Black Sabbath and . It may sound like a strange duo. I suppose it is. Both are pretty damn good on their own, but together they’re the best combination since peanut butter and chocolate. Don’t believe me? Just consider existentialism.

Anyone who has ever read Jean-Paul Sartre’s massive tome Being and Nothingness and his short novel Nausea can tell you that the novel communicates his existentialist philosophy much more effectively than does the treatise. There’s a reason for that: Existentialism is about the existing individual, and the colorful language of literature can illustrate individual existence in a way that the dry language of philosophy cannot. As we’ll see, the songs of Black Sabbath can do the same.

My favorite example of existentialist insight in literature comes from Shakespeare:

Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing (Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5)

Human beings from any time or place could comprehend the significance of this existentialist image: the absurdity, the meaninglessness, the , the pointless striving, the , the despair, the urgency, and the sense of ever-impending death.

Of course you may note that Shakespeare was not an existentialist, certainly not if existentialism is just a twentieth (and perhaps twenty-first) century movement. But I don’t think that existentialism is limited in that way. As I understand it, existentialism is a philosophy that reacts to an absurd or meaningless world by urging the individual to overcome alienation, oppression, and despair through freedom and self-creation in order to become a genuine person. It can be found from the Old Testament books of Job and Ecclesiastes right up to Black Sabbath’s new album 13.

The poetry isn’t as good on 13 as it is in Macbeth, but it fits better. I love the soliloquy from act 5, scene 5 quoted above, but it has never made sense to me in the context of the play. Lady Macbeth has just died and Macbeth’s fortunes have turned for the worse, but his despairing view of life is too sudden. You have to grow into that kind of thing. My theory is that this particular soliloquy came to Shakespeare in a flash of poetic inspiration. It was brilliant and he just had to use it. So he inserted it in the play even though it didn’t quite fit.

What about Black Sabbath you say? Well, legendary guitar player Tony Iommi has put together inspired riffs on the new album 13. And Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne have penned appropriately dark lyrics. They don’t all fit together ideally well, but in “Damaged Soul” when Ozzy wails “dying is easy it’s living that’s hard” over Iommi’s surreal, bluesy riff you know it’s true. And you know in a flash what existentialism is in a way you never could by reading Being and Nothingness. Of course my description here won’t really help you much either. You have to hear Ozzy’s warbling, nasal, and uncertain voice, so expressive of an individual who is tortured, haunted, alienated, and angry.

In Kierkegaardian terms, Hubert Dreyfuss says, “Despair is the feeling that life isn’t working out for you and, given the kind of person you are, it is impossible for things to work for you, that a life worth living is, in your case, literally impossible.” That’s a terrific description, but it doesn’t capture the feeling the way Sabbath’s new song “Loner” does. Over a hypnotic riff reminiscent of “N.I.B.”, Ozzy sings the story of an existentialist anti-hero

He hides himself away

His secrets not revealed

As life just passes by

He keeps himself concealed

A solitary man, an enigmatic child

A riddle never solved

A prisoner exiled

…

Has he ever tried to be happy?

Reach out from inside

Someone on who he can depend

It's getting too late to recover

He won't stand a chance

And into his own hell he'll descend

Don't descend!

No, it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s not supposed to be. And it’s not meant to be read on a blog. It’s meant to be heard. Even Bob Dylan’s lyrics need to be heard, not read. The lyrics from “Loner” may not be the boys at their most poetic, but together with the music we get to hear Sabbath at its blackest. And that’s a pretty remarkable thing for old men who could just lounge in the sun and count their money. For all Ozzy’s fame and even mainstream acceptance, he remains a “damaged soul,” newly sober (supposedly) once again as he continues to confront his demons, in the process helping us confront our own.

13 starts by asking “Is this the end of the beginning? / Or the beginning of the end? / Losing control or are you winning? / Is your life real or just pretend?” The clear call is for us to live a life that is real, “authentic” as the existentialists say. Despite the darkness there is hope for us all, even for the “Loner” to whom Sabbath implores “don’t descend.”

William Irwin’s latest book is Black Sabbath and Philosophy: Mastering Reality.