On November 11, 2011 (famous 11-11-11), I woke up and looked at my cell phone to check the time. It was 11:11hs.



On that day, Black Sabbath held a press conference to tell the world they were getting back together with their original line-up to record a new album and tour. I decide to pay homage to one of my favorite bands, so I grabbed my gear and recorded one of their songs.

Black Sabbath. For me, that's where heavy metal started. I know some people may disagree on that, but again, that's what did it for me. I grew up on that. At around 8 or 9 I was already listening to that stuff.

Today, there are so many sub-genres of metal that it isn't even funny. However, it doesn't matter what kind of twist people bring into metal: at the end of th day, everything goes back to what Mr Iommi already did several decades ago.

Most kids today name bands they think are really heavy because of blast beats, down-tuned guitars, the growling. Most of them don't even know Sabbath (heresy!). The self titled song Black Sabbath still sounds like one of the heaviest things I've ever heard. Even more so when I put my mind in context and travel back to the time when the song was released (I do the same mental excercise when I watch The Exorcist).

What made me choose Symptom of the Universe? I've always loved that tune. That intro riff is so heavy, and like many people say, it's probably the riff that started what we know as Thrash Metal.

My band in my teenage years covered that song, and so did Sepultura (another favorite band of mine). I felt an urge to record my own version for the tune, as a tribute to the Fathers of Metal!

This is the first song I have recorded where I did pretty much everything: played drums, bass, guitar, sung, recorded, mixed, shot and edited video, etc. I'm aware that I'm not really good at any of that, but I assure you I have a blast doing this stuff!

When you listen to my version, you may ask "but what about the second half of the song?". I like that part too, I just didn't have the time that day to relearn some of those parts and record it. Maybe at some point I'll do that.

What have I used to record?

Schecter Guitar
BC Rich Bass
Roland VDrum
MXL condenser mic
FastPro audio interface
Mixcraft
Sony Vegas
iPhone camera

At some point I'll write dedicated blog posts to talk about my gear.

What about you? What's your favorite Black Sabbath's tune?