10. Marissa Nadler — Solitude
“Solitude” is one of those quiet Sabbath ballads that non-fans of the band are probably shocked by. It’s also one of the first signs of guitarist Tony Iommi’s growing music ambitions, making music outside of the band’s obvious niche. In the original Iommi famously plays a very prominent flute part.
American singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler doesn’t mess with the song’s bones. She plays the opening guitar part pretty much straightforward and sings the vocal part with a similar pace and affect to Ozzy’s original. But she adds haunting backing vocals, a low, humming organ of some sort, and layers of additional overdubs, both guitars and samples, which come in and out of the mix. She ups the feeling of isolation, depression and desperation. Though the tempo is basically the same, and the mood seems similar, the intensity of the song is dialed up and crushing lyrics are brought to the fore. — Riley Haas
9. Eläkeläiset — Humppa ja jenkka [Heaven and Hell]
There was something beautiful and poignant about the final Sabbath tribute and performance this summer. Men who had known each other for sixty years, and been through high times and low, taking the opportunity to get together for what they knew would be the very last time. Finnish hellraisers and pensioners Eläkeläiset were doing their Humppa versions of classic songs long before this summer, and a version of them will no doubt continue to do so for some time yet. Their version of “Heaven and Hell” is restrained, by reference to their own work rather than the rest of the musical world, and respectful. Age respects age. — Mike Tobyn
8. The Dickies — Paranoid
Geezer Butler called the Dickies’ cover of “Paranoid” “one of the best Black Sabbath covers I’ve ever heard.” The band jacks up the tempo (for a sound more similar to the original, change YouTube’s playback speed to 0.75), and their headlong thrash sounds less mistrustful than exuberant. Does that mean it misses the point of “Paranoid”? Of course not. It’s just proof positive that heavy metal doesn’t have to be heavy to make its point – it can also be fun. — Patrick Robbins
7. Metallica — Johnny Blade
Sabbath covers abounded during the Back to the Beginning farewell show in Birmingham this summer, as titans from heavy music around the world took the stage to pay tribute. Metallica worked two Sabbath tunes into their live set: “Hole in the Sky,” which they’ve played on two-other Sabbath occasions (when the band got into the Rock Hall in 2006, and at a previous Birmingham show in 2009), and “Johnny Blade,” which they’ve never played before. Both are relative deep cuts, but is anyone surprised that Metallica know their Sabbath? “Johnny Blade” comes from Never Say Die, Ozzy’s final album with Sabbath until the reunion decades later. It’s a deep cut, but, in Metallica’s hands, it sounds like a classic. — Ray Padgett
6. Billy Walker — Changes
When I went looking for covers for this post, I came across Billy Walker’s “Changes.” I wasn’t familiar with the original, but I was intrigued to see the cover came out only a year later. Imagine my surprise to discover it was a country weepie, complete with pedal steel, about the singer losing his best girl. Imagine my further surprise to find out that the original was not that different. I was fascinated to learn that Walker (whose label erroneously credited the song to Phil Ochs) really followed the Third Commandment here: he remembered the Sabbath and kept it holy. — Patrick Robbins
5. Emel Mathlouthi — Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
“Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” the title track of the band’s fifth studio album, contains an iconic guitar riff written and played by Tony Iommi, a riff so powerful that it has been credited with saving the band during a creative and personal low point. The lyrics are a lament about the difficulties that the band had suffered at the hands of everyone who had tried to profit from their success.
Emel Mathlouthi, a Tunisian-born, New York-based singer/songwriter found herself trapped in Tunisia during the COVID lockdown, without any instruments or equipment. After scrounging up a guitar, a laptop and a tape recorder from a local fan on Facebook, she recorded a double album—side one was reworkings of her own material, while side two was all covers, including an acoustic take on “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.” Stripped of its heavy electric guitar riffs, and with Emel’s remarkable voice replacing Ozzy’s trademark wail, the cover highlights the despair and desperation of the lyrics in a way that the original doesn’t. — Jordan Becker
4. The Cardigans — Iron Man
Is it ever a smart move to use lo-fi beats on classic Sabbath material? Wise to give the signature “Iron Man” guitar riff a pass? A good call to drop the power chords? Yes, yes, and yes. Not every “Iron Man” cover needs heavy metal thunder. But what makes this cover great is not what it removes but what it adds: the female gaze. Nina Persson of The Cardigans was the first to give voice to the possibility that one might feel some feelings for Iron Man and his heavy boots of lead.
Ozzy himself loved this cover and in particular its “beauty and the beast” plot twist. But Ozzy also called it creepier than the original. I disagree. The singer’s longing for Iron Man is sweetly naive; she’s a lovefool, not a creep, not a weirdo. Listen to Persson’s despairing sigh at the end. The sigh says it all. — Tom McDonald
3. Midlake — Am I Going Insane?
A strange choice of cover, perhaps, because “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” is a largely unloved Black Sabbath track, and one that’s vastly overshadowed on the band’s ambitious and proggy sixth album, Sabotage, by the likes of “Hole in the Sky” and “The Writ.” It’s pretty unrecognizable as the work of the Ozzy-fronted group in 1975, being a strange, psychedelic throwback to the late ’60s that’s low on guitar riffage, traditionally structured, and accessible. Nothing too subversive about it. Yet Midlake had the know-how to make it so much more in 2011. The Texan folk-rockers, still with primary singer and songwriter Tim Smith at the helm, made it richer, slower, denser, darker, and more sinister for the Late Night Tales series of compilation albums. Smith never sounded more brooding and haunted on a take that’s initially quiet and acoustic, yet builds threateningly with harmonies, drums, harpsichord and squalling electric guitar licks, ahead of an unhinged breakdown of an ending. It’s what going insane sounds like! — Adam Mason
2. Hellsongs — War Pigs
The rich genetic heritage of the Black Country and Midlands continues to grow and diversify, as people bring new skills, ideas and DNA to the area. But some Midlanders are particularly proud of the Viking blood that some of them carry. The foundries in which metal was forged for the Industry of the UK, and Heavy Metal music that was born in those foundries seem to blend well with Norse mythology. So it is lovely to hear Sabbath songs delivered with a Nordic lilt, as Hellsongs bring their lounge metal to the party. Unlike other lounge versions, some good and some bad, there is no mocking here. The music is delivered straight and the lyrics are clean, without any turning of the lip or rolling of the eyes. From small beginnings Hellsongs were eventually in a position to record with members of an orchestra, giving a big sound to a classic idea. — Mike Tobyn
1. Charles Bradley — Changes
Black Sabbath wasn’t afraid to throw a few musical curveballs into their music. Many of their early records contain songs that veered far afield from their brand of hard-rocking psychedelic blues (or proto-metal, whatever you want to call it). One such example is “Changes,” which appeared on their aptly titled fourth record Vol. 4. It is a slow, almost syrupy, breakup ballad that features Ozzy Osbourne singing the near-constant refrain “I’m going through changes.” Not exactly fist pumping material.
In 2013, soul singer Charles Bradley released his own version as a single (it would later be the title track to an album in 2016). Bradley reinterpreted it as a slow-moving, horn-powered soul tune, reminiscent of the music of Otis Redding and other soul icons from the ’60s. Bradley’s voice twists out every bit of the emotion from the lyrics as you can almost feel his pain. — Curtis Zimmermann
For me the best Black Sabbath cover was Generation X’s final encore at High Wycombe’s Nag’s Head in March ’77. Too bad the only version I can find of it today sounds like crap.
That War Pigs cover…