Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

The band began writing in a rented Bel Air house in Los Angeles but came away with nothing. Iommi said he panicked because he had no ideas, and Butler said they were exhausted after the Vol. 4 tour, at the end of which Iommi collapsed at the Hollywood Bowl. They moved to Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean, and Iommi found the title track riff while rehearsing in the dungeon. Butler said that when it came, they felt they were back.

Recorded in September 1973 at Morgan Studios in Willesden, London. Patrick Meehan took a co-producer credit, though Iommi said he had virtually no involvement. Rick Wakeman, working in the next studio, played on Sabbra Cadabra and was paid in beer. An orchestra for Spiral Architect was recorded at nearby Pye Studio, with Osbourne humming the parts because there was no written score. Osbourne wrote Who Are You? on an ARP 2600 synthesiser. Butler said A National Acrobat asks which sperm reaches the egg and Spiral Architect is about experience adding to a person's DNA.

Led Zeppelin visited the studio and John Bonham wanted to play on Sabbra Cadabra. The two bands had an improvised jam that was recorded but never released. The album reached number 4 in Britain and number 11 in the United States, and was the band's fifth straight US Platinum record. Rolling Stone called it an extraordinarily gripping affair, and these were the band's first favourable mainstream reviews. Osbourne later called it the beginning of the end.