Employed To Serve guitarist Sammy Urwin has called Into The Void by Black Sabbath “one of the best riffs of all time”.
Talking in a new video interview with Metal Hammer, the Woking musician, who co-founded Employed To Serve with his wife Justine Jones, offers the heavy praise while naming the ‘five best metal riffs of all time’.
“I was gonna pick a Dio track, but then I thought, I have to give it up to the OGs, Black Sabbath,” he says. “Into The Void is undoubtedly one of the best riffs of all time.”
He elaborates: “That riff still sounds so incredibly heavy! I just get goosebumps all over my arms, no matter how many times I’ve listened to it. Black Sabbath are just one of the best metal bands of all time. The godfathers, right?”
Into The Void is the closing song on Sabbath’s third album, 1971’s Master Of Reality. The album saw founding guitarist Tony Iommi experiment with a heavier sound than on previous releases, tuning his instrument down three semi-tones. Paul Brannigan of Classic Rock wrote in 2021, “That decision would eventually birth the entire stoner rock and grunge movements.”
In the years since its release, Into The Void has been covered by the likes of Soundgarden, Kyuss, Melvins and Monster Magnet, and Classic Rock named it Sabbath’s 10th-best song.
There’s a chance the original Sabbath lineup will play Into The Void together one last time on July 5, when they host their retirement show at Villa Park in their hometown of Birmingham. The concert will also mark frontman Ozzy Osbourne’s final live performance and feature a stacked supporting lineup, including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Mastodon, Gojira and way more.
Employed To Serve released their new album, Fallen Star, on April 25 via Spinefarm. It came out to positive reviews, including a glowing 4.5 stars from Metal Hammer journalist Merlin Alderslade.
“This is their best album yet and a major contender for metal album of the year. Again,” Alderslade wrote. “Now make this band absolutely massive!”
Watch the full interview with Urwin below:
