Sabbath's Symptom Of The Universe Tops 2018 Riff Poll

In a 2018 Metal Hammer magazine poll for the greatest riff of all time, the riff in Black Sabbath's Symptom Of The Universe was voted first. The song is on Black Sabbath's 1975 album Sabotage. The recording process for Sabotage lasted nearly a year, and the different style transition in the second half of Symptom Of The Universe emerged from a joint improvisation by the band members.

Tony Iommi stated that he mostly finds his riffs during rehearsal, and he sometimes records riffs made at home onto tape so he will not forget them. He said he does not listen much to other musicians in order to avoid accidentally playing someone else's riff. Iommi also points to Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water among the best riffs.

Over the years, Iommi has accumulated hundreds of unused riffs from different albums and line-ups, which are kept on various CDs. Four or five good riffs were not used on Black Sabbath's final album, 13.