Snowblind

There are several different songs with this name, and they're all about cocaine... but I'm going to talk about the Black Sabbath song, fo yo info.

It's hard to have a favorite Sabbath song because they were so consistent throughout the Ozzy and Dio years (I am mostly unfamiliar with their work after Dio left, but I couldn't really get into the majority of it... that may change someday), but this song is high on the list. The whole Vol. 4 album is really great, minus FX. Sigh.



First off, the riffs. But that doesn't really need to be mentioned. Tony Iommi is the man, and I don't know how he has managed to think of SO many good riffs. This song has a different atmosphere to it than the rest of their stuff though... it's like the tone of the cymbals and the arpeggiated sections almost sound like icicles piercing your skull and freezing your brain. Also I really like Ozzy's vocal stylings around this time. He wasn't just following the riff but hadn't ascended into extreme helium voice Ozzy yet.

Also did I mention how much I love the strings at the end? It just adds to what I mentioned earlier about the icicles freezing the brain. I don't know whether all this was intended or just coincidence but it really makes the song come together and sound so convincing.



This video is a live performance from 1975. It's kind of funny to watch as Ozzy has some half-hippie, half-disco outfit, Geezer is fully glammed out, Bill Ward might be naked, and Tony Iommi looks the same as he has his entire life. Usually Ozzy would yell "COCAINE" after every verse but not here. It looks like it was filmed for TV though, so who knows.

There are a couple covers that I'll share as well:



System of a Down covered the song. I kind of like what they did with the main riff, but I can't stand the vocals in the verses, this coming from one of those rare people who takes the middle ground when it comes to SOAD (I don't love or hate them). The vocals in the verses just makes it sound ridiculous and not menacing at all. The bridges are done well though.



John Frusciante also covered the song a few times when he was touring in like 2001. There is actual video footage of him playing it, but the audio quality isn't as good and it cuts out part of the way through. Besides, this is a good performance anyway, and I like the guy at the end yelling "WELCOME TO HAWAII" complete with voice cracks, and John asking what that means, hah. Also apparently the link I posted was just uploaded today. Coincidence?! Yeah, totally better than the System of a Down version. Sorry...