This is volume 5 of a Black Sabbath cover series by some pretty well known metal, hardcore, and punk bands. I bought it because I was trying to make up for never having seen or really gotten into Botch when I was a young lad because I was dumb. I also never really liked Black Sabbath, so just kill me now.

The Cave In side starts a little too ethereal and gothy for me, but the middle bit is awesome and sounds like what I think Black Sabbath would appreciate. I was hoping for more of this at the start with their version of that savage bass intro, but it takes a minute or two to get to the screaming guitars and early metal riffs under a pretty solid impression of Ozzy. I don't have enough patience for that, usually.

The Botch side is, of course, instantly brutal and technical. They make no pretense at trying to be Black Sabbath, they just are themselves and sort of weird time signatures make this Black Sabbath song sound more like Botch than anything else. Particularly for the bridge/outro where they break it down with some tempo change and a panning guitar rhythm and some manipulation of sound that Black Sabbath probably couldn't manage back in the day, not to mention some kind of sample deep in the mix that I can't quite make out. Thankfully there's no sign of the harmonica that sets the original song apart from your expectations of Black Sabbath.

If you're a Botch/Cave In collector, this one doesn't seem to be available (legally) anywhere else, so look for that vinyl, kid.

If you like this review, you can buy me a coffee.