I didn´t realise how nuts we´d gone until I went home and the girl I was with at the time couldn´t recognise me, “ states Geezer, bleakly.
Between ´73 and ´74 the strain of Sabbath was becoming intolerable from inside and outside the band. Mounting management problems had allowed the band to realise that even in their drug- addled state, things were not what they should be. The pressure took its toll on Tony in particular who, after another world tour, discovered he had writerw´block for the first time. Regrouping in LA to carry on where they´d left off with Vol.4, Sabbath were burnt out and on the verge of splitting.
“I panicked and I really thought I´d had it because I didn´t have a single idea about what to write. It might have been drugs, it couldjust have been the pressure , but I felt it was my fault, “states Tony. “I think Tony felt very alone at times, “nods Bill. “There was a lot of responsibility placed on him to start things off, and on Geezer to come up with lyrics too.”
“overall, I think the frustration was just to build up” opines Ozzy.”The vibe in LA was terrible,” adds Geezer. “we agreed to call it a day and go home. We just thought this is how bands split up. When we got home we decided to give it one more try.” As a last ditch effort, Sabbath hired Clearwell castle inWales in a bid to try and write again. What came out was one of Iommi´s greatest rifs of all- time, anchoring the title track of wath became their fifth album Sabbath bloody sabbath.
“The relief was incredible,”recalls Geezer. “We knew that we were back on track and that we could go on after we´d writtem that one song. “while at Clearwell. Tomy maintains that Sabbath were not alone. “We rehearsed in the armoury there and one night O was walking down the corridor with Ozzy and we sae this figure in a black cloak. “ recalls the guitarist. I said Who´s that?” and Ozzy said “ I don´t know”. We followed this figure back into the armoury and there was absolutely no one there. Whoever it was had disappeared into thin air! The people that owned that castle knew all about this ghost and they said “ oh yes, that´s the ghost of so and so. We were like” WHAT??!!”
“We spent the rest of the time trying to frighten each other by rigging up all these devices.In the end we were allpetrified and we hadto drive home every night rather than stay here! That defeated the object of it all.”
Despite being haunted in more ways than one, Sabbathreleased Sabbath bloody sabbath, their most ambitious album to date in November´73. A complex offering which featuredYes keyboard player Rick Wakeman, it againproved to be a mixture of brain and brawn.