Geezer Butler was a vital cog in everything noteworthy that Black Sabbath did. Perhaps the first true heavy metal bassist, his pulsating basslines were the perfect ballast for Tony Iommi’s sludgy riffs, tying the group together with the thunderous rhythms of Bill Ward. He instilled the muscle into the Birmingham band’s most important moments and provided them with many classic lyrics — an enigma in every sense.
A total realist, this also applies when it comes to discussing the band’s music. In his time, Butler has delivered critiques of almost all of their best-loved albums and provided insights into their construction, with his honest reflections always fascinating. From their 1970 debut to more contemporary efforts, these comments are more compelling as they’re invariably supported by substantial information.
When speaking to Metal Edge in 2023, Butler offered some of his most honest opinions on Sabbath’s oeuvre to date. As part of the conversation, he looked at their best and worst efforts and even named what he believes is the “totally complete” album by the band.
“The thing is, we were trying to progress too much musically,” Butler told the publication of their contentious late-1970s period. “We completely lost the plot, I think. We stopped doing the things that made Sabbath what it was and began going from more melodic stuff, which was a mistake looking back. Ozzy always wanted to still sound like the old version of Sabbath, while Tony and I wanted to expand musically. Looking back, Ozzy was probably right because our expansion caused us to lose what Sabbath was supposed to be about.”
Following this, Butler named what he thinks is the best Black Sabbath album. Unsurprisingly, this is 1970’s second album, Paranoid, the record that gave the world the classic of the same name and the likes of ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’. Labelling it “totally complete”, the bassist noted how quickly every song came together and was imbued with “such fire”.
“It was a totally complete album,” Butler said. “It wasn’t forced, and the chemistry between the four of us was so fluid. I remember getting together to do that record, and we wrote literally everything immediately. Each song came together so easily and had such fire. And each time we would go into rehearsal, we’d come out with a completed song. I think that’s why that album is special, because of how naturally things came together. It was the most organic record that Sabbath – in any era —-ever made. It was completely natural, as it should have been.”
Listen to Paranoid in full below.
