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In June 1972, the band reconvened in Los Angeles to begin work on their next album at the Record Plant. The recording process was plagued with problems, many as a result of substance abuse issues. While struggling to record the song Cornucopia after sitting in the middle of the room, just doing drugs , Bill Ward was nearly fired from the band. I hated the song, there were some patterns that were just... horrible Ward said. I nailed it in the end, but the reaction I got was the cold shoulder from everybody. It was like 'Well, just go home, you're not being of any use right now.' I felt like I'd blown it, I was about to get fired . The album was originally titled Snowblind after the song of the same name, which deals with cocaine abuse. The record company changed the title at the last minute to Black Sabbath, Vol 4, with Ward stating There was no Volume 1, 2 or 3, so it's a pretty stupid title really .

Black Sabbath's Volume 4 was released in September 1972, and while critics of the era were again dismissive of the album, it achieved gold status in less than a month, and was the band's fourth consecutive release to sell a million copies in the US. With more time in the studio, Volume 4 saw the band starting to experiment with new textures, such as strings, piano, orchestration and multi-part songs. The song Tomorrow's Dream was released as a single - the band's first since Paranoid - but failed to chart. Following an extensive tour of the US, the band travelled to Australia for the first time in 1973, and later mainland Europe. Black Sabbath also appeared on England's Top of the Pops in 1973, sharing the stage with such diverse acts as Engelbert Humperdinck and Diana Ross.

Following the Volume 4 world tour, Black Sabbath returned to Los Angeles to begin work on their next release. Pleased with the Volume 4 album, the band sought to recreate the recording atmosphere, and returned to the Record Plant studio in Los Angeles. With new musical innovations of the era, the band were surprised to find that the room they had used previously at the Record Plant was replaced by a giant synthesiser . The band rented a house in Bel Air and began writing in the summer of 1973, but in part because of substance issues and fatigue, they were unable to complete any songs. Ideas weren't coming out the way they were on Volume 4 and we really got discontent Iommi said. Everybody was sitting there waiting for me to come up with something. I just couldn't think of anything. And if I didn't come up with anything, nobody would do anything.

Black Sabbath began work on their sixth album in February 1975, again in England at Morgan Studios in Willesden, this time with a decisive vision to differ the sound from Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. We could've continued and gone on and on, getting more technical, using orchestras and everything else which we didn't particularly want to. We took a look at ourselves, and we wanted to do a rock album - Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath wasn't a rock album, really. Produced by Black Sabbath and Mike Butcher, Sabotage was released in July 1975. Again the album initially saw favourable reviews, with Rolling Stone stating Sabotage is not only Black Sabbath's best record since Paranoid, it might be their best ever , although later reviewers such as Allmusic noted that the magical chemistry that made such albums as Paranoid and Volume 4 so special was beginning to disintegrate .