Black Sabbath's Spiral Architect

“There is only one Sabbath guitarist, and he is the architect for everything: Tony Iommi.” Zakk Wylde

 “There is only one Sabbath guitarist,
and he is the architect for everything: Tony Iommi.”
Zakk Wylde


One of the most serious mistakes of musicologists and critics has always been the fact to appreciate Tony Iommi only for his riffs. Named Riffmaster worldwide, which is absolutely true, Tony never really been recognized as a guitar solo craftsman. This error comes from a careless, superficial glance at his work. It is possible to cite dozens of examples in his career to easily prove Iommi’s unique ability to create masterpieces in this area. The issue here is not the technique or speed, but the ability to transmit and cause particular emotive state of the listener. That can not be learned. You have to be born with that.

Let's get out much in the past, and try to realize what music is all, and what role it plays in our lives. Living in the 21st century, we are used to understand music at best as a kind of minor pleasure at your leisure, or even a simple object of consumption. But music was one of the most important places in the arts of antiquity. It’s origins date back to the folk and religious rites. Music associated with the beginning of the creation of the world, it’s continuation and end. The musicians play the role of the prophets, as it was believed that only through music, you can elevate the soul over a framework of earthly life. It is not for nothing shamans and sorcerers at the dawn of human evolution were the first musicians. And their role was not only to entertain the listener.

Speaking about such artist as Iommi, I want to make a comparison with the so-called Mana personality of Carl Gustav Jung: “Mana personality - is the dominant of the collective unconscious, the archetype of a strong man known as a hero, leader, magician, healer and holy, a friend of God and spirits.” Mana personality may be a person endowed with inner strength, charisma and extraordinary qualities, a certain figure of the sorcerer. An ancient shaman beating a tambourine and playing a bone flute in front of sunken into ecstasy tribe has many parallels with a modern rock guitar hero. It’s possible to be technically high, or fast player, but you cannot learn to be a wizard. Or we may call it geniality?

Rosie "Iommifan" Piergiorgi.