Hole in the Sky

"Hole in the Sky" is a song by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. It is the opening track on their sixth studio album, Sabotage, released in 1975. Composition Musical structure Author Mick Wall wrote that the song features a "door-slamming riff that wouldn't have been out of place on Paranoid" (the band's second album, released in 1970). Music scholar Nolan Stolz identifies three guitar riffs played by guitarist Tony Iommi in the song: a main riff, a second riff heard at both around 24 seconds and 58 seconds into the track ("similar to—and a logical outgrowth of—the first"), and a third, four-second-long riff present during the song's chorus after the first two verses. Stolz notes that the third riff "is based on a one-second-long rhythmic idea played four times, but with the chords changing on the third and fourth times." This is paired with drummer Bill Ward playing a tom drum and cymbal at both about 120 beats per minute (bpm) and 180 bpm, applying "an Afro-Cuban-like feel". After the fourth verse, the second riff is recalled, and the main riff is played three-and-a-half times before the song comes to an abrupt end. Following the song's sudden cutoff, the album segues immediately into the next track, "Don't Start (Too Late)", an acoustic instrumental that runs for under a minute in length. Wall asserts that the abrupt ending of "Hole in the Sky" emphasises "the sheer anger of the song".