The only album Geezer Butler was never comfortable releasing: “Too satanic for me”
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(Credit: Tilly antoine)
Black Sabbath never really minced any of their words when it came to writing their tunes. No one had heard anything like their signature brand of hard rock before, and while they could be relied on for spitting out some of the best bluesy riffs of their time, the first birthing pains of heavy metal were heard the minute that Tony Iommi hit the opening notes of their namesake track. There was always a dark side that followed Sabbath around, though, and bassist Geezer Butler did get a little too close to it when working on the newly formed Sabbath under the moniker Heaven and Hell.
That’s because after Ozzy Osbourne returned to the fold for a handful of reunion shows with the group, he also brought his lawyers in with him. When discussing the ownership of the Black Sabbath name, Osbourne insisted that he wanted a say in what they did going forward, which led to him walking away with a good chunk of the group’s trademarks.
No matter, though. Iommi and Butler had already been working with Ronnie James Dio since the 1980s, and even if they were forced to change the name, they were still every bit as powerful as when Dio screamed on ‘Neon Knights’ or ‘Voodoo’.
But there was a certain harsh force behind their comeback album, The Devil You Know. Sure, Sabbath had flirted with a few biblical images before by having Iommi wear a cross onstage or Osbourne continuing to sing ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Warpurgis’, but this was the first time that they teetered right up to the edge, featuring what looks like a demon ripped from the depths of Hell to lay waste upon the Earth.
Add that to the harsh song titles like ‘Bible Black’, and you’d probably understand why Butler thought that they were going a little bit overboard on the Satanic angle. For all of Sabbath’s flirtations with the occult, they did have Christian lyrics from time to time like ‘After Forever’, so now that they had those dark themes out of their system, Butler was convinced that the artwork on the cover was much too macabre to be featured on a Sabbath sleeve.
Despite having what looks like an occultist mating ritual on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Butler chose this album as the one he was least comfortable releasing, saying, “The record company found that image for us. I think Iommi and Dio quite liked it. I wasn’t that happy with it, but then what can I say? It’s a majority rule within this band, and I was outvoted It’s a bit too satanic looking for me, but it is what it is.”
Still, it’s not like the songs don’t match the mythical beast emblazoned on the cover. Just the opening riffs of the album sound like hearing this monster slowly awaken from its slumber to pillage the land another day, so why not do exactly what it says on the tin?
At the same time, it’s easy to see why Butler may have been just slightly uncomfortable with everything. Sabbath can play fast and loose with the rules of how dark their material can be out occasionally, but there’s no getting around what kind of record you’re putting on with this kind of image plastered on top of the music.
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