Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the fifth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in December 1973. For the first time in their career, the band began to receive favorable reviews in the mainstream press, with Rolling Stone calling the album "an extraordinarily gripping affair", and "nothing less than a complete success." Black Sabbath was formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist and main songwriter Tony Iommi, bassist and main lyricist Geezer Butler, singer Ozzy Osbourne, and drummer Bill Ward. Black Sabbath is often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped define the genre with a clutch of groundbreaking albums in the '70s.