The Best Covers of Black Sabbath Songs
There have been numerous brilliant Black Sabbath covers over the years. Marking the celebration of Black Sabbath’s last-ever show on Sunday 5th July 2025, we have compiled the very best covers of their well-known and more obscure tracks, featuring bands such as Lamb of God, Weezer, Ugly Kid Joe, Metallica, Machine Head, Soulfly and more. Check out our Spotify playlist HERE. Horns up and enjoy the riffs!
Here are some of the highlights. Which cover is your favourite, and have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments below.
NIB (Nativity in Black) is featured on Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album. This cover by Ugly Kid Joe, released in 1994 for a tribute album of the same name, preserves the wonky bass riff but piles on a tonne of additional energy and crystal-clear production that still sounds incredible 30+ years later. It is arguably better than the original.
Lamb of God were one of the bands given the opportunity to play a short set on 5th July 2025 at Villa Park in Birmingham, before Ozzy and Black Sabbath made their final-ever performances. Lamb of God, as always, didn’t disappoint. Their set included a storming cover of ‘Children of the Grave’, and the studio version followed shortly afterwards. It sounds HUGE, and Randy Blyth’s vocals alternate between a surprisingly tuneful Ozzy tribute and the fierce growls that we know and love him for. This is the newest cover in this list, and already one of the best.
Released as a bonus track on the special edition of the ‘Supercharger’ album in 2001, Machine Head’s version of ‘Hole in the Sky’ is notable for how it changes the groove from its original 6/8 swing to a pummelling, straight-up 4/4 that Machine Head do so well. This cover does what the best covers do, paying respect to the original while putting a new spin on it. This is a perfect representation of Machine Head around the Burning Red / Supercharger era, and it absolutely rules.
In a similar way to Machine Head’s version of ‘Hole in the Sky’, this cover of ‘Snowblind’ strikes the right balance of tribute and innovation. The main essence of the original is retained, but played through the warped, crazy filter of self-titled debut album-era System of a Down.
Weezer love their cover versions, and for the most part they tend to stay true to the originals (‘Enter Sandman’ - Metallica; ‘Paranoid Android’ - Radiohead; ‘Africa’ - Toto etc). They even released a covers-only record in 2019, known as the ‘Teal Album’, which is fun if inessential. Their cover of ‘Paranoid’, sung by guitarist Brian Bell rather than Rivers Cuomo, has an excellent, garage-rock sound, transposed to a lower key and driven home with a relentless energy.
