Black Sabbath

Released: April 24, 1989

Songwriter: Tony Martin (heavy metal vocalist) Geoff Nicholls Tony Iommi Cozy Powell

Producer: Tony Iommi Cozy Powell

There's something wrong there's a chill in the air
And the blood in my vein's running colder
The eastern sky is beginning to silver
And the words that you speak start to falter
The seal is broken, the oath has been crossed
In the house of the dead there's a taker
Some say that this is the ultimate sin
When the spirit world turns to the alter

There's been a kill in the spirit world
There's been a kill in the spirit world

Behold, the dead clutching at fading hands, out of reach forever
"In glory die" calls the voice of the void
Your assassin has cursed every spectre
The seal is broken, the oath has been crossed
And the house of the dead seeks a master
Stretching every muscle, wait for the end
And a kiss on the wind, whispers murder, murder

There's been a kill in the spirit world
There's been a kill in the spirit world
There's been a kill in the spirit world

When heaven is closer, it's pleasure and pain
Kill in the spirit world

Did you see another in black
Is the blood in your veins running colder
If you did then there's no turning back
As the spirit world turns to the alter

The seal is broken, the oath has been crossed
And the house of the dead seeks a master
Stretching every muscle, wait for the end
And a kiss on the wind, whispers murder

There's been a kill in the spirit world
There's been a kill in the spirit world

Oh here it comes, oh no

The seal is broken, the eastern sky is beginning to silver
There's something wrong, there's a chill in the air
I feel the Evil, I feel the Evil
Somebody whispers murder

A kiss on the wind whispers murder

From their start as a heavy blues-rock band called Earth in 1968, Black Sabbath survived over four decades with a total of 19 studio albums and numerous hits, but only “Paranoid” reached the top 10 UK Singles Chart, putting together one of the greatest rock bands of all time and setting the standards for music in their genre.

Virtually every single heavy metal band has cited the early Black Sabbath albums as a major musical influence and Black Sabbath have at least played some part in laying the foundations for most of heavy metal’s sub-genres, including thrash metal (“Symptom of the Universe” and “Into the Void”), doom metal (“Black Sabbath”) and stoner metal (“Sweet Leaf”). The band also explored many rock sub-genres, including hard rock (“Paranoid”), blues rock (“N.I.B.”), psychedelic rock (“Planet Caravan”) and, of course, the traditional heavy metal, being one of the precursors of this genre.

They were ranked by MTV as the “Greatest Metal Band” of all time and placed second in VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” list. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them number 85 in their “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” They have sold over 70 million records worldwide. Black Sabbath were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. They have also won two Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance.

more tracks from the album

Headless Cross

From the album

Headless Cross (1989)

Black Sabbath popular songs

Kill in the Spirit WorldBlack Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Headless Cross