10 BEST COVERS OF BLACK SABBATH SONGS

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Black Sabbath might just be the most covered heavy metal band of all time. The band that started it all and sees their influence reach no limits have been paid homage to time and time again by some of the genres biggest acts, some not as well known, and even some outside of metal.

Of course, nobody can imitate the masters with Tony Iommi’s signature riffing and playing style, Geezer Butler’s meandering bass lines, Bill Ward’s octopus-like drumming, nor the various men that have fronted the band over the years. Be it Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, or any other singers that have been at the Sabbath helm, other bands can only strive to come close to capturing the magic of the originals or to put a unique twist on things that are the essence of their own music. Here, we present our list of the 10 Best Black Sabbath Covers.

10

'Symptom of the Universe''

Sepultura

 

 

One of the heaviest Sabbath tracks was given a Brazilian thrash treatment by Sepultura in 1994. The South American band lends their trademark riffing to the song and if you had never heard the original version, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that this was an original cut from a Sepultura album. Max Cavalera’s barked vocals take on the familiar military cadence style rather than attempting to sing the song. Max’s brother Igor Cavalera executes the drum fills brilliantly with his toms that really drive the Sepultura feel home.

 

9

'Changes'

The Cardigans

 

 

‘Changes’ has always been a controversial song, feeling like it didn’t have a proper place on ‘Vol. 4.’ The lyrics stick to the traditional Sabbath style of feeling alone and melancholic, but Iommi’s piano parts sound oddly cheerful with a flawed effect in contrast. Swedish indie rock band the Cardigans completely reworked this song for a full band with acoustic guitars. The tempo is upbeat with those dissonant chords reflecting the mood of the lyrics, helping to contrast the emotions as Nina Persson’s soothing voice sings words of sorrow.

 

8

'Zero the Hero'

Cannibal Corpse

 

 

‘Born Again’ is a divisive album that Black Sabbath fans either love or hate with absolutely no middle ground. Between Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fronting the band and the horrendous album cover, there’s a lot to discuss about this album. Cannibal Corpse fall under the love it category here and chose to cover one of the standout tracks, ‘Zero the Hero.’ While keeping true to the original, the brutal group manages to own this song. The twisted riffing fits in well with the old Cannibal Corpse style as Chris Barnes belts out his ultra-low gutturals.

 

7

'Heaven and Hell'

Solitude Aeturnus

 

 

The doom outfit Solitude Aeturnus from Texas made a bold move when they decided to cover the title track from the first Black Sabbath album to feature the golden voice of Ronnie James Dio. Robert Lowe does tremendous justice to Dio’s work and sounds a bit like Dio every now and then with his snarl. Where this cover picks up is a little bit before the halfway mark after the second chorus. The massive guitar tone is an ode to Iommi and creates a wall of sound behind the rifflord’s work. Impressive to say the least.

 

6

'War Pigs'

Faith No More

 

 

Mike Patton and the rest of his crew in Faith No More perform a spot-on cover of the Black Sabbath live staple ‘War Pigs.’ Patton’s nasally singing voice resembles Ozzy’s pretty well while the band sell their souls to the music. The octopus-like drumming here really captures the feel of the song and there’s a bit of the trademark Faith No More groove present in the bass lines, which is enough to make this more than just a measly imitation.

 

5

'Into the Void'

Melvins

 

 

The Melvins have always been an oddball band, never conforming and always trying to out-weird themselves. Fortunately, someone lugged one of those bulky video cameras to a Melvins show and captured magic on tape. The grunge trio take the song ‘Into the Void’ and slow things down a lot. The band is electric on stage as they demonstrate the Melvins way of playing a Black Sabbath tune, losing themselves in the music to make for a captivating cover

 

4

'Never Say Die'

Megadeth

 

 

One of the most maligned Black Sabbath albums actually features a number of solid cuts. Dave Mustaineis no fool and realized this when Megadeth covered the title track from the last Sabbath album to feature Ozzy for the next 35 years. Mustaine is not noted as being a great singer, but on this live cover his voice soars with clarity as the shredding thrash band tear this song apart. Life is injected into this uptempo song, showing us that maybe this album isn’t all that bad after all.

 

3

'Planet Caravan'

Pantera

 

 

Pantera shocked everyone in 1994 when they recorded this psychadelic Sabbath jam and included it on the ultra heavy ‘Far Beyond Driven.’ After a menacing three albums in the post-glam era, the band was about as heavy as it gets, but cooled the engines with their rendition of ‘Planet Caravan.’ Phil Anselmo’s voice goes under the studio knife a bit, but not as drastically as the effects on Ozzy’s voice in 1970. As far as music goes, this one is easy but the difficult part is channeling the atmosphere, which Pantera did successfully.

 

2

'Solitude'

Ulver

 

 

Not every Black Sabbath song is a riff monster. The band often wrote calm, softer songs that came from their ‘60s influences. Ulver’s atmospheric turn from their black metal beginnings take an overwhelming amount of inspiration from songs like ‘Solitude’ Garm’s voice is well-suited for this song with his soothing crooning, invoking a dream-like state for listeners. The avant-garde band incorporates brass instruments to texture the palpable atmosphere, making this song sound more like an original than a cover of the masters.

 

1

'Black Sabbath (From the Satanic Perspective)'

Type O Negative

 

 

Geezer Butler stated that this is his favorite Black Sabbath cover, so how can anyone argue with that!?Type O Negative put their own twist on things here and change up the lyrics to represent the concept from Satan’s point of view. Sometimes cover songs are almost identical, but other times a band will make the song their own and play around the skeleton of the song. Considering that ‘Black Sabbath’ is the most daunting song to cover, it is refreshing to hear it re-imagined because it can never be replicated.

 

AVENGED SEVENFOLD UNVEIL FULL VERSION OF NEW SINGLE ‘HAIL TO THE KING’

After teasing fans with a 30-second clip last week, Avenged Sevenfold have unleashed the full version of their new single, ‘Hail to the King,’ which is the title track off their upcoming album, due Aug. 27.

Back when Avenged Sevenfold had started working on the new album, singer M. Shadows suggested the disc would have a classic metal feel, and the song ‘Hail to the King’ definitely lives up to that sentiment. Starting off with a some fancy fretwork over a monster riff, the track explodes into a full-on metal assault with Shadows delivering James Hetfield-like vocals over Black Sabbath-like guitars in the verses followed by a very melodic chorus.

The album is the first A7X disc to feature new drummer Arin Ilegay, and he delivers a thumping beat throughout the single. But it’s axemen Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance that take the spotlight on the guitar-heavy track.

Listen to Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Hail to the King’ above, and be sure to pick up the album by the same name when it drops on Aug. 27.

EVE TO ADAM CELEBRATE SUMMER TOUR + NEW ALBUM WITH FREE ‘STRAIGHTJACKET SUPERMODEL’ DOWNLOAD

Total Assault

Eve to Adam are embarking on a U.S. trek starting Saturday, July 13, and gearing up to release their new album ‘Locked & Loaded’ on Sept. 17. The band is building up the excitement for the trek and the disc by offering a free download of the album’s lead single ‘Straitjacket Supermodel’ exclusively through Loudwire and our partner site Noisecreep.

In an interview we did a little while back with Eve to Adam singer Taki Sassaris, he described ‘Straightjacket Supermodel’ as follows: ”You can go from zero to villain in three seconds, and it seems like everybody has their own little chaotic psychotic world going on with their Twitter and Facebook and everybody is pretty much the center of their own universe now, so it’s getting a little crazy, so that’s the ‘Straitjacket’ part, and ‘Supermodel’ is just being looked upon as being beautiful and perfect and that quest for an obsession for physical perfection and to be looked upon in that limelight as the ultimate badass.”

Eve to Adam kick off the ‘Highway Robbery’ tour with Texas Hippie Coalition this Saturday. The full list of dates can be seen below. And be sure to stream and download Eve to Adam’s ‘Straightjacket Supermodel’ below, as well. You can also watch the video for the track here.

Listen to and Get a Free Download of Eve to Adam’s ‘Straitjacket Supermodel’

Eve to Adam / Texas Hippie Coalition ‘Highway Robbery’ Tour Dates

7/13 — Birmingham, Ala. — Zydeco
7/14 — Nashville, Tenn. — Exit/In
7/16 — Orlando, Fla. — The Social
7/17 — Pensacola, Fla. — Vinyl Music Hall
7/18 — Jacksonville, Fla. — Jack Rabbits
7/19 — Atlanta, Ga. — The Masquerade
7/20 — Spartanburg, S.C. — Ground Zero
7/21 — Wilmington, N.C. — The Soapbox
7/22 — Richmond, Va. — Kingdom
7/24 — Pottsville, Pa. — Goodfellas
7/25 — Harford, Ct. — Webster Underground
7/26 — West Chester, Pa. — The Note
7/27 — New York, N.Y. — Gramercy Theatre
7/28 — Pittsburgh, Pa. — Alter Bar
7/30 — Cleveland, Ohio — Peabody’s Downunder
7/31 — Flint, Mich. — The Machine Shop
8/1 — Joliet, Ill. — Mojoes
8/2 — Spring Lake Park, Minn. — POV’s
8/3 — St. Louis, Mo. — The Firebird
8/4 — Lawrence, Kan. — Granada
8/6 — Salt Lake City, Utah — Bar Deluxe
8/8 — Seattle, Wash. — Studio Seven
8/9 — Portland, Ore. — Hawthorne Theatre
8/10 — Modesto, Calif. — Fat Cat Music House
8/11 — Los Angeles, Calif. — The Roxy
8/12 — Tempe, Ariz. — Club Red
8/14 — Grand Junction, Colo. — Mesa Theater & Club
8/16 — Abilene, Texas — The Lucky Mule

40 YEARS AGO: QUEEN’S DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED

Elektra Records

As their self-titled debut album demonstrates, the Queen we all know and love today, the group with the multi-layered vocals and ringing guitar notes, didn’t start out that way.

Or at least not that big. In 1973, their British glam wasn’t so refined, and all the things that made the band so identifiable were barely concepts at this point. But there’s glimmer in the glam, and at times the roots of their sound begin to take shape.

But mostly ‘Queen’ is a product of its time, bringing together prog, metal and even a little bit of folk music for a semi-thunderous mix that did little to separate the group from others exploring similar territory in the early ’70s. Medieval landscapes rest near religious songs that absorb the Jesus-as-the-original-hippie aesthetic of the era. It’s an occasionally clumsy combination executed in an often heavy-handed style that would later gain some subtlety. But Queen and ‘Queen’ are defiant in these actions, and that’s where the album matters.

It also matters in the band’s somewhat inventive use of multi-tracking, which was bigger, grander and more piled on than what almost anyone else was doing. The results are so impressive at times that the band found it necessary to write a disclaimer in the album’s liner notes stating that no synthesizers were used in the making of the record. They were a proud rock ‘n’ roll band, grabbing much inspiration from the kings at the time, Led Zeppelin.

But there’s also signs of individuality in the album’s standout cuts — especially the respective side openers ‘Keep Yourself Alive‘ and ‘Liar,’ which are part British boogie, part sparkling glam and part mammoth hard rock. They’re loaded with stinging guitar riffs, choir-like vocals and wall-shaking production by Roy Thomas Baker, who would work with Queen throughout their career. Thank him for the instrumental passages’ additional heft.

‘Queen’ wasn’t a monster hit, peaking at only No. 83. It eventually went gold, as the band’s confidence and reputation grew in the coming years. Neither of the album’s singles charted (they wouldn’t have their first hit until the following year, when ‘Killer Queen’ preceded the release of their third album, ‘Sheer Heart Attack,’ which broke them in the U.S.). Today, the debut album sounds like a formative first step toward the signature sound they’d achieve on the classic ‘A Night at the Opera.’ But back then, it was easy to get lost elsewhere.

NEXT: TOP 10 QUEEN ALBUMS

TOP 10 QUEEN ALBUMS

Hulton Archive

If there were any doubts, Queen certainly proved this year that they know how to throw the ultimate royal party. Celebrating their 40th anniversary as a group, the band recognized the milestone with a flurry of releases and events, not the least of which was a complete overhaul and expansion of their recorded output. The new reissues offer a fresh viewpoint on the band’s classic work, and on the 20th anniversary of the passing of iconic frontman Freddie Mercury, we’re taking a look at 10 of the best Queen albums:

10

'Innuendo'

(1991)

 

 

Considered by most as the last proper Queen album, ‘Innuendo’ was recorded during the time when Mercury was in the final stages of his battle with the AIDS virus. Although Mercury’s illness was unknown at the time, he was clearly grappling with his own mortality. Listening after the fact, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ and ‘The Show Must Go On’ are clear cut examples of how Mercury put everything he still had into the recording of the album. ‘Innuendo’ is a brilliant final statement from Mercury and the members of Queen.

 

9

'Queen II'

(1974)

 

 

The band’s second album involved a concept that split the material into two sides, ‘Side White’ and ‘Side Black.’ Appropriately, the darker material on the album occupied the ‘black’ side (all of which was composed by Mercury) while the lighter songs were on the ‘white side.’ The now-familiar cover image was etched in the minds of listeners when the band repurposed it for the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video. ’Queen II’ found the group more focused on material like ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ that would be better suited for airplay. They took a more concise songwriting approach to achieve that goal, and also began to experiment with the multi-layered vocal recording technique that would become their signature.

 

8

'The Works'

(1984)

 

 

After dabbling in a wide variety of styles (including dance and disco elements) with their previous ‘Hot Space’ album, ‘The Works’ found Queen returning to more familiar territory, although it was also their most electronic effort as a group. The mechanized sound of ‘Radio Ga Ga’ criticized the rapidly disappearing variety in radio programming of the time, and also had subtle nods to both ‘War Of The Worlds’ and Winston Churchill within the lyrics. ‘Machines (Or Back To Humans)’ featured Mercury in a vocal duel harmonizing with himself (ain’t technology great?)

 

7

'Jazz'

(1978)

 

 

The diversity of ‘Jazz’ brought both praise and criticism, with journalist Dave Marsh writing in Rolling Stone that “Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band.” Certainly, they might have painted a bit of a target on themselves with the inclusion of ‘Fat Bottomed Girls,’ one of several future fan favorites included on the album (along with ‘Bicycle Race’ and ‘Let Me Entertain You’). Brian May revisited a trick he’d used previously on ‘Queen II,’ placing pieces of piano wire under the frets of his guitar to mimic the sound of a sitar on ‘Jealousy.’ When ‘Bicycle Race’ and ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ were released as a double single, the band found a unique way to promote the songs, staging a nude all-female bicycle race. Can you imagine the headlines that promotion would have gotten today?

 

6

'Queen'

(1973)

 

 

“No synthesizers.” That was the disclaimer on the sleeve for the debut album from Queen, who wanted to make sure that fans were well aware that each and every sonic moment of the album had been created by hand, thanks to multi-track recording. ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ was a raucous introduction to the guitar rock side of the group, and represented a triumphant moment for Queen, who had initially placed the track on a five song demo that nearly every record company passed on. Rolling Stone called ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time, praising it for having “an entire album’s worth of riffs crammed into a single song.” ‘My Fairy King’ contains the lyric “Mother Mercury, look what they’ve done to me,” which reportedly gave the former Freddie Bulsara the idea to change his name to “Mercury.”

 

5

'Sheer Heart Attack'

(1974)

 

 

‘Sheer Heart Attack’ represented a shift in direction from Queen, away from the progressive sound of their earlier material and firmly into rock territory, securing their first Top 20 album in the process. The frenetic metal pacing of ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ made it an obvious influence forMetallica, who stomped through their own version years later. As Queen were working on the piano-based ‘Killer Queen’ (which found Mercury alternating between two different pianos!), May was in the hospital, so they left spaces for him to contribute his guitar parts once he felt better. In fact, Brian was ill for a good portion of the recording of ‘Sheer Heart Attack,’ so a number of his contributions were recorded this way, although you’d never know it from listening to the final results.

 

4

'A Day At The Races'

(1976)

 

 

Queen took the production reins for the first time on ‘A Day At The Races’ and judging from the sound of stadium rockers like ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (composed at a time when May was working on his PhD in Astronomy), and the gospel-like tones of ‘Somebody To Love,’ it was clear that Queen would be just fine as captains of their own ship. The swirling Shepard tone that opens ‘Tie’ at the top of the album makes a repeat appearance to end the album at the conclusion of ‘Teo Torriatte,’ which also featured two choruses sung in Japanese in tribute to the group’s large fanbase in that countr.

 

3

'The Game'

(1980)

 

 

The now-famous bass line from bassist John Deacon on ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ (which he also wrote) helped the Queen boys strut to their first and only number one album in the U.S. with ‘The Game.’ The finger-snapping doo-wop vibe of ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ shouldn’t have sounded so natural considering that it was 1980, but it was somehow a very welcome time warp. The album was a true collaborative effort for the group, with all members pitching in relatively equally on the songwriting and new producer Mack helping the band streamline their recording process. The record also featured the band’s first use of synthesizers on the opening track ‘Play The Game.’

 

2

'News Of The World'

(1977)

 

 

Accused by some of resting on their laurels after taking over album production duties on ‘A Day At The Races,’ Queen countered with ‘We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions,’ the opening one-two shot that launched ‘News Of The World.’ Although ‘Rock’ was composed by May and ‘Champions’ penned by Mercury, it now seems unnatural to hear one without the other. ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ (begun initially during sessions for the album of the same name) was Roger Taylor’s jab at the punk rock musicians who had taken shots at Queen for being overly extravagant. Meanwhile, ‘It’s Late’ featured some finger tapping from Brian May a short time before Eddie Van Halen would take the same technique and inspire countless generations of future guitar players.

 

1

'A Night At The Opera'

(1975)

 

 

Without question, ‘A Night At The Opera’ is the crown jewel of Queen’s catalog. Had it been released today, it might not have been as impressive to the Pro-Tools generation, but for the time period, Queen maximized every ounce of technology (and a whole lot of money, too) to create an album that was completely out of this world. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was Freddie Mercury’s brainchild. It was conceived in sections, with the members recording their parts individually without even knowing the context of how they would be utilized in the final version. Discussing the album on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Brian May reveals that there was a lot of pressure going into its recording, and stating that if it had not been successful, it’s very likely that the group would have disbanded. Happily, ‘A Night At The Opera’ proved to be a hot ticket and its legacy endures to this day.

 

What is Your Favorite Queen Album?

Queen recorded 15 studio albums, and we only included 10 on this list, so, if we've done our math correctly, we've risked offending 1/3 of the band's fans with this list. Let us know if you're with us or against us in the comments section below:

Filed Under: Classic Hits, Freddie Mercury, QueenCategory: Lists, Original Features