Buttkickin' Halloween Songs: "Supertzar" -- Black Sabbath (1975)

Black Sabbath. The forefathers of Heavy Metal. The masters of gloom and doom rock. Nobody does classic hard rock on the crunchy side like Sabbs.

And if you hadn’t noticed, there are no lyrics posted here. That’s because Supertzar is one of their many instrumental tracks, and holy crap this thing is an atmospheric musical beast. I can’t take credit for this observation, and I wish I could remember who said it so I could credit them here, but I remember reading online years ago someone’s description of Supertzar as the theme music to an alien police or military force gearing up for battle.

And that pretty much nailed it in my eyes.

The track hails from their landmark 1975 album Sabotage which is your host’s absolute favorite Black Sabbath album, so if you haven’t given that record a spin go listen to it as soon as possible. It’s brilliant. But if you’re asking why this track deserves to be on our Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs playlist, just click the video below and listen. It’s almost an exquisite thing of beauty: experimental, vocally harmonious (there are no lyrics, but the London Philharmonic Choir adds their atmospheric vocalizations to complement the melody), strange, ominous, yet also lilting and epic in its quality.

And those devastating Tony Iommi riffs…

Enough of my yapping. Hoist your plasma rifles, unsheathe your vibro-blades, power up your force shields and environmental containment suits, and prepare for transport to the front lines off the shoulder of Orion, Imperial Sky Marines! Or some such nonsense. It’s Sabbath. Go huge or don’t even get outta bed…