, show a noticeable downgrade in quality and direction. It must be said that the band was going through a hard period, with excesses of all kinds beginning to take its toil on all members, especially the ill-fated Ozman who would be fired by the band in 1979. Ozzy would go on to create his own extremely successful solo band with the help of the gifted Randy Rhodes, whose tragic death in a plane accident would ask serious critical questions of what might have been.

But it was not all doom and gloom, well you know what I mean. The obvious exceptional vocal talents of the new front man, Ronnie James Dio would give Black Sabbath their best album since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and recreate the bands profile with incredible classics such

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