Back catalogues don't come much more legendary than the one GEEZER BUTLER helped forge with Black Sabbath, and from the band's eponymous debut through to approximately "Sabotage" in 1975, their records still sound unimpeachably great. To discuss the influence of those records upon the modern breed of metallers would take us all day and far more space than we have available here, that's for sure.
So to suggest that anything any of Sabbath's four members could knock together today would be within spitting distance of those early records would be reckless to say the least, but I'm going to stick my neck out a bit with Geezer's new 'un, the daffily-titled "Ohmwork" (say it with a Brummie accent and it makes perfect sense"), because it's one massive-sounding, seething bastard of an album. While it's probably ludicrous to make comparisons with albums like "Paranoid" or "Master Of Reality", "Ohmwork" is nonetheless a crushingly powerful modern day metal album driven by guitarist Pedro Howse's stuka-diving riffs, Geezer and drummer Chad Smith's Walls of Jericho-toppling rhythms and vocalist Clark Brown's wounded howls, which are probably best described as 'Lovecraftian.'
Opener "Misfit" gives you some idea of the album's relentless drive. Built around sawn-off and pissed off riffing, Geezer's grumbling basslines and Smith's tumbling drums, it's fast'n'furious and recalls Faith No More at their most unhinged, strangely enough. Brown's vocals make room for a few fire-breathing growls, but he's hardly morphing into Lee Dorrian - yet.
Great start, and much of what follows impresses too. Tracks like "Pseudocide" and "Prisoner 103" are fast, furious and scabrous set-pieces with throat-scouring vocals and an infectious, misanthropic bent. The likes of these prove Butler can still teach the young 'uns a thing or two, while "Pardon My Depression" is even better. Actually, it probably wouldn't be all that far-fetched to suggest it's a 21st century take on "Paranoid" with its' club-footed riffs and Geezer's lyrics once again tackling mental illness. "Excuse my intrusion, I need a truth infusion, my life is just illusion" sings Brown dolefully, while the band wait patiently before piling on the pressure.
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"Pardon My Depression" isn't the only instance where "Ohmwork" positively mirrors a great moment from Sabbath's past, either. "I Believe", for example, could almost be an update of "Children Of The Grave", with its' lyrical content laying into God and religion being hi-jacked by religious fanatics for their own ends. The track itself is an excellent exercise in dynamics, too, built upon a nagging, semi-acoustic premise and Butler's soon Biff shadowing Brown vocally. It's his first appearance on record with his dear old Dad and one both men can be rightly proud of. "Dogs Of Whore", meanwhile, brings "War Pigs" full circle, as Brown finally makes like he's in Napalm Death and lays into the Bush administration big-style while the accompanying riffs sound like a field of Cheiftain tanks sputtering into life.
However good these tracks are, though, they're still not quite up with "Alone": a Brown-penned lyric concerned with basically being let down by those you need the most. Just to reinforce its' point, it comes with deathly, descending riffs and is utterly desolate in its' execution. It's one of the darkest things this writer has heard since Black Flag's "My War" and that's saying something.
So, while Geezer himself freely admits Sabbath's classic early years keep him in his "dotage", he's obviously not ready for the knacker's yard as yet. "Ohmwork" is seethingly exciting stuff and within molotov-chucking distance of being a lasting metal classic in itself. Who'd have believed it?
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