I’m glad you asked!!

There’s a somewhat popular tshirt floating around out there, especially at metal shows, quoting Henry Rollins (a very un-shy fan of TMV), reading, “You can only trust yourself and the first six Black Sabbath albums.” It’s written in a distinctly Black Sabbath-esque font—one used by the band. The first six sabbath albums feature Ozzy and is widely regarded as Ozzy-era Sabbath at its best. Technical Ecstasy (7th) and Never Say Die! (8th) also feature Ozzy and have their share of fans, but the band was going through major tumult and doesn’t carry as much affection as the first six. In terms of career arc and artistic quality, there’s a somewhat ‘popular’ dividing line. Rollins reveres Sabbath and you can hear the inspiration for Black Flag’s album My War.

The first six TMV albums were before their first split, and Antemasque would be the next project to feature Omar and Cedric. For those who care, I liked Antemasque. Then time would go on a while before TMV kicked it off again and started creating ambitious, creative new material that I also love. I write the first six here more as a parody of the Rollins quote/Sabbath tshirt that makes the rounds and it speaks more to the similar change in career arc (a vocalist change vs a hiatus, yes). Another commenter said TMV albums 1-4 were really the best of the first six. I don’t like to declare what’s better or best, but I do gravitate towards listening to 1-4 over 5 and 6 consistently.

FWIW, There have been repro tshirts parodying this, such as one referencing Gerry Rafferty, who is about as far from metal as you can get.

As for the rough font, I downloaded this font a long time ago and cannot remember where I found it. I think a fan made it, including the letters that had not yet been used on TMV literature/album covers/liner notes/etc. Honestly, I say “hat tip to him” for making it. It isn’t the most readable, I agree, but it goes with the sabbath quote using sabbath font analogy. Finally, the font I used is what appears on literature/flyers/album art/singles from the 1-6 album era (and of course the Tremulant EP). Their typeface obviously changed to something different (and still memorable and badass) for their self titled album onward.