Metal Friday: Nativity in Black

"Everybody knows that Black Sabbath started everything and almost 
every single thing that people are playing today has already been done by Black Sabbath.
They wrote every single good riff... ever." -- Rob Zombie

I’ll admit it: As a young heavy metal devotee I was not much of a Black Sabbath fan. That’s not strong enough: I was probably a couple degrees removed from scorn of the legendary British metal act, a stance born out of ignorance.

When I started listening to heavy metal in the late 1980s, Sabbath was no longer “in.” Far from it. Iron Maiden? They were in. American thrash bands like Anthrax, Megadeth, and especially Metallica, yeah, definitely in. Sabbath in comparison seemed like old fogies and has-beens; next to “Disposable Heroes,” the likes of “Iron Man” felt pretty, well, disposable. 

By that time Ozzy had long been booted from the band, Dio had departed for an illustrious solo career, and the band was far past its peak. After taking a brief hiatus in the mid-80s, Sabbath brought in Tony Martin as lead vocalist and released The Eternal Idol (1987) and Headless Cross (1989). Both albums were met with indifference by heavy metal magazines and Headbangers Ball. Probably not unfairly, either. They were out of step with the metal scene at the time.

Now, I knew the name Black Sabbath carried legendary status among metal die-hards, and I liked a couple of their songs well enough. But, I was not on the bandwagon. I just didn’t know enough of their classic songs, and lacked an understanding of their incalculable contributions, or the awesomeness of hits like “Into the Void,” “Fairies Wear Boots” and “Symptom of the Universe.” Keep in mind this was the pre-internet era, and so exploring their catalog via Spotify or Youtube was not an option. Even had I wanted to listen to Sabbath, I didn’t own any of their tapes (yes, I said tapes damnit). I had minimal income and buying their back catalog was difficult, and had minimal appeal for my thrash and Maiden obsessed self.

But something occurred in 1994 that changed my perception of the band, forever. Ironically it was not a Black Sabbath album, but a Sabbath tribute album. I’m talking about the appearance of Nativity in Black.

I don’t know what prompted me to buy this album; by then I had more disposable income and I think I may have read a good review in Kerrang or somewhere else. It may have been that I was a huge fan of the artists featured on the album, including the likes of Biohazard, White Zombie, Sepultura, and of course Bruce Dickinson. Regardless, I’m glad I bought it.

By then I had graduated to CDs, and immediately realized upon first spin of this new-fangled shiny disc that the album rocked. Hard. Nativity in Black is a classic. I love Sepultura’s cover of “Symptom of the Universe,” Bruce ripping through “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath,” and Type O Negative’s downbeat, doom-laden version of “Black Sabbath.” I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the mysterious Bullring Brummies, who covered “The Wizard,” was fronted by none other than Rob Halford. Oh, and Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were also part of this undercover band, formed solely to play one song on the album.

But my favorite song on Nativity in Black has to go to “Children of the Grave” by White Zombie. If this doesn’t get you headbanging I don’t know what will. It’s a killer cover. Rob Zombie and co. amp up the pace (and bass) to add an additional layer of heaviness, add in snippets of newscaster reports of the Manson murders, and change a few key words ("love" is changed to "hell" in one verse) which lends the song a far more sinister air than the original.

Needless to say this album kindled my interest in Sabbath and led to me exploring their back catalog. And the rest is history.

Here is the aforementioned “Children of the Grave.” Give it a listen and see if you agree if it earns the killer status I've accorded it.