Upon its release in ’73, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath began achieving a feat that had, for the previous four albums and three years, eluded the Birmingham metal maestros. It started getting good reviews. Until then, the music critics had not warmed to the bare, brutal honesty of Black Sabbath’s music, not least Rolling Stone critic Lester Bangs, who had described the band’s debut ‘Black Sabbath’ as “just like Cream. But worse!” Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was released on 1 December 1973 and was immediately heralded by the previously reluctant Rolling Stone magazine as “an extraordinarily gripping affair” and “nothing less than a complete success”.