In celebration of Black Sabbath’s 50th anniversary, Magnetic Eye Records offers another tribute rendition, »Best of Black Sabbath«

In uproarious celebration of Black Sabbath’s 50th anniversary, Magnetic Eye Records presents a double-album featuring 15 heart-stopping renditions of classic tunes from across the Sabbath discography by some of the riff-heaviest bands in the worldwide stoner doom scene.

As a companion piece to »Vol. 4 [Redux]«, »Best of Black Sabbath« features both faithful takes and almost unrecognizable re-creations, all in devotion and tribute to the godfathers of metal.

»Best of Black Sabbath« includes ripping tracks from Earthless, Rwake, Caustic Casanova, Year Of The Cobra, Howling Giant, Brume, Elephant Tree and more.

Tracklist:
01. Earthless – Never Say Die
02. Caustic Casanova – Wicked World
03. Summoner – A National Acrobat
04. Black Electric – Sweet Leaf
05. Rwake – The Rwrit
06. Ginsburg/Margera/Reeder/Rota – N.I.B.
07. Year Of The Cobra – Planet Caravan
08. Hippie Death Cult – Fairies Wear Boots
09. Leather Lung – Hole In The Sky
10. Mooner – The Wizard
11. Solace – Electric Funeral
12. Howling Giant – Lord of this World
13. Elephant Tree – Paranoid
14. Brume – Solitude
15. Saint Karloff – Sleeping Village

For a taste you can listen to re-creation of Black Sabbath’s classic »Wicked World« by Caustic Casanova.

Guitarist Andrew Yonki says: “One night in the fall of 2008 I found myself awake, drunk and alone with a nylon string acoustic guitar at a hostel in León, Nicaragua. This cheap classical guitar from the historic market in Otavalo, Ecuador had been my constant companion on my solo trek through Latin America, and I played it a lot. People noticed it and it helped me make friends, which is what happened as I strummed by myself in that hostel courtyard. An older Brazilian guy had a guitar, and he asked if he could join me, so we started playing together. He began to play this arpeggiated chord progression that was instantly familiar if immediately unnamable. I copied his chords and nailed down the rhythm, and he began to play the single note leads. Each individual note became a puzzle piece that brought into focus that we were jamming on a Black Sabbath song. My rum-addled brain couldn’t remember the title at the time, so my impromptu guitar teacher told me that we had been jamming on »Laguna Sunrise« from »Volume 4«. The album that codified Heavy Metal; a musical language that is spoken the world over. That night, the music of Black Sabbath provided a lifeline to what was truly important to me. That night, the music of Black Sabbath made clear to me the truth that I wanted nothing more in my life than to play music with other people. My realization that we had been jamming Black Sabbath was the happiest I’d been on that trip, possibly the entire time I was abroad. Just a few months later, I’d reference »Volume 4« to the members of the band that I’ve jammed, practiced, performed, toured and recorded with since 2013, the first night I saw them play. The music of Black Sabbath provided much needed comfort to me that night in León; it is only fitting that a shared love of that music brought me to my band mates in Caustic Casanova.”

Guitarist Jake Kimberly adds: “Covering a song is always an interesting experience. You want to do it justice, but also make it your own. Is there anything worse than a stale rendition that merely recreates the original note for note? We spent weeks working on »Wicked World«. We tuned it down, and broke it down part by part, investigating where we should be true to the first Black Sabbath album and where we should venture into other sonic territories. Sometimes you just have to play together and feel your way through a piece of music. That’s how we created the more ambient section, which took the place of Iommi’s solo. We wanted to keep the heavy energy going and growing through the middle, so we further embellished and even wrote new parts (for a Sabbath song, it seems sacrilege, but we did it anyway), adding twin guitar leads and riffs that fit the upbeat pulse we were after. We toured this cover across North America, and, as expected, it was a crowd pleaser. It perks the ears of people in the back of the bar who are on the fence about watching the band or going out for a smoke. Nothing gets people on your side quite like Black Sabbath.”

»Best of Black Sabbath« will be released on October 30th, 2020 via Magnetic Eye Records.

Available as:
• Digisleeve CD
• Limited edition yellow/red marble vinyl
• Limited edition blue vinyl
• Limited edition transparent yellow vinyl

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well