Into the Void

A rollicking, effusive, and candid rock and roll memoir by the heavy metal musician and founding member of Black Sabbath, covering his years as the band's bassist and main lyricist through his later-career projects, and detailing how one of rock's most influential bands formed and prevailed. With over 70 million records sold, Black Sabbath, dubbed by Rolling Stone "the Beatles of heavy metal," helped create the genre itself, with their distinctive heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, and apocalyptic lyrics. Bassist and primary lyricist Geezer Butler played a gigantic part in the band's renown, from suggesting the band name to using his fascination with horror, religion, and the occult to compose the lyrics and build the foundation of heavy metal as we know it. In Into the Void, Butler tells his side of the story, a behind-the-scenes music memoir that starts from the band's beginnings as a scrappy blues quartet in Birmingham through the struggles leading to the many well-documented lineup changes while touring around London's gritty clubs (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and The Who makes notable appearances!), and the band's important later years. He writes honestly of his childhood in working-class Birmingham in a family of seven, his almost-life as an accountant, and how his disillusionment with organized religion and class systems would spawn the lyrics and artistic themes that would resonate so powerfully with fans around the world. Into the Void reveals the softer side of the heavy metal legend and the formation of one of rock's most exciting 1970s rock bands, while holding nothing back. Like Geezer's bass lines, it is both original, dramatic, and forever surprising.

Founding member Geezer Butler is the longtime bassist and primary lyricist for the groundbreaking heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also released music with his solo band, GZR, and the supergroups Heaven & Hell and Deadland Ritual. He splits his time between the US and UK.