Technical Ecstasy by Black Sabbath

Technical Ecstasy, Black Sabbath's seventh studio album, came out in 1976, on Vertigo in most of the world and Warner Bros. in North America, and it's the sound of the Birmingham heavyweights deliberately wandering off the path. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward went looking for new territory here, and the songs are more varied and intricate than anything before them, with keyboards and effects pushed right up front alongside the riffs.

There's a restless, curious energy to it, and "Rock n Roll Doctor" swaggers along like a boogie band sneaking into the metal club. The biggest surprise is "It's Alright", a pop ballad sung by Ward, the first Sabbath song ever sung by somebody other than Osbourne. Never Say Die! followed two years later, and Osbourne was out by 1979.

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