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Anthem of Battle, Song of Love: an Almighty Heavy Metal Classic
The heaviest love song in the world?
It's everywhere and yet nowhere:
It's the 'Symptom of the Universe', and it's one ultimate slab of pounding kickass traditional metal by the absolute and unchallenged Fathers of All True Heavy Metal: Black Sabbath.
How is it everywhere? That's just my play on the name. Nowhere? Well, it's increasingly covered by younger bands as time goes by, and I find that the rest of the world therefore is catching up with me for my love of the very best. However it will never be a Top 40 tune, and that's just fine by me. Let the world spin past this remarkable musical gem in utter ignorance; I am singular with my Metal Brethren in my bliss.
This has been my favorite song since I first heard it well over twenty years ago, and it's coming up on 30 very soon. Vintage and winelike, it ages only in the most graceful way, timeless and powerful forever.
What moves me to write a rant about this anthemic love song in this forum? Right now there are some very negative trends in Heavy Metal, both commercial and underground, and I feel that those curious about what Heavy Metal is really supposed to be will understand, deeply, what it truly is in its essence once they hear it. Thus, I, a true disciple, direct them to it.
Now, like any good writer, I shall engage your sense of hearing and your imagination and describe this epic song:
'Symptom' is the third track on one of the original Black Sabbath's great classics, their sixth album 'Sabotage' (1975, Warner Bros./Vertigo). It actually has an acoustic intro that truly sets up the listener with a sense of expectation, even foreboding before Tony Iommi cuts in with what I think is absolutely the greatest, darkest riff in his entire mighty repertoire. 'Don't Start (Too Late)' is one of Iommi's several Spanish-flavored, acoustic guitar pieces that bring listeners to the meat of the matter with atmosphere and style: fans will remember that he did exactly this on 'Master of Reality's' 'Orchid', preceding 'Children of the Grave'. I think he does it even better on 'Sabotage'.
The acoustic guitar has hardly finished its natural fade-out when Iommi cuts loose on The Riff.
It's simply a great riff. Only Iommi could've written it, as is true of any of his other musical ideas. And while The Riff (which I often call The Riff of Death) is the main signature of the song and its main attraction, and a true air guitar classic, it's not the only attraction to the song.
'Symptom of the Universe' is filled to overflowing with masterful musical phrases straight out of a flamenco guitar player's dream, and shifts into several different musical textures on its way to Armageddon. The Riff itself just keeps hammering ceaselessly through the verses, with simple but epic-sounding three-chord transitions that, between the second and third verse and after the third verse lead us into one of those phrases I'm talking about. Out of nowhere you'd expect in a heavy metal song there's a classical guitar phrase over the most bizarre bassline I've yet heard in metal. Much of the grandeur of this song is the power of simplicity of certain elements of this song, including of course its signature riff.
The solo comes after the third verse, and while perfectly ordered is possessed of a free spirit that flies, spiralling over a frenetic bass riff that gallops beneath it in perfect syncopation with the wonderfully precise and powerful drumming of Bill Ward. Geezer Butler's bass playing is legendary, and this song is one of the reasons for this. Ozzy's banshee wail is in top form on this track but the true showcase is that magnificent Gibson SG and those wizardly, truncated fingers of the Reverend Mr. Iommi.
How does it all end? With a latinesque acoustic reverie that takes the listener into some lush dream dimension with Caribbean breezes, tall grass and a beach just beyond, and clear blue waters that stretch into forever as the song fades out of hearing. Ozzie is singing a bluesy, joyous love song with an easygoing soulfulness, and a love song is complete in its happiness and its various energies expressed in perfection.
Like I said, 'Symptom of the Universe' is a masterfully composed and performed love song, in turns ominous, aggressive, dark, majestic, romantic, ancient, frenetic and finally serene. It epitomizes Black Sabbath in all its glory and is simply the greatest song ever written in the Heavy Metal paradigm. It simply can't be touched.
If I am reincarnated, I want God to cause me to stumble on my ancient Alienist's tomb and discover the artifact of a cd, or whatever media may come, and know this song all over again. It's part of my soul and I never want to lose it; it's helped me live through so much, and I feel like it's mine.
After all, the Symptom of the Universe is a love that never dies.
Thank you, Mr. Iommi, and thank You God.
------
The Alienist
jhfurnish@yahoo.com
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My Mother's Power
