Tales from the Jugular

13 Great Black Sabbath Songs Without Ozzy or Dio!

Everybody knows who Ozzy Osbourne is--everybody. You probably formed a mental picture in your head of the "Godfather of Heavy Metal" when you read that. He's famous enough that his name shows up in game show trivia questions. Go ask your grandma right now and she'll say "Oh, yeah! I've heard of Ozzy!" The vocalist on Black Sabbath's early classic songs "Iron Man", Paranoid", "Black Sabbath" and many others has become a cultural icon across the world. He left the band at the end of the 70s and had a successful solo career of various incarnations. Most headbangers, with a touch of age on them, also know Ozzy's replacement, Ronnie James Dio. He is often cited as being the greatest vocalist in heavy metal history. He left after a couple killer albums and formed his own solo band as well.

They are giants of heavy metal.

But Black Sabbath didn't rot and die after those famous voices departed. They continued on with other vocalists and released more albums of various quality. If you can name a few of those then you're a pretty solid fan whose use of this column would largely be for comparison. Many metalheads, however, are a bit shaky on what happened with the mighty band throughout the last 30 years, so we went a little deeper into the Sabbath catalog and pulled out our 13 favorite tracks that weren't sung by Ozzy or Dio.

Dark, raw, and energetic Disturbing the Priest is an evil and psychotic tune featuring some unsettling vocals and screams from Ian. Excellent lyrics, great breakdowns, and some punchy riffs throughout this song. --Troy Cole

This song has a killer main riff and is one of their most evil sounding songs. I don't believe that Ozzy or even Dio could have made this song any better than Ian Gillan did. It has a dirty sound and very unpolished vocals but perfect for this song. --David Loveless




Is it a Sabbath album? According to Iomni it is, the label says solo record. Regardless Hughes nails these cuts and delivers one of Sabbath's best career tracks. He has such range and really brings a melodic AOR feel to a heavy cut. --Eric Compton




Great intro riff that leads into some powerful and melodic churning almost Dio style. All the parts seem to work harmoniously from Singer's on point drumming to Martin's shining vocals. --Troy Cole

I constantly rewound this song on my cassette player! It had that evil, doomy riff that could have even been a Candlemass song. However, Tony Martin's vocals on the acoustic parts were incredible and when he hit those high notes as the doom riffs took over, I got chills almost every time! --David Loveless

There are so many great tracks on this record. This is classic mid-era Sabbath with one of the best hooks on record. Martin seems to have leather lungs when he belts out those runs and the whole thing has a Zeppelin feel to it. --Eric Compton

One of Black Sabbaths' faster tracks with aggressive riffs and Tony Martin really soars on vocals and staying in the high register for a majority of the song. --David Loveless

This was probably the first Sabbath song I heard without Ozzy/Dio and I instantly was hooked. Tony's smooth barritone is exceptionally paired with Iommi's ominous main riff. There's a fairly soulful solo in it also. It's not exactly the scariest or spookiest BS tune, but every time I hear the lyrics "No one laughed as madness came out to play it's game / If you stay too long you'll finally go insane...RISE UP to the shining!" I wanna throw in the Kubrick film and synch it up to Jack running around with his axe. Tony's mullet and Iommi's cross-fringed jacket in the video are pretty awesome too. --Frank Hill




This is the title track of that amazing record. The cannon of percussion, ripping guitars and Martin's godly performance is absolute perfection. Lyrically it gives me chills. --Eric Compton

A heavy and brooding song with a climactic verse chorus structure. Tony Martin pierces your ears with his wails over backing vocals chanting the song title. Brian May nails a godlike solo to make this a personal favorite of mine. --Troy Cole




Although this album is generally left out of Sabbath conversation it does have some decent cuts. "Valhalla" is one of my favorites of Tony Martin's catalog, a simple mid-tempo cut that lyrically paints Vikings, frosty shores and long ships. --Eric Compton




Opening half contains an orchestral feel while maintaining a Sabbath vibe that gets combined with Led Zeppelin like riffing. Second part of the song picks up the speed with more of the hard rock sound that permeates the album. --Troy Cole

Even though the mix is rough on this album the underlying bass line on this track gets me everytime and Martin's range is on showcase here. One of the faster songs on the album with some nice breakdowns. --Troy Cole




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