BLACK SABBATH

PAGE UPDATED IN 2020

Reviewed:
- Black Sabbath (1970)
- Paranoid (1970)
- Master of Reality (1971)
- Vol. 4 (1972)
- Tomorrow's Dream (1972, single)
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
- Sabotage (1975)
- We Sold Our Soul for Rock n' Roll (1976, compilation)
- Technical Ecstasy (1976)
- Greatest Hits (1977, compilation)
- Never Say Die! (1978)
- Live at Last (1980, live album)
- Heaven and Hell (1980)
- Mob Rules (1981)
- Live Evil (1983, live album)
- Born Again (1983)
- Seventh Star (1986)
- The Eternal Idol (1987)
- Headless Cross (1988)
- Tyr (1990)
- Dehumanizer (1992)
- Cross Purposes (1994)
- Forbidden (1995)

- Geezer Butler: Plastic Planet (1995)

- Tony Iommi: Eighth Star (1996, bootleg)
- Reunion (1997, live album)
- Past Lives (2002, live album)

- Tony Iommi: The 1996 DEP Sessions (2004)

- Tony Iommi: Fused (2005)
- The Dio Years (2007, compilation)

- Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know (2009)

- Heaven & Hell: Neon Nights - Live at Wacken (2010, live album)
- 13 (2013)

- Live in New Jersey 1975 (2018, bootleg live album)

- Tony Martin: Thorns (2022)


BLACK SABBATH          1970          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All of 'em!

If there's one album that really 'started it all' (i.e. heavy metal), then I guess it's worth pointing to Black Sabbath's self-titled debut. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer etc., were toying with heavy riffage, but none of them qualify as metal. Nope, it wasn't until 1970 when Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums) and Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) dropped this record that you could really brand an album 'heavy metal'. But you already knew that.

For an album that's considered metal, this sure is bluesy. Some people like to argue that because of the heavy blues influences on this record, it isn't metal - but 70's metal was largely bluesy anyway. This album is still very heavy despite all the bluesy jams and (at times) harmonicas! It has a very, very atmospheric quality that matches the iconic, spooky album cover. Nothing else sounds quite like it (not even later Sabbath albums), and nothing else ever will. The heavy, echoing reverb of Tony's riffs and Geezer's rumbling bass and occult lyrics really add to this album's vibe, but one of the other main factors for Black Sabbath's mysterious sound is the fact Ozzy almost sounds like a different man to anything he sang on later. He never really could sing well, but he clearly sang better from an ability perspective on following works. It's clear he can't actually sing on this debut, but his lower-pitch just works perfectly here, and totally helps reinforce that strange atmosphere that lies within these songs.

Speaking of the songs, they're great. The title track scared the shit out of some people in 1970 with it's opening thunderstorm and tolling church bell. And Tony's massive, evil tritone riff is absolutely key to this track's greatness. Ozzy goes all out too, screaming "Oh please God help me!" to go with Geezer's horror lyrics. Anyone who knows anything about metal should at least be familiar with this track out of respect. 'The Wizard' has a bit of harmonica to go with the heavy main riff, and it leads into 'Behind the Wall of Sleep', another heavy metal blues masterpiece. I love Bill Ward's drum interlude at the end of the track which seamlessly blends into Geezer's bass solo introduction to 'N.I.B.' - a song which for whatever reason, people thought stood for 'Nativity In Black', when in reality it literally just means 'nib', because Bill's beard looked like a pen nib! Of course, the lyrics are all about Satan coming to Earth and becoming a good person - not Bill's beard sadly - but it's an incredible tune regardless.

'Evil Woman' is maybe the most straightforward and least atmospheric number on here, and is actually a cover of a song by a band called Crow. It isn't really in the same league as the previous tracks, but it still breaks up the album nicely. Of course, 'Sleeping Village' quickly reverts any positivity the album brought up and brings the doom back. It starts off as another very dark and spooky track, but then turns into a hard rockin' bluesy jam. Speaking of bluesy jams, the 10-and-a-half minute 'The Warning' ends the album on a huge bluesy jam. It's actually an Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation cover, but you wouldn't know it. Most reissues of the album feature 'Wicked World' as the last track (including my copy), and I don't feel the album is complete without it. 

Black Sabbath is a groundbreaking masterpiece. Some fans will disagree with the 'masterpiece' part because they feel the songwriting was inferior compared to what was to come on albums like Paranoid, Master of Reality, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath etc., but I feel it's fully deserving of that description because it really does have a genuinely haunting atmosphere that other albums just don't have - even if it isn't an especially scary atmosphere. It really just has this irresistibly mystical quality to it and I think every fan of heavy music needs a copy.
Adam's rating: 10/10

PARANOID          1970          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: Everything except 'Rat Salad'.

Since Black Sabbath (the debut album) was an unexpected hit and success, the band were brought back to the studio just 4 months later to record it's follow-up - Paranoid. Let's be honest, if you're a metalhead or even just a serious rock fan in general, chances are you already own this in some format or another. It's iconic, from the songs right down to the weird album cover featuring a blurry, fluorescent dude wielding a sword. Most mainstream critics rank Paranoid right at the top of the band's discography in those 'All Black Sabbath albums ranked worst to best' articles - they're wrong of course, and I will explain why, but don't think I'm just deliberately being awkward and douchey; I still love this album too. For a start, this was the first proper metal album I ever bought with my own money. I was barely 13 years old, and if I remember correctly, the only albums I had at that point were AC/DC's High Voltage and Back in Black, Guns n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction, some generic 3-CD  classic rock compilation and maybe a 2-CD Van Halen compilation called The Best of Both Worlds (don't quite remember if I had this one already). And I personally consider Paranoid to be the album that got me into metal. 

And we all know 'War Pigs', 'Paranoid' and 'Iron Man'. You don't even need to be a rock fan to be familiar with those tracks, unless you suck of course. Hell, 'Fairies Wear Boots' and 'Planet Caravan' almost come close to that level of iconicness (is that even a word?). 'War Pigs' is that heavy, lengthy opener with Tony's simple, repeating riff and Bill's almost jazzy drum fills - and Ozzy singing anti-war lyrics written courtesy of Geezer. 'Iron Man' was always my favourite track on the album - that fucking slow, heavy riff just seemed like the most ass-kicking thing in the world to the 13 year old me! The floaty, trippy 'Planet Caravan' is also a masterpiece that just really breaks up the album nicely. The apocalyptic 'Electric Funeral' is classic stuff while the almost-bluesy, jammy 'Fairies Wear Boots' with some fun lyrics that Ozzy actually penned (instead of Geezer for once) inspired by a fight he got into with some skindheads in a pub.

The reasons why I don't agree with all the idiotic critics when it comes to Paranoid being the best of the best are as follows: 'Paranoid' is a great radio metal/rock song, but in no way does it showcase this band. Like Deep Purple and 'Smoke On the Water', 95% of their material doesn't really compare to it musically, and it was even written on the spot to fill up 3 minutes of space on the record. 'Hand of Doom' is also a classic - I love that bass line from Geezer - but I don't think it quite holds up next to most of the songs. Not sure why. And the instrumental 'Rat Salad' is pretty much a rip-off of Led Zeppelin's 'Moby Dick', complete with opening guitar riff and extended drum solo. It too, sounds like filler. Plus, the album lacks the atmosphere of the first record, the sheer heaviness of it's follow-up (Master of Reality), and the enhanced creativity in songwriting of albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage. It's kind of cranky by comparison.

But with all that said, this is still a die-hard classic and essential for obvious reasons. These days however, I just don't think Paranoid is one of their best (even if I did think it was the best thing in the world when I first heard it...), and I really feel that most of these idiots that put it at the top haven't heard enough Sabbath. And yes, we're all entitled to our own opinion - that's why I've just shared mine.
Adam's rating: 9.3/10

MASTER OF REALITY          1971          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: The whole thing, duh. 

I'll get this out the way now and say it: this is my favourite metal album of all time. Maybe even my favourite album of any genre, ever, so you already know what the score will be. The debut album was where heavy metal really started; an atmospheric and gloomy slab of heavy blues songs. Paranoid moved away from the blues roots, gave them wider recognition and really put on emphasis on heavy riffs. Master of Reality then, saw Tony Iommi detune his guitar to give the riffs a much, much heavier and fuller sound. The reason was for both the new sound to toy with and the fact it was easier on Tony's fingers given the fact he lost 2 of the tips in a factory accident a few years prior. Seriously, this album just crushes, even today. Some call it the birth of doom or stoner metal - whatever, it's METAL. I still don't think there's many albums as heavy as this in spirit, to this day. And certainly nothing that came before it came anywhere near it's murky depths of heaviness. 

'Sweet Leaf' is all about weed of course, and aside from that up-tempo mid-section and guitar solo, the majority of the song is slow and heavy. Stupidly heavy. 'After Forever' opens up with a surprisingly optimistic vibe before breaking into a seriously kick-ass riff. Great lyrics written by Geezer too. Ozzy sings about conflict between Catholic and Protestants. 'Embryo' is a short but sweet instrumental that leads into the storming 'Children of the Grave' - possibly the most ass-kicking Sabbath track of all time! I love Bill's percussion on it too. Great lyrics, again. This time it's about nuclear war. 'Orchid' is another brief and mellow acoustic instrumental to settle you down after the sock in the jaw that was 'Children of the Grave'. 'Lord of this World' is an underrated masterpiece and another crushingly heavy track that deserved more time in the live set. 'Solitude' is a melancholy song that I suppose is comparable to 'Planet Caravan', but is less trippy and much more bleak and has a lot of beauty about it too, surprisingly. Ozzy sounds like a different man; despite his wildman persona, you can really feel those soulful words from him on this incredible number. To contrast 'Solitude', the album ends on 'Into the Void', maybe the heaviest fucking riff Tony ever came up with. Endless amounts of stoner bands covered it in later years, and it's easy to see why. Hell, even Soundgarden covered it.

I shouldn't even have to tell you to buy this one because you should already own it! I love everything about it - from everyone's performances on the tracks, the production, the lyrics, Tony's guitar tone, Geezer's bass sound... it's all perfect. To me, this is the epitome of metal, the centrepiece. One of few albums I consider a masterpiece. It isn't a long album, but it doesn't need to be. I've been listening to it regularly since I was 13 for fucks sake! 
Adam's rating: 10/10

VOL. 4          1972          (Vertigo) 

- Standouts: All of 'em bar 'FX', but that doesn't really count as music anyway.

1972 and Sabbath return with Volume 4, probably their most diverse effort at the time of release. Once again, always loved this record - the songs are mostly wonderful. I do have a couple of minor complaints; it isn't a perfect record like Master of Reality. Tony's guitar tone is a little weaker and doesn't hit you quite as hard this time around (though the riffs and performances are stellar), and 'FX' is just a few random sound effects to fill a couple of minutes, but other than that, there isn't a dull moment to be found on here.

The album begins with the lengthy 'Wheels of Confusion', a slow and sludgy affair in true Sabbath fashion, although the last few minutes consists of 'The Straightener', which picks things up a little and features some great soloing from Tony. 'Tomorrow's Dream' is a solid and straightforward rocker, with some very nice and seamless riffage. The most surprising number on Vol. 4 musically is 'Changes' - a piano-driven ballad. Both Paranoid and Master of Reality had their somber moments with 'Planet Caravan' and 'Solitude', but they were still very much Sabbath, and not really that surprising. 'Changes' is a very powerful song, even if Ozzy doesn't really have the voice for ballads like this (couldn't imagine anyone else singing on it). 'Course, in 2003 he decided to re-record the track with his daughter Kelly... kind of an embarrassing version if you ask me, but the original is classic material. 'FX' follows - not really a song like I stated, and not 100% necessary either, but it still breaks up the album well. 'Supernaut', in contrast to 'Changes', is one of the most up-beat and kick-ass songs they ever recorded! The groovy riffs on it are just godly! And it even features a sort of salsa-esque drum part from Bill Ward after the solo! Definitely my favourite song on the album and one of their best of all time. 'Snowblind' is pure doom - the title referring to cocaine of course. 'Cornucopia' is another sludge-fest whilst 'Laguna Sunrise' is a pleasant and short acoustic instrumental. 'St. Vitus Dance' is one of the most underrated Sabbath tracks of the original Ozzy-era. It features a really 'happy' but catchy riff before hitting you hard with yet another crushing riff. There's no solo in this one, but it's short and sweet, so I don't care. 'Under the Sun' is more doom/sludge perfection that ends the album and clearly left a big impression on the whole stoner metal genre much like 'Into the Void' did.

Dunno what else to say. This album is another absolute classic slab of metal. It isn't quite at the same level as it's predecessor, but it is still absolutely essential listening.
Adam's rating: 9.6/10

TOMORROW'S DREAM (SINGLE)          1972          (Vertigo)

Great track from the Vol 4 record. The b-side is the instrumental, 'Laguna Sunrise'. 

SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH          1973          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All, again. 

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the peak of the original lineup's creativity. There's a lot more going on - but there almost wasn't. Prior to making this record, Tony had hit a wall when it came to writing music after Vol. 4. The whole band were doing far too much drugs around the Vol. 4 period, and when they came home they decided to rent Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire to record this album. The castle was supposedly haunted and the band saw a lot of weird and scary shit during their time there (as well as frightening each other with pranks) that Bill Ward eventually ended sleeping with a dagger by his bed at night. The shenanigans did apparently oil the machine however, as this album proves.

Musically this record is deeper than anything that came before whilst still retaining that classic, untouchable Sabbath style. The songs have their elements of progression and extra instrumentation; Tony attacks the title track with some stupendously heavy riffage as well as acoustic melodies and outstanding soloing. 'Sabbra Cadabra' is a fast and upbeat metaller for a few minutes but then delves into an outstanding lengthy jam that takes advantages of keyboards courtesy of Rick Wakeman!  'Who Are You?' might be synth-driven, but it's weird and trippy, so it works. 'Spiral Architect' is a very melodic rocker too. Ozzy gives his best vocal performance of all his works with Sabbath too, in my opinion (even if it isn't necessarily my favourite performance). He was never a technically-gifted singer, but he could still hit high notes when he wanted to. Just listen to 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. Of course, there are a couple of more 'normal' tracks on here. 'A National Acrobat' is my favourite song on the whole record - the riff that kicks in after a couple of minutes is just so fucking cool. And I guess 'Killing Yourself to Live' is a little more straightforward in terms of musical structure and instrumentation when compared to much of the album, and it's great. Oh, there's also a nice instrumental called 'Fluff', which actually has some beauty about it. Plus, it's 4 minutes long and not just a short interval into another track like past instrumentals have been. 

Every song on here is brilliant. Hell, Tony himself says it's personal favourite album they ever made. From a songwriting perspective it's far more impressive than anything that came before, but not necessarily better. My gripe with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath would be the fact that Tony's guitar tone is a little weaker than before. And in all fairness, even though I consider this to be a better album experience than Vol. 4 or Paranoid, I don't think the songs are as listenable individually. The more complex nature of the music is fantastic, but it definitely detracts from the sheer heaviness of Black Sabbath. That said, this still gets a 9.5/10 from me - go buy a copy now. 

Adam's rating: 9.5/10

SABOTAGE          1975          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: The entire record with the exception of maybe 'Supertzar'. 

Tony states that with Sabotage, the band wanted to return to do a heavy album again. I mean, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was heavy, but it was experimental and a slight departure from the norm. However, Sabotage still has it's share of experimentation and progression; and in no way is this a bad thing as it's predecessor proved. I guess I wasn't so sure about 'Am I Going Insane (Radio)' the first time I heard it donkey's years ago - it's another synthesizer-driven song, sorta like 'Who Are You?' from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, although it definitely is a little more radio-friendly than said track. Despite this, I still kinda like that tune and I couldn't imagine Sabotage without it. The other obvious oddity in the tracklist is 'Supertzar', an instrumental that dabbles with a full choir arrangement. Again, the album wouldn't be right if it wasn't there. It sort of creates a cool atmosphere because at this point the band really had evolved. 'Don't Start (Too Late)' is a very quick acoustic instrumental too, but this was nothing unusual given stuff like 'Laguna Sunrise' and 'Orchid'. Heh, if you skip to the end of 'The Writ', there's a very short comedy, secret number sang by Bill Ward called 'Blow On a Jug', recorded at an extremely low volume. 

Thankfully the band had evolved into a more refined version of the same beast (for now anyway). I mean, 'Hole In the Sky' absolutely, positively, crushes! One of the heaviest tracks they ever wrote. And let's not forget 'Symptom of the Universe' - that song is important in the development of speed metal with it's fast and super-heavy riffage. And Ozzy sounds angry... well, until the last couple of minutes when the song suddenly becomes a smooth, acoustic number - but it's still great. The same can be said for 'The Writ', which blends the heavy with the odd melodic acoustic touches. The near-10 minute 'Megalomania' is an outstanding progressive metal masterpiece - when the song suddenly changes after 4 or so minutes, it totally kicks some! 'Thrill Of It All' is a fairly straightforward and heavy track (compared to stuff like 'Megalomania' that is), and an underrated one - though I don't really have much else to say about it. 

Any complaints? Well, as much as I love albums like Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, again, there aren't many tracks I listen to individually off these records (save for 'Hole In the Sky' and 'Symptom of the Universe') due to all the added dabbling that was outside of the norm. Plus, I always thought Ozzy's vocals were mixed a little too loud compared to the rest of the instruments on this one - and I still think it's predecessor is superior. That said, Sabotage is yet another classic from the Sabbath camp. The album cover is hideous though! Questions are raised when you see Ozzy in a dress and Bill in red tights. The band thought the photo was taken as a test instead of the real thing, and they hadn't yet discussed what they were gonna wear - though this hardly explains the reason for Bill wearing his wife's tights and Ozzy in a dress!
Adam's rating: 9.3/10


WE SOLD OUR SOUL FOR ROCK N' ROLL          1975          (Vertigo)
What's here is classic material since basically anything from Sabbath's first six records is legendary, but if you're going to treat this compilation as a 'greatest hits' of sorts, then it won't cut it. It has tracks from every album (by 1975 that is), but it's missing absolutely essential tunes like 'Electric Funeral' (Paranoid), 'After Forever' and 'Into the Void' (Master of Reality), 'Supernaut' (Vol. 4), 'Sabbra Cadabra' and 'Killing Yourself to Live' (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath), 'Hole in the Sky' and 'Symptom of the Universe' (Sabotage). That's a lot of missing numbers. I would only recommend this disc to completists only. It's a gap-filler for me.

TECHNICAL ECSTASY          1976          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'Back Street Kids', 'You Won't Change Me', 'It's Alright', 'All Moving Parts (Stand Still)', 'Rock 'n' Roll Doctor', 'Dirty Women'

Right now I've got the 2021 Super Deluxe box set version of Technical Ecstasy in front of me. I had no intention of ever picking this up when I first heard about it, but I recently found a brand new copy on eBay for £30, which seemed reasonable. The reason I never originally intended to buy this collector's version of the album is simply because Technical Ecstasy has never been one of my favourite Black Sabbath records, and I was quite happy to stick with my 2004 Sanctuary reissue which I've owned since school. Yet there's something about this album that I've always found fascinating, even if it isn't actually one of their best. Technical Ecstasy sounds the way it does because of everything else that had led up to it's creation; the band had indulged in drugs for several years, and it was now taking it's toll on each and every member. They'd also been fucked around by management contracts for years, and Ozzy was already considering going solo around this time, even if we wouldn't see a solo album from him until 1980. On top of this, punk rock was taking off by 1976, and according to Geezer Butler, people were already calling Sabbath dinosaurs, despite their debut album appearing just six years prior! Goes to show just how quickly music evolves I guess.

Anyhow, Sabbath continued to experiment with Technical Ecstasy, which tends to be the main reason why it's almost never anyone's favourite. In reality they'd been experimenting for years (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage often lean on prog), it's just that this time they often did it in a way that people disproved of. Well, at the time anyway. Tony Iommi produced the album himself and had more to do with the writing than anyone else (save for 'It's Alright') - and he loves this record. But what about me? Well, I've always liked it, but not loved it. It's a significant step-down from the first six albums - which was an incredible feat for any artist - but some sort of downfall was inevitable.

That said, many of these tracks are very strong in their own right, even if they mostly don't compare to the previous material. Opener 'Back Street Kids' is heavy alright, just not in the same way that is typically associated with Sabbath. It's brash and upbeat, maybe even 'punky' in some ways, which seems like no coincidence given the musical climate of the time. I like it, quite a lot actually. I'm also a fan of 'You Won't Change Me', which is kind of like a weird mesh of classic Sabbath, Queen, goth rock and maybe a touch of prog... the song starts off with a typically doomy Iommi riff, before transforming into an almost gothic-like, organ-backed number with Ozzy doing Queen-like vocal arrangements over the top. Iommi's soloing on it is great; he actually sounds more like Jimmy Page than he does himself, but it's different in a good way. The end result of this track is a success.

And then there's 'It's Alright'. Sabbath does... Beatles?! The comparisons are uncanny. Yep, this is a piano-driven rock ballad, fronted by Bill Ward. Of course, we had 'Changes' back on Vol. 4, but 'It's Alright' is much better, and Tony solos on it, making it more of a fully-fledged rock song rather than a sombre ballad. More surprising is the fact I've always liked this song, even in my teens! I think the reason for this is because I had a Sabbath DVD that featured a bunch of music videos/live performances plus a small documentary (I still have it somewhere), and it had 'It's Alright' on it - and I really enjoyed watching Bill sing and play drums at the same time. He's underrated as a singer/songwriter. If Ozzy sang 'It's Alright', I don't think it could have worked. We'd also get another Bill Ward-fronted track on the next album, Never Say Die!, but that one is heavier.

I think 'All Moving Parts (Stand Still)' is actually rather underrated. It has some funky basslines going on in the background, but it's still heavy and full of groove. Like 'Back Street Kids', it's heavy - just not in the typical Sabbath sense. But it's still really cool in it's own way. General consensus online is that a lot of people don't like 'Rock 'n' Roll Doctor', but again, this is a song I've liked from day one. True, it is the dumbest song on here, with stupid lyrics (the 'doctor' in question is most likely a codename for 'coke dealer'...) and a bluesy, boogie rock style - but it's fun!! Not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but still fun! 'Dirty Women' is classic stuff too. It's a nice combination of melodic 70's rock and classic Black Sabbath, and there's never a dull moment with Tony's guitars on it. It's a genuinely smart, sophisticated song musically.

The songs I'm still not 100% convinced by all these years later, are 'Gypsy' and 'She's Gone'. Well, I do like 'Gypsy' up to a point, but there's something about the backing vocal harmonies combined with the plinking pianos that leave me feeling a little uncomfortable. Ozzy stated that Tony would say things like 'We've gotta sound like Foreigner', and if this is true, he definitely got what he wanted on this track. That said, I do like the intro to the song, and I also like the way Ozzy sings the chorus. As for 'She's Gone'... it's terrible. It's basically a sequel to 'Changes', which I never liked in the first place. Only difference is that 'She's Gone' is built around an acoustic guitar and cheesy synths rather than a piano. It's the worst song on this album, and always has been for me.

This album is still a classic, even if it's not legendary material like any of the previous six. I like pretty much everything on here - well, apart from 'She's Gone' that is - and while I do agree that the vibe of this album is different and not necessarily for the better, I can still dig it.

The 2021 remaster from the Super Deluxe edition doesn't sound all that different to my older Sanctuary release from 2004, but the Steven Wilson mix, which is also included in the Super Deluxe box does. This version has a bit more bass to match the guitars, while all the added synths and keyboards on this album seem to cut through with more clarity than before. I'm still undecided on which version I like best.

Adam's rating: 8/10

Original review:

The streak of amazing albums had to end at some point. Sadly, Technical Ecstasy marked the beginning of the end for the original lineup; punk rock was the new and cool sound around 1976, and Ozzy just wasn't into the music anymore. He'd started to consider calling it quits and had even started wearing a t-shirt with 'Blizzard of Ozz' written on it - despite not making that solo record until 1980. Nobody in the band trusted anyone, so they were managing themselves due to being ripped off all the time. All these issues within the band resulted in an album that I for one find to be very interesting, but still an album with a lot of problems.

Let's be honest, the music on this one is a departure from previous efforts. You could say the same thing about Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Sabotage, sure, but this is a different kind of departure. Hell, 'It's Alright' sounds like an old Beatles number, and it has Bill Ward on vocals. Strangely, I actually really like this track. It's a nice little soft rock ballad, and Bill is an underrated vocalist and songwriter. Okay, okay, the song is about as far removed as Sabbath ever got, but if you look at it as a Bill Ward project, it's not bad. 'She's Gone' is a full-on sappy ballad. And I know they'd already written 'Changes' a few years prior, but that song still had an atmosphere. 'She's Gone' could fit on an Eagles album or something, musically. The other songs on here aren't drastically different from the norm, they just aren't very heavy - and there's far too much keyboard and piano chord use throughout the album to accompany Tony's guitar. 'Back Street Kids' is a fun up-beat rocker with some good riffs, but it lacks any sort of doomy atmosphere. And 'Rock n' Roll Doctor' is a good bit of hard rockin' fun with silly lyrics, but notice how I said 'hard rockin'' - it honestly has more in common with a band like KISS. 'Gypsy' is more generic, radio-friendly hard rock. 'Dirty Women' is better, but again, it's not exactly a good summation of Black Sabbath in the 70's. Strangely however, I don't actually dislike any of those songs save for maybe 'She's Gone' - they're not exactly good Sabbath tracks, but they are certainly still listenable. Thankfully 'All Moving Parts (Stand Still)' and 'You Won't Change Me' stand as classics, in my opinion. 'All Moving Parts (Stand Still)' is heavy alright, but it sorta grooves in a really cool way. 'You Won't Change Me' is different and experimental for sure, but unlike the rest of the album, it does have a dark atmosphere. And Ozzy really gives a good vocal performance on it too.

Technical Ecstasy is an album in the Black Sabbath discography that I often forget about, to be honest. It really isn't a bad record even if it was the start of a downward spiral for a few years. However, because the last 6 albums are really that good and influenced heavy metal more than anything else, this one just doesn't cut it by comparison. It makes perfect sense for it sound the way it does when you read about the position the band were in around 1976, but that's also it's problem. Having said that, I still think this is worth owning.
Adam's rating: 7.5/10

GREATEST HITS           1977          (NEMS)

I don't know jack shit about this release. Whether or not you can grab it on CD I don't know - I have it on vinyl. Was it even certified by the band?! The track listing is a bit strange too, what with there only being 10 songs. The album cover on the other hand is awesome, and should've been used on a studio album!

NEVER SAY DIE!          1978          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'Never Say Die', 'Johnny Blade', 'Junior's Eyes', 'Shock Wave', 'Swinging the Chain'

Man, if there's ever an album I want to be fan of - and lord knows I've tried for almost two decades now - then it has to be Black Sabbath's Never Say Die! from 1978. 

It was the last album with Ozzy (until 2013 that is...), but oddly enough he'd already briefly left the band after Technical Ecstasy. Dave Walker filled Ozzy's shoes until he decided to come back, but never actually recorded or released anything with the Sab's aside from one live BBC performance. As a Sabbath fanatic, my favourite member of the band will always be Tony Iommi - to me, he is Sabbath. But I really can't blame Ozzy for getting fed up with the whole situation around this period. The band had been battling and alcoholism and cocaine addiction throughout the decade, and it was beginning to show on Technical Ecstasy. Ozzy himself had thought about going solo for a long time, and the whole band were in need of a refresh (which is eventually what would happen when Ronnie James Dio came along). Anyhow, Never Say Die! is definitely the weirdest Black Sabbath record from the original run, but it's not exactly surprising given the context at the time.

Really, this album just expands on what they did with Technical Ecstasy. And for that reason alone, this was my least favourite Sabbath album for many, many years (well, at least until 13 arrived anyway...) - particularly when I was school and really delving into the discography for the first time ever. Yeah, they've been experimental ever since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (arguably even Vol. 4 considering that record had 'Changes' on it), but the musical experimentation on Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die! is a different kind of experimental. I mean, look at Never Say Die! on Wikipedia, it doesn't even list 'heavy metal' as one of it's genres! Fuck me, it lists 'hard rock' and 'pop rock'!! That there is a red flag ladies and gentlemen! I get that Wikipedia isn't entirely the most reliable source of information for everything, but honestly, there's not always a lot in the way of metal here, despite Sabbath being the kings of the genre!

So... we get the title track first. It's a mostly basic three-chord rocker, but it's a lot of fun. Not exactly heavy, but sort of heavy by this record's standards I guess! It's actually very upbeat and almost 'happy' in a way, a far cry from the bleakness of past albums, yet I unashamedly like it! And I also like track two a lot, 'Johnny Blade'. Well, aside from all the crappy synth usage that comes and goes that is. It's a shame they decided to add the synths, because everything else about this song is kick-ass. The riff that comes in after two and a half minutes is prime Iommi goodness, probably the heaviest riff on the entire album and full of groove. Synths aside, it's still a highlight for me. The third song, 'Junior's Eyes' however, is just brilliant full-stop. Yeah it's not all that heavy, but Geezer's swingin' basslines are awesome, Tony's jazzy riffs just work, and Ozzy's personal lyrics about his father who passed away in 1977, are brilliant. This is a sophisticated tune by Ozzy's standards.

Then of course, we come to 'A Hard Road', which is a song that I've both liked, disliked, and then liked again as the years go by. I guess it depends what kind of mood I'm in. On paper, it's quite similar to the title track, in that it's a happy and upbeat pop rock piece, although it has more of a mid-tempo flow overall. But it's just one of those songs that manages to irritate me on the wrong day. I think Ozzy's high-pitched vocals are the main reason for this. Well, that and it's just not very Sabbathy at all. But at core, I think 'A Hard Road' is a solid ditty, just not a very good Black Sabbath song. Kind of seems ironic that I've always enjoyed the title track then. 'Shock Wave' is a decent enough radio-friendly metal tune though. The closing riff is really heavy, although the added "ooh ooh's" are unnecessary. I've always kinda liked this one overall at the end of the day however.

It's crazy then, that 'Air Dance' simultaneously begins as one of the coolest Sabbath tracks ever, before quickly shifting into one of the worst fucking things they'd ever record! Seriously, that opening riff is pure melodic power metal brilliance!! And then after thirty seconds, the whole thing just crumbles into a jazzy, fluffy, lighter-than-a-feather lounge ballad!! I dunno, I never got on with this song. I think if this had been released on someone's solo album, and featured anyone other than Ozzy singing it, I'd probably dig it. Fact is though, I don't. Looking at reviews on Metal-Archives however, a lot of people seem to like 'Air Dance', calling it one of their proggiest songs ever. I agree that it's proggy - and prog is often fine - in this instance however, it just doesn't work for me.

As for 'Over to You', well, there's not a lot to say here. It's filler. It plods along at a snails pace, which would be fine if was actually heavy like the slow stuff from the past, but it's not. It also has a bunch of piano work on it, which really doesn't work in it's favour at all. To be fair, all piano/keyboard work was handled by Don Airey, who is awesome - I just don't need it on here! Worse still, is the jazz instrumental 'Breakout', a track so bad that when Ozzy heard it for the first time he said "fuck this, I'm out" and stormed off. And I don't blame him one bit. Luckily 'Breakout' only lasts two and a half minutes, so it doesn't really impact the overall quality of this album too badly for me, but Jesus those two and a half minutes are bad! The good news is that 'Swinging the Chain' is a deep cut, an underrated number that I think is really cool. It's a heavy blues rocker with Bill Ward handling the vocals. Now, Bill's vocal style is deeper than Ozzy's, and he really does this track justice. I also really liked 'It's Alright', the ballad from Technical Ecstasy that he sang on, so I guess you could say I just think Bill's an underrated singer. Great drummer, underrated singer.  Makes me wonder if a song like 'Air Dance' could have been more tolerable had Bill sang on it.

You know what? I'm giving Never Say Die! a 7/10. Despite the awfulness of 'Air Dance' and 'Breakout', and the mediocrity of 'Over to You', the rest of this album is either good (with some flaws), and occasionally great. 'Johnny Blade' is an example of a good song that could have been great, whilst 'Junior's Eyes' is just fantastic all-round. Yeah, this is a flawed record with some bizarre ideas on it here and there, but overall I like it. Of course, it may have taken me more than half my lifetime to reach that conclusion, but we'll ignore that! Post-Never Say Die!, Ozzy would embark on his long and massively successful solo career - a career that I've never been much of a fan of, despite being a Sabbath fanboy (not that it was really comparable musically, aside from the vocals of course) - while Tony would begin writing songs with Ronnie Dio for what would become Heaven and Hell in 1980.

P.S. From now on I'm keeping any of my old reviews up that I still think are okay reads, even if I don't necessarily agree with them any more.

Adam's rating: 7/10

Original review: 

Nobody knew what to think at this point, not even the band. Ozzy had already briefly left the band shortly after Technical Ecstasy, but somehow made it back for 1978's Never Say Die!. Of course, it was to be his swansong, for several decades that is. Basically the whole band were battling alcoholism and drug addiction at this point, nobody was really happy with the output and everybody knew it was the end of an era. Unfortunately, it shows in the music here too. Never Say Die! is sloppy alright, and as you can probably guess, the most inconsistent and patchy album of the original lineup. Aside from a few riffs and licks, I used to think the album kinda sucked when I first picked it up aged 14 or so. It wasn't really until I became an adult that I started to reassess it slightly.

Well, I can at least say that I always liked the first handful of tracks (up to a point), even if I'm not quite sure why. I mean, it's mostly just a basic 3-chord hard rocker, and it sounds surprisingly 'happy' instead of doomy. But goddamn it, it always gets my adrenaline pumping! 'Johnny Blade' would certainly kick more ass if they hadn't included the stupid, dated synth noises during the chorus. The lyrics are fucking dumb, but the riffs really do kick some! That breakdown riff around the 2.30 mark is hands-down one of the grooviest, most kick-butt riffs Tony ever wrote! 'Junior's Eyes' is nice too, if a little jazzy. 

Sorry, what? Did I just say 'jazzy'? Yep, I did. Not jazzy in a conventional sense, the guitars are still distorted, it's just the way the bass line swings and the riff kinda grooves. Plus, the lyrics in this one are actually decent (unlike 'Johnny Blade'), and were personal to Ozzy since his father had just died before the album was recorded. Sadly, that word 'jazzy' will pop up again later...

The album takes a nosedive after 'Junior's Eyes', I think. 'A Hard Road' is another attempt at a happy up-beat hard rocker, like the opening title track, only I find it kind of annoying. Not musically, although the riffs are certainly boring - I think the way Ozzy sings it pisses me off after a while. Plus, it's not exactly comparable to anything the band recorded prior (mind you, 95% of this album sounds nothing like Master of Reality...). 'Shock Wave' is okay I suppose, and has some nice riffs scattered here and there, but it's far from a classic. The opening riff during the first 30 seconds of 'Air Dance' is fucking awesome melodic power metal - completely out of character for Iommi's trademark doom-laden mastery of course, but it's freaking sweet! Same can't be said for the rest of song, which suddenly becomes a jazzy, piano-driven ballad! Yeah, I don't know what happened here either. Neither do they. 'Over to You' is a mid-tempo bore-fest - not purely because it's mid-tempo (this is Sabbath after all!), but simply because the riffs are just uninspired and lazy. The added pianos during the chorus are stupid too. Then you've got 'Breakout', an instrumental jazz-fusion number that even features saxophones (*face-palm*), and a song so bad that once Ozzy heard it, he'd simply had enough. He refused to sing on the following track and closer, 'Swinging the Chain' - instead Bill Ward takes his place. Interestingly enough, aside from the overuse of harmonicas, 'Swinging the Chain' isn't actually that bad, and I always liked Bill on 'It's Alright' from Technical Ecstasy, so I don't mind it. But I'm hard-pressed to really give it any more praise than that.

Maybe the 6.5/10 rating is a little too high. I mean, I do genuinely have soft spots for 'Never Say Die', 'Junior's Eyes' and even 'Johnny Blade' with it's cheesy synths - they're great tunes. 'Swinging the Chain' is alright and 'Shock Wave' is listenable, but the remaining tracks are just bad overall. Ozzy's voice just doesn't cut it on floaty numbers like 'Air Dance', while piano-driven jazz-ballads aren't exactly Tony's specialty either. Needless to say, Ozzy left after the tour and didn't record another studio record with Sabbath until 2013. Instead, with the help of his wife and manager, he began his hugely successful solo career (which frankly doesn't hold a candle to Sabbath, but whatever) with American guitarist Randy Rhodes. Sabbath had to reinvent themselves...
Adam's rating: 6.5/10

LIVE AT LAST          1980          (Castle)

Strange that up until this CD was released in 1980, Black Sabbath had zero live albums from the original line-up on offer. Ironically, Live at Last is considered unofficial by the band, but it's not a bootleg release either. Whatever! In truth, this is a great live CD that was recorded in 1973. It's only real flaw in my opinion, is the small number of songs. I guess the near-19 minute performance of 'Wicked World' is the record label's way of justifying this; either way, it will please most Sabbath fans. I own the 1996 Castle reissue.
Adam's rating: 8/10

HEAVEN AND HELL          1980           (Vertigo)

- Standouts: Everything.

While Black Sabbath released an incredible streak of albums starting with the debut and ending on 1975's Sabotage, things stated falling apart with it's follow-up, Technical Ecstasy. By the time 1978's Never Say Die! hit the scene and the band finished it's tour, Ozzy was finally done with Sabbath for many a decade, and changes had to be made, i.e. a new vocalist was required to fill Ozzy's shoes. But even then, Bill was struggling severely with alcoholism and Geezer was going through a divorce which meant he simply wasn't around very often. Sadly, Bill was only able to play on the album and not tour - it would be one of his last recordings with Sabbath. Thankfully Sharon Osbourne introduced Tony to former Rainbow and Elf frontman Ronnie James Dio and the two clicked immediately, especially in terms of songwriting. In fact, due to Geezer and Bill being largely absent around the Heaven and Hell recording period, pretty much this whole record was written by Tony musically and lyrics from Ronnie. The result is an album that is 100% Black Sabbath - but a different Black Sabbath. The record has a very rich and thick doomy sound, but with Ronnie taking over lyrical duties, the themes are a lot more fantasy-based instead of gloom and pessimism. I guess you could say he bought the same themes from Rainbow's Rising album, to a Sabbath record. Of course, with Ronnie on the mic, the actual singing performance and ability has drastically increased, because unlike Ozzy, Dio can actually sing! I always loved Ronnie on those first bunch of seminal Rainbow albums, and his voice on Heaven and Hell was another of his greatest personal achievements. He hits the high notes when necessary, but he can be gruff to when he wants.

Musically this album is pretty much excellent on all levels, as good as any of the first 6. In fact, I'd argue that in terms of Tony Iommi's guitar solos, this album is probably in the top 3 in that regard. Just listen to his beautifully soulful playing on the majestic 'Lonely Is the Word' or the brilliant 'Die Young'. Hell, the solo on the fast and furious opener 'Neon Knights' IS my favourite Iommi guitar solo ever. That, and the song in total just kicks ass on all levels. 'Children of the Sea' is masterful melodic metal that has it all - awesome vocal performance from Ronnie that fully displays his impressive vocal range as well as both heavy riffs and great guitar melodies. I can't deny that the album is overall much more melodic and 'musical' overall than albums like Paranoid or Master of Reality, but as I said, this is still undeniably Tony Iommi leading the songs musically. Great bass sound too - especially on the thumping, lengthy epic title track. This song to me is almost stadium metal without being cheesy, power ballad-type bullshit. Even the more straightforward numbers 'Lady Evil' and 'Wishing Well' break up the album perfectly. 'Lady Evil' is actually really catchy and would've made a great single.  

Any low points? Maybe 'Walk Away' is weaker and more forgettable than the rest of Heaven and Hell, but it's still very good and I'm still going ahead and saying that the whole album is a highlight. Really, Dio breathed new life into a band that had clearly ran it's course with Ozzy. This album isn't perfect - but it is proof that Ozzy was never the leader of this band and that Tony could still do great things with other musicians. Seriously, there are a lot of so-called 'fans' that have never heard a Sabbath album without Ozzy - if you're one of these people, you are missing out, 'cos this is one of their best.
Adam's rating: 9.5/10

MOB RULES          1981          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All except 'Slipping Away' and 'Over and Over'.

The follow-up to Heaven and Hell and the first album NOT to feature Bill Ward on drums. His ongoing addiction to alcohol had led to health issues, and had been a problem for several years by this point. He didn't actually make the tour for Heaven and Hell, and had to be replaced by Vinny Appice - another American and good friend of Ronnie. I've seen people throw around the label 'Heaven and Hell part II' when describing Mob Rules, but I feel this is bollocks, frankly. Mob Rules is heavier, murkier, dingier... true, the predecessor was still heavy, but it was far more theatrical than any past Sabbath records, and had tons of melody thanks to both Dio's vocals and Tony's riffs and solos. Okay, so maybe it isn't drastically different, but Ronnie abandons most of the fantasy lyrics for darker themes (which suit that menacing album cover to a tee), and the music is just overall more Sabbathy in the traditional sense, even if it doesn't sound like anything Ozzy sang on.

For many years I always preferred this album to it's predecessor. I still prefer it's overall atmosphere (which is absolutely KILLER might I add), but I can't say it's a better album overall these days. Fact is, the second half is noticeably weaker than the first. No song on this album qualifies as downright 'bad', but 'Slipping Away' and 'Over and Over' simply just aren't as good as the rest of the tracks here, which ARE as good as the majority of the Heaven and Hell tracklisting. I will say that these 2 tracks are still enjoyable - 'Slipping Away' kinda grooves nicely in a Zeppelin-esque manner, but the riffs are a little generic by Iommi's standard while 'Over and Over' is a ballady kind of tune which I feel just doesn't fit in with the rest of this record (nor does 'Slipping Away' either, really...). Like I said, neither of these songs are poor, but I never felt they really fit in with among the other tracks, or the overall 'sound' of this album.

Luckily the rest of the songs here are gold. 'Turn Up the Night' is another fantastic, fast, driving opener that rivals 'Neon Knights'. Thanks to the awesome, bassy production, it crushes. I like the solo in 'Neon Knights' more, but I prefer the riffs in' Turn Up the Night'. 'Voodoo' is built around a very cool and classy riff, with occult lyrics to follow. 'The Sign of the Southern Cross' is the album's epic; I suppose it is somewhat comparable to 'Heaven and Hell', but the melodic parts are even more melodic, and the heavier parts are even heavier. It's a total classic. By the end of 'The Sign of the Southern Cross', it fades into an incredibly murky, sludgy and atmospheric instrumental called 'E5150', and even though it is just that - a keyboard instrumental - I've never heard anything else with an atmosphere quite like it. It is absolutely essential to this record sound. You'd assume that it'd lead into a dirgy slab of doom, but instead it quickly shifts to the album's title song, an incredibly up-beat and stompingly heavy number that kicks ass by all accounts! The catchiest song on here is 'Country Girl', which features one of Tony's most infectious riffs ever and is a severely underrated track in the band's discography. Then there's 'Falling Off the Edge of the World', another epic albeit on a smaller scale to 'The Sign of the Southern Cross' that showcases Ronnie's vocal abilities once again.

Although I don't feel Mob Rules is the better album of the 2 studio records released with Dio on vocals during the 80's, it is still yet another classic and essential album. In terms of overall atmosphere and production, I think it's one of the best albums they ever made in general. Dio would sing on a live album the following year, but would not return to Sabbath until the early 90's. The Mob Rules lineup would also reform in the mid 2000's under the moniker 'Heaven & Hell'.
Adam's rating: 9.3/10

LIVE EVIL          1983          (Vertigo)

Apparently Dio and Iommi came under several disagreements with this live album's production. Iommi claimed that Dio tampered with the mix and vice versa. Essentially, this means that the album doesn't sound as good as it should have, potentially. Production aside, this CD is superior to Live at Last both in terms of performances and the fact that the set is longer. I have the Sanctuary reissue - I hear that much of Dio's speech in between the songs was removed in this version. Apparently there's a superior, two-disc pressing of the album but I've yet to see one. Live Evil was to be the last Black Sabbath record Dio would sing on until 1992's Dehumanizer. Of course, it was after Live Evil that Ronnie became fed up with the band and formed his own successful solo act, Dio, taking Vinny Appice with him.
Adam's rating: 8.5/10

BORN AGAIN          1983          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All of 'em!

After all the disagreements regarding the way the Live Evil record was mixed, Dio had left and took Vinnie Appice with him to record Holy Diver, his classic debut solo album. This obviously left Tony and Geezer without a vocalist, but long story short, in 1983 they ended up with Ian Gillan. Holy shit! It's Deep Purple's legendary frontman singing on a Black Sabbath album! There's a lot of cool and sometimes amusing facts regarding Born Again that I feel are worth mentioning, so I'm just going to list them before really talking about the music on this record.

• Ian Gillan joined the band after him, Tony and Geezer all met up in a pub and drank non-stop from the moment the pub opened midday until dawn. They got so pissed that Ian had no memory or recollection of even joining the band until his manager called him the next day.
• Originally the band wanted to go under a different moniker, but the record label and management encouraged them to use the Black Sabbath name for obvious reasons (money). 
• Bill Ward was behind the drum kit again for this album, and it was the first one he'd recorded clean and sober. Bill had struggled with alcoholism for years and hadn't toured with the band since Ozzy had left. Sadly, after the recording of Born Again he turned back to alcohol after a family-related issue and was unable to tour. He has played with the band live here and there since, but Born Again was the last proper studio album he recorded with the Sab's.
• Electric Light Orchestra drummer and fellow Brummie Bev Bevan took over drumming duties for the album's tour.
• The album was recorded Richard Branson's Manor Studio in Oxfordshire. Gillan decided that he'd live outside in a huge marquee on the manor's grounds as the open air would be better for his voice. One day Tony and Geezer decided to prank Ian with stage bombs/pyro by setting them up around his marquee whilst he was asleep. When they were set off, the whole tent took off and left Ian on the ground in the open! The aftershock of the bombs sadly killed Richard Branson's prized fish in the nearby pond.
• In an act of revenge, Ian snuck into Bill's room at the manor and stuck a fish under his bed. He tried to do the same thing to Tony but twisted his ankle on a radiator whilst climbing through the window.
• Richard Branson had built a go-karting track on the grounds of the manor that was wide enough for cars to drive on. The band had been given brand new Ford Granada's to travel in. One night, a drunken Ian left the pub early and decided to blast Bill's car around the karting circuit for timed laps. In his state he crashed and flipped the car, stopping only inches short of the swimming pool. The car caught fire after he got out and the whole incident inspired him to write the album's opening track, 'Trashed'. Needless to say, Bill was not happy.
• The band rehearsed in a small building near a church. The local priests and residents made several noise complaints that eventually one vicar came round and politely asked the band to keep it down. This was the inspiration for Gillan to write the track 'Disturbing the Priest'.
• The album cover is sort of a marmite affair. Some list as one of the worst things ever, while others love it. Something went wrong with the production too - Ian stated "I saw the cover and puked. Then I heard the album and puked". I love it, personally. Sabotage has a far worse album cover.
• Geezer suggested getting a replica of Stonehenge as a stage prop for the tour. A Stonehenge set was made and ended up being around 2/3 of the size of the real thing. It ended up being far too big for many stages during the tour and was the inspiration for the hilarious Stonehenge scene in This Is Spinal Tap. Hell, Sabbath even had a dwarf dressed as the demon baby on the album cover on the set!
• The band performed 'Smoke On the Water' in the set, and the audience's reception was mostly positive. Tony did this because Ian sometimes struggled with the Sabbath oldies and thought it would only be fair if they could do one of Gillan's classics too.

Born Again is one of my favourite Black Sabbath records, and I have no shame in admitting that. This was the first Sabbath album I heard without Ozzy on vocals, and I remember getting hold of my copy in 2006 or 2007, when I was around 14 or 15. Deep Purple is my other favourite band, so of course I had to check this one out before any of the Dio or Tony Martin-era albums. I must admit that it was strange hearing the band with another vocalist beyond Ozzy, let alone Ian Gillan. But I totally dug this one from the get-go. It is true that the production is one of the worst of any of the band's large discography, but the songs are all great! Even Gillan himself, who hates the way this album sounds, still loves the songs. Apparently the original mix tapes were lost and this is what we were left with. Frankly, as poor as the album's mix may be in terms of professionalism, it also gives it a very raw and dirty sound and ultimately it suits the whole vibe of the record, I think.  

As I said, the songs are brilliant. 'Trashed' is a super cool speed metal number that opens the album on a positive note. Geoff Nicholls' foreboding and atmospheric keyboard instrumental, 'Stonehenge', leads into 'Disturbing the Priest' - a very heavy and demonic song that features some maniacal laughter from Gillan; hell, his vocals on this album are insane in general. He gives the most inhuman and demonic vocal performance of any Sabbath vocalist - not necessarily the best, but the best for these songs specifically. And 'Zero the Hero'...man, what a tune! The song is heavy, brooding, sinister, yet it rocks hard and is catchy all the same! And Guns N' Roses totally stole that one riff from this song on 'Paradise City'! The title track is superb as well; the verses are pure emotion while the chorus is just pure power. The main riff gives the song a really murky and depressive atmosphere. 'Hot Line' may be a straightforward metaller, but I still love it. 'Digital Bitch' is a really dumb song lyrically, but it's fun; and damned if it ain't catchy! Even the closing ballad, 'Keep It Warm' is nice - it is the least Sabbathy track on the record (even musically), but I still love it.

Born Again is a classic - I don't care what you or anyone else thinks! It wasn't very well received among critics at the time of release (though it did reach no. 4 in the UK album charts), but over time it has been critically reassessed and has a strong cult following among fans today - and rightfully so. In 2011 a 2 CD Deluxe Edition was released. I eventually got around to picking it up - and by eventually, I mean by 2020 (!). Whatever, this is a great package. The normal album has been remastered and sounds slightly more bassy than my old 2004 reissue. In addition to the standard album, the second disc features an unreleased track - the kick-ass speed metal of 'The Fallen', plus an extended version of 'Stonehenge'. You also get a live set of the band performing at Reading Festival (back when Reading actually had rock bands perform...), and this was my main reason for buying the Deluxe Edition. Gillan suits the Ozzy stuff better than Dio in my opinion, and the Born Again material sounds great in the live setting too. 

Adam's rating: 9.5/10

SEVENTH STAR          1986          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'In for the Kill', 'Turn to Stone', 'Seventh Star', 'Angry Heart'

Check it out! It's the Black Sabbath album that isn't really a Black Sabbath album!

This was a strange period for Tony. Geezer had left Sabbath for family-related matters (at least I think), Bill's health meant he was never consistently able to stay in a band, let alone tour, Ian Gillan had reunited with Deep Purple and both Ozzy and Ronnie were enjoying success with their solo bands. The only member still around was Geoff Nicholls. It made sense then, for Tony to make a solo record himself. He and Geoff essentially created a new band for Seventh Star - they took Great White bassist Dave Spitz and future-KISS drummer Eric Singer from Lita Ford's band (Tony was actually briefly engaged to Lita around this time... him stealing her drummer probably didn't go down too well!). Of course, Glenn Hughes was recruited to sing on this would-be Iommi solo album. The problem with Glenn was not his vocal ability, but rather the fact he was on a downward spiral for a very long period of time. And by that I mean he'd regularly been doing heroin back in his days with Deep Purple, when he and David Coverdale were fronting the band. By the mid-80's he was a huge cokehead and had a weight problem. His demons got him fired during the tour for this record after he got into a bar fight with Sabbath's production manager, and had to be replaced by American singer Ray Gillen for the remaining shows. 

The biggest problem of all was the fact that Tony wanted this to be a solo record, but the record label stuck 'Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi' on the cover!! This is ridiculous, a) because musically you can tell that these songs were not intended to be Black Sabbath tracks (more about the music later of course) and b) what the fuck do they mean by 'Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi'?! Tony is Black Sabbath!!! He's the only dude that never left, wrote more material than any other member and, as far as I can remember, the only guy that produced anything for the band!! Needless to say, this meant that this incarnation of the band had to go out on tour as Black Sabbath. Ticket sales were poor because nobody knew what the deal was anymore, and because Seventh Star had little in common with earlier Sabbath material. And Glenn was completely uncomfortable being the new Sabbath singer - he was never a heavy metal singer, and he'd signed up to be the vocalist for Iommi's solo project, not Black fucking Sabbath! Still, despite all the personal issues with Glenn (who thankfully got his career back on track when he entered rehab in the early 90's, and has been sober ever since) - what a voice! Glenn is a phenomenal singer, and I always loved his contributions to the Deep Purple albums he was involved with. Yeah, he was probably unsuitable as Black Sabbath's singer in general, but for this record he was spot-on. He'd later record with Tony again many years later - check out the Iommi-Hughes album Fused from 2005, it's fucking awesome.

Anyhow, the songs are largely very good. The whole thing kicks off with the thunderous 'In for the Kill'. This is a big, soaring heavy metal piece with a powerful chorus and a galloping rhythm. Not Sabbathy of course, but still unmistakeably Iommi and a track I've always been a fan of. 'Turn to Stone' is a cool, speedy heavy rocker with some really catchy riffage. The title track has a Led Zeppelin 'Kashmir' kind of vibe going for it (although 'Kashmir' is obviously a billion times better), with it's slow and plodding, but spacey and expansive riff. I suppose it kind of stands as the soundtrack to the album cover, with Tony standing in the middle of a desert. That photo is admittedly pretty bad - I mean, they could've used a better pic of Tony, surely? Meh, I quite like the song 'Seventh Star' either way, it has an almost majestic quality. 'Danger Zone' - which thankfully bears no resemblance to Kenny Loggins' Top Gun hit - is a very solid, melodic hard rock song. Sort of reminds me of the heavier side to Magnum, mixed with some of the Heaven and Hell ingredients. The riff that comes in before the three-minute mark is gold. 'Angry Heart' is a heavy affair, and Geoff Nicholl's added keyboards leave a Deep Purple-ish taste, which is actually rather cool. This track is arguably the most Sabbathy of all on Seventh Star, and it merges into 'In Memory...', which is a shorter, mellow outro. Really, 'Angry Heart' and 'In Memory...' are one long song, and I enjoy the whole thing.

The most questionable track on this record is easily 'No Stranger to Love'. I personally kinda like it... weirdly, I even liked it when I first picked this album up in college - a time when I was basically only tolerating heavy shit. Like I said, 'No Stranger to Love' is definitely questionable because it's essentially a power ballad, with a sound that I can only describe as 'really American'. I guess I dig it 'cos Glenn Hughes sings his heart out and sounds brilliant. As for the music, I mean, it's about as far removed from Sabbath as you can imagine - but it was never intended to be a Sabbath album in the first place! I do quite like 'Heart Like a Wheel' for it's slow, bluesy jams, but it does drag on too long I must say. Cut it down to four minutes and it'd be just fine.

 

I was tempted to give this an 8/10, because as an Iommi solo album, this is a strong effort. I'd argue that it displays a soulful side to Tony's playing, particularly the solos which are excellent throughout. And Glenn Hughes is an outstanding vocalist, even if he wasn't right for Sabbath. However, Tony is obviously known for his riffs, and if classic Iommi riffage is what you were looking for, Seventh Star probably ain't gonna cut it. I mean, the riffs here aren't bad at all, but I don't think I could label any of them as classics. I get that this was meant to be a solo record an' all, meaning he could essentially do what he wants... but come on Tony, you're the MASTER of the fucking RIFF! Still, I am gonna look past the fact 'Black Sabbath' is written on the cover and consider this to be an Iommi solo album in all but name. In that sense, it's totally worth your time

Adam's rating: 7.9/10

THE ETERNAL IDOL          1987          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All of it.

Things did not go as planned with the Seventh Star record. It was released with 'Black Sabbath' on the cover, much to Tony Iommi's dismay. Plus, Glenn Hughes' drug addiction and overall unstable attitude at the time meant he only lasted 5 shows before being fired during the tour. Luckily Tony found a new American vocalist - Ray Gillen, who finished the last leg of the tour. For the next album, The Eternal Idol, the band kept the Black Sabbath name and Ray was obviously supposed to sing on the finished product. During the recording though, he left the band along with drummer Eric Singer for various reasons including mismanagement, financial burden and lack of communication etc. (though Eric's drum work was still used on the finished album). Interestingly, Ray did actually record vocals for all of the songs that ended up on The Eternal Idol before he left, but I'll come back to that later. Either way, the whole situation left Tony without a frontman yet again. Management suggested fellow Birmingham native Tony Martin as a replacement, and after an audition, he was in. 

Tony Martin ended up becoming the band's second longest-serving vocalist behind Ozzy, appearing on 5 studio albums in total, plus 1 live album. The Eternal Idol was the first album I picked up and heard from any of the Martin-fronted CD's, and frankly...I loved it right from the get-go! This album is chock-full of brilliant riffs and melodies, excellent vocal performances and just a great overall atmosphere. It doesn't sound like 70's Sabbath of course, but it does still sound like Sabbath. And considering Tony Martin didn't have as much freedom on this album (he was told to just sing the songs in similar fashion to how Gillen sang them, and only had 7 days to do so) he still sounds very good. Some say he sounds like Dio, but I honestly have no idea what people are talking about when that claim is thrown around. Tony Martin sounds like Tony Martin, and that's final. He can hit those operatic highs with no problems. 

And the songs are great from start to finish. Opener 'The Shining' is a melodic metal masterpiece - in fact, the best way to describe this album would be melodic heavy metal with the classic doom-laden atmosphere of classic Sabbath. It just works. 'Ancient Warrior' is mystical and thunderous at the same time, and Geoff Nicholls' keyboards are integral to this track's vibe. And Iommi's riff after the chorus that appears again at the end of the song is one of my favourites full-stop. 'Hard Life to Love' has an almost bluesy-like quality to it with the main riff, and it's catchy. 'Born to Lose' - man, that is an infectious track! The title song is doom metal at it's finest. Even the more straight-forward metallers like 'Glory Ride' and 'Lost Forever' are excellent, as is the short acousitc interlude 'Scarlet Pimpernel'. Really I think The Eternal Idol stands as classic Black Sabbath. I don't know if I'd put it above Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, but it is still at least in the same league/ballpark. The production is great, the songwriting and performances are up to scratch and overall I just really like every song on here.

Like I said earlier, this was my first Martin-era Sabbath album. I picked up the original Vertigo 80's CD release many, many years ago (around 2008) used at a music stall in a market in Coventry for just £3. The reason I remember that is because the price tag is stuck to the booklet and not the jewel case, and if I try and peel it off it damages the album cover. Very recently however (and by very recently, I mean 2020!), I decided to add the 2-CD Deluxe Edition that came out in 2010 to my collection because I wanted a copy of the sessions with Ray Gillen on the mic. I think the versions here are remastered demos. Every song that made it to the final album (except 'Scarlet Pimpernel', which was an instrumental anyway) is here, so you're pretty much getting the same album again with a different vocalist. A lot of fans actually prefer the Gillen-sessions, and in all fairness, I do think that these versions are on par with the final album in the vocal department. They lack the atmosphere however, because the keyboards are less prominent. Gillen was a great vocalist, but I still think Tony Martin is better. I will say that Gillen sounds as good here, but I think that's because Martin was told to sing these tracks in the same way, rather than how he wanted to.

You also get 2 b-sides, 'Some Kind of Woman', which is a surprisingly chirpy, upbeat rocker (almost reminds of Van Halen!) and 'Black Moon', which is a great song that was re-recorded for the Headless Cross album the following year. Great package that's worth picking up for serious Sabbath fans.
Adam's rating: 9.1/10

HEADLESS CROSS           1989          (IRS)

- Standouts: Everything.

For a very long time I was convinced that Headless Cross was very good, but not a truly fantastic record. I even stated in my original review that The Eternal Idol was superior in basically every way, but I recently listened to Headless Cross again in my car and I can honestly say that I was almost hearing something else completely. It's finally clicked with me, and I can see why many of the serious Sabbath fans hail it as one of Tony Iommi's best works. This is an extremely well made slab of doomy and atmospheric yet melodic heavy metal.

At this point in time, Tony had legendary rock drummer Cozy Powell on board, and of course, Tony Martin was still on vocals and unsung background member Geoff Nicholls was on keyboards. Session bass player Laurence Cottle was hired for the recording of the album, but was never an official band member. Either way the chemistry between these men is excellent; the songwriting is completely on point. However, since this is a Tony Martin-era Sabbath record, don't expect to be able to directly compare it to the band's 70's works. Like the Dio-era, the Martin-fronted Black Sabbath is a different Black Sabbath. Anyhow, seeing as Tony Martin wasn't replacing someone at the last minute like he was on The Eternal Idol, Headless Cross allowed him to get creative and do his own thang; he gives an incredible vocal performance on every track, hitting all the high notes and all the lows. He also wrote all the lyrics and brought back some of the old Satanic and gloomy themes, a move which Iommi ironically wasn't so keen on simply because he was tired of people associating the band with that image. Really though, this album and it's whole vibe couldn't have worked without these lyrics and I think all fans will agree with me on that one.

The riffs on the album aren't quite as in your face as they were on the predecessor, but most of them work really well from start to finish. The album has a slow to mid-tempo pace for the most part, so Iommi's riffs chug hard a lot of the time, but this isn't a complaint. Just listen to the surprisingly catchy 'Black Moon' to see what I mean. Geoff Nicholls plays a huge roll here too, because Headless Cross is drenched in atmosphere, and it's his keyboards that are partly responsible for this too. Hell, the record starts off with a brief and moody instrumental called 'The Gates of Hell'. The title song follows and kicks things off brilliantly. Fuck I'm gonna say it - the first 3 handful of songs, 'Headless Cross' (the song), 'Devil & Daughter' and 'When Death Calls' are near perfection and are up there with the rest of the band's best tracks. Seriously. 'When Death Calls' is an incredibly powerful number that features an amazing guest guitar solo from Brian May and 'Devil & Daughter' is melodic metal personified. 'Nightwing', the closing track is almost majestic at times, in a way. The only thing that lets this record down slightly is and 'Call of the Wild' - I just find the verses in the former to be a little too 80's-sounding (though the rest of the tune is kick-ass!). 'Kill In the Spirit World' is amazing however.

I guess I wasn't an immediate Headless Cross fan like I was Eternal Idol because I initially found the album's production to be too glossy and clean, and the use of keyboards took me away from Iommi's guitars too much. In reality, this CD has an unbelievably awesome and unique atmosphere (sort of like the debut) and it's because of Iommi's guitar work, Martin's amazing vocals and lyrics and Nicholls' keyboards. I will admit that I think The Eternal Idol's tracks are easier to listen to individually because they stick in your head more, but as a whole album experience, Headless Cross is better. The Tony Martin era in general deserves as much attention as any other period of the band.

I waited years to find a copy of this album for a reasonable price. All the Tony Martin albums are out of print (they still haven't been reissued and I wrote this updated review in December 2019!) except for The Eternal Idol. This one however, always seems to be most expensive too, sadly. In 2011 I found a used copy of the 1999 Classic Rock Series reissue in great condition for £9.99 and snapped it up immediately, but since then I don't think I've ever seen another copy for less £19.99... most go for prices of over £30. 
Adam's rating: 9.2/10

TYR          1990          (IRS)

- Standouts: 'The Sabbath Stones', 'Anno Mundi', 'Valhalla', 'The Law Maker'

Initially I thought this album was just 'pretty good', but fairly forgettable overall. I always thought Headless Cross was great, but not outstanding until very recently when I gave it another good listen. Of course, that prompted me to give Tyr another shot, Tony Martin's third effort with Iommi and co.. In fact, the lineup hasn't changed at all save for the addition of bass player Neil Murray, so you still have Cozy Powell on drums and Geoff Nicholls on keyboards. Unfortunately, I still don't consider this album to be something truly special, but it has at least gone up in my books, and I've upped the score from 6.5/10 to a 7.5/10 so there's that at least. Like Headless Cross, Tyr has something of a cult following among the serious Sabbath fans and enthusiasts; some of them consider it to be Martin's finest hour. Of course, I'm talking about actual FANS here, not dumbass critics who ignored it at the time of release. If you look at this album from the perspective of Tony Martin, then I can see why some people love it so much. I can't really fault him to be honest. His voice is still on top form here, certainly on par with his performance on The Eternal Idol (though still not quite as impressive as on Headless Cross in my humble opinion). And lyrically, it probably is his crowning moment. See, the album has some themes of Norse mythology, what with songs like 'The Battle of Tyr', 'Odin's Court' and 'Valhalla'... the album is not a concept record however, regardless of what some people may think. Either way, the lyrics on this album were totally unique for the time (think about how many metal bands center themselves around Nordic and viking themes these days... the list is huge) and a step away from the demonic stuff on Headless Cross. 

The problem I have with Tyr is that musically this album is more un-Sabbath-like than anything that came before aside from Seventh Star (and that's even if you consider Seventh Star to be a Sabbath album...). Tony Iommi's guitar playing is excellent on the record, but it just doesn't sound like him a lot of the time! The riffs just aren't as memorable or Iommi-like this time around, even if they are still good overall. The only riffs that really stood out for me were on 'Anno Mundi', 'Valhalla' and 'The Sabbath Stones'. Speaking of songs, they have an almost power metal quality to them. 'Anno Mundi' features some very melodic vocal harmonies, but much of the song is very heavy and powerful. I can't deny that 'Valhalla' is fucking awesome too, despite what I think of the record overall. 'The Law Maker' is excellent speed metal, but again, it doesn't sound like Sabbath musically. 'The Sabbath Stones' is definitely a classic however, and 'Heaven in Black', the album's closer is strong too, but some of the keyboards do detract from the heaviness even if they add to the atmosphere. 'Feels Good to Me' is a ballad that was only included because it was a single - it doesn't fit with the rest of the album, but is not bad either in all fairness.

Really I think that Tyr doesn't have any 'bad' tracks on it - some are excellent, even. This is a bunch of pros that clearly know what they're doing. Everyone plays real good on this CD, but as I said earlier, it just doesn't sound like Black Sabbath a lot of the time - not even Eternal Idol or Headless Cross. That said, I do like it more these days (although I never thought it was poor) and I still recommend it because these are good songs. And as stated at the start of the review, a lot of people hold it in high regard.
Adam's rating: 7.5/10

DEHUMANIZER          1992          (IRS)

- Standouts: 'Computer God', 'After All (The Dead)', 'I', 'Time Machine', 'TV Crimes', 'Buried Alive', 'Master of Insanity'

The last 3 albums with Tony Martin have finally been getting the credit and recognition they deserve, but it's no secret that they were largely ignored by the mainstream press back in the day. By the early 90's, Tony Iommi felt some kind of reunion was in order. No, not with Ozzy, but rather Ronnie James Dio. And why not? Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules are fantastic albums, and Tony felt he could still recapture something they had during those days. Initially Tony Martin was there for some of the rehearsals for Dehumanizer, but obviously he had to eventually be dismissed to bring Dio forward, which Iommi said wasn't really fair on Martin (though he would return). Cozy Powell was supposed to play drums on the album too, and he did actually appear on demos for some of the tracks (which can be heard on YouTube). However, he broke his hip when he fell off a horse (or the horse fell on him?), leaving him unable to play on the final record and tour. Apparently he and Ronnie still had beef with one another since their days in Rainbow together, so it just made things uncomfortable anyhow. Dio's drummer Vinny Appice replaced Cozy, reuniting the Mob Rules lineup once again.

About the music on this album... well, it's Dio-Sabbath alright, but it has it's own flair. Heaven and Hell was heavy and majestic, Mob Rules was darker and heavier, Dehumanizer is... well, even darker and heavier! In fact, it's one of the heaviest Sabbath albums in general, with crushing, pummeling riffs throughout on songs like 'Computer God', 'TV Crimes', 'Buried Alive' and 'Time Machine'. Lyrically the album takes a U-turn from Ronnie's usual dungeons and dragons, rainbows and fantasy themes - but then so did Mob Rules. Tony and Geezer steered him away from his usual approach and instead the album focuses on pessimistic themes like technology being taken too far - which is actually quite relevant to this day in some ways.

As I said before, this is one heavy album, but it does have it's moments of, uh, mystical kind of melodies. I mean, 'I' is absolutely phenomenal, and features this really, almost bluesy and atmospheric riff between the heavy stuff. 'After All (The Dead)' is Black Sabbath doing doom metal at their best too. I really love 'Master of Insanity' and the bruising 'Time Machine' as well. Sure, Dio isn't really going for the soaring, theatrical approach here, sounding a little gruffer and harsher than usual, but it really works on this record. Hell, 'Buried Alive' kind of has a slight Alice in Chains, grungy tinge, but I don't think they were influenced by grunge - rather grunge was influenced by them and it just happened to be huge in '92. 'Sins of the Father' sounds slightly more optimistic, but is still heavy - and underrated if I do say so myself.

I must say that I do consider Dehumanizer to be yet another classic. However, it isn't one I regularly pull out and listen to in comparison to Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules. Some of these tracks ('I' and 'Time Machine') are absolutely some of the best of the Dio years, but the album is quite 'samey' and slightly less memorable overall, and save for 'I', it doesn't really have any truly epic songs on it like 'Heaven and Hell' or 'The Sign of the Southern Cross'. Maybe 'Too Late' could just about qualify for this? Sadly though I think the record just falls short of being amazing. That said, a Sabbath collection wouldn't be complete without it, and I still highly recommend it. During the tour for this album, the band were supposed to open for Ozzy's solo band during the last 2 shows. Dio refused to open for Ozzy, who he called a 'clown' (according to Iommi's book anyway) and quit. Tony Martin wasn't around to fill for him at that point, so Rob Halford took the mic for those 2 gigs. I'd like to add that there's a video on YouTube of Rob singing 'Neon Knights' during that tour, and it sounds absolutely amazing! He had actually left Judas Priest at that time, and imagine if he'd joined Sabbath! I reckon they could've made an incredible album together!
Adam's rating: 8.7/10

CROSS PURPOSES          1994          (IRS)

- Standouts: 'I Witness', 'Psychophobia', 'Virtual Death', 'Immaculate Deception', 'Back to Eden', 'The Hand that Rocks the Cradle', 'Evil Eye'

After Dio walked out for the second time (and also taking friend Vinny Appice with him once again), Iommi asked Tony Martin to come back to the band on vocals. Geezer stayed in the band long enough to record Cross Purposes and tour as well, plus Geoff Nicholls was still present on keys. Bobby Rondinelli steps in on drums but only stuck around for this record. Happily, this is another strong Black Sabbath album. I'm not sure if it's because Geezer was on board for this one for the first time (for the first time with Tony Martin that is) or if it was just the 90's calling, but Cross Purposes has a slightly different feel than other Martin-fronted Sabbath albums like Headless Cross or Tyr. It doesn't have the same operatic feel that those albums had (or Heaven and Hell for that matter). Headless Cross was doomy, but it was theatrically doomy (if that makes any sense), this feels doomier in the traditional sense.

For starters, Martin isn't really trying to hit the super-high notes this time 'round. He still sings properly of course, but considering the riffs on songs like 'Virtual Death' and 'Back to Eden', I don't think the same approach he had on his first 3 efforts would've worked so well here. So really, he sounds very good - just a little different to what he did previously. And the songs are great - 'I Witness' is a kick-ass opener. 'Virtual Death' is Black Sabbath personified - pure doom metal brilliance. I also LOVE the main riff in 'Psychophobia' - it manages to be catchy and memorable whilst still retaining Iommi's signature. 'Immaculate Deception' is built around a really cool riff too, but the song has plenty of great melodic moments too. 'Back to Eden' is straightforward metaller, but a very good one. There's also a ballad, what with 'Dying for Love' - which is a good song in it's own right much like 'Feels Good to Me'. The lyrics are great (and not as cheesy as you'd think). 'The Hand That Rocks the Cradle' switches between being a ballad and classic Black Sabbath - this song is the better of the 2 if we're talkin' ballads. And Tony Martin sounds better on it too. 'Cardinal Sin' and 'Evil Eye' are solid too. 

Like I do with maybe 80% of Black Sabbath's discography, I enjoy pretty much all of Cross Purposes. 'I Witness', 'Virtual Death', 'Immaculate Deception' and 'The Hand that Rocks the Cradle' are all amazing songs that stand among the rest of Sabbath's classics comfortably. Hell, the rest of the album is great too, and I've always really liked it. However, I don't think it's quite up there with The Eternal Idol or Headless Cross when talking about Tony Martin, although if we're talking Sabbath in general, I do think it's ever-so-slightly better than it's predecessor, Dehumanizer, simply because I think it flows better and the songs are overall more memorable. Like Tyr and Headless Cross, this album is out of print. You can find brand-new Russian bootleg copies of these albums on eBay that actually look like the real thing for reasonable prices nowadays, but this wasn't an option for me at the time. I got my legit copy in 2011, roughly around the same time I acquired Headless Cross, Tyr and Forbidden. My copy was something like £7.99 on Amazon Marketplace if I remember correctly, but I got lucky at that price. 
Adam's rating: 8.8/10

FORBIDDEN          1995          (IRS)

- Standouts: 'Get a Grip', 'The Illusion of Power', 'Guilty as Hell', 'Kiss of Death'. 

I've recently been on a Sabbath binge again, and I've been re-reviewing many of these albums. I hadn't listened to Forbidden in a very long time, and honestly, since I picked it up around 9 years ago, I always considered it to be the worst of the worst in the band's discography; the bottom of the barrel. And I wasn't exactly alone in those thoughts - I guess the overall consensus is that Forbidden is the nadir, but hearing it once again, I really don't think it's completely horrible. Or even just flat-out bad for that matter.

Forbidden was the band's final studio album for a very long time (until 2013), and was also Tony Martin's final album with Tony Iommi and crew. I always think it's worth mentioning the credits for Sabbath post-Ozzy, so Cozy Powell was back behind the drum kit; unfortunately, Geezer had once again left after the Cross Purposes album and tour so Neil Murray had returned on bass while Geoff Nicholls was obviously still providing any keyboards on the album. The actual lineup in 1995 then, was a more-than capable band, so what exactly went wrong with this record, and why do people like to shit on it? One major contributor was the fact that Ernie Cunnigan (aka Ernie C) produced it. Ernie is a producer (duh), but is also the lead guitarist of Ice-T's metal band Body Count. Don't get me wrong, I've been a fan of Ice-T and Body Count for years - and Ernie is an amazing guitar player - but they're not exactly comparable to Black Sabbath. In Tony Iommi's autobiography (Iron Man), Ernie had little experience producing classic metal and heavy rock acts like Sabbath, specialising in hip-hop and rap, and he really had no idea of how they should sound on record. He kept telling Cozy to play the drums in a specific way, which just insulted him. Fair enough, because this is Cozy Powell - a man who had drummed for Rainbow, Whitesnake, Jeff Beck, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, Brian May AND Robert Plant! The record company convinced the band to get Ernie on board to try and sound more relevant, but it just didn't work, because Forbidden sounds flat, and almost demo-like at times. The album just doesn't have that 'full' sound it deserves.

On opener 'The Illusion of Power', Ice-T even provides a guest appearance. Not a good sign! Granted, Ice-T is a very smart guy, and has recorded some absolutely classic rap albums, but having him guest on a Sabbath album (or anyone associated with rap for that matter) just seems so...wrong. Thankfully his presence is not enough to label the song 'rap Sabbath' like some idiots have done. He doesn't rap, just provides around 30 seconds of spoken word to accompany Tony Martin, so he doesn't ruin the track. In fact, it's actually not bad at all. 'Get a Grip' I genuinely like - the main riff is great, and the song could've fit on Cross Purposes, as could 'Sick and Tired' and 'Guilty As Hell'. The second half of 'Guilty As Hell' almost reminds me of the melodic side of the Heaven and Hell album. 'Kiss of Death' is, dare I say it, a classic that's chock full of heavy riffs and fantastic melodies. Some of the songs do border on mediocrity though. 'Rusty Angels' doesn't sound Sabbathy at all - to me it sounds more like Saxon, honestly. 'Forbidden' is average at best - I'm not sure why they chose it for the album's title. 'Can't Get Close to You' is okay I guess, though it kind of has a stench of grunge about it. 'I Won't Cry for You' is the predictable ballad - it is what it is. Tony Martin's vocal performance is solid once again, but he sounds a little more subdued than he did on Cross Purposes - and he seemed to have chimed it down a little on that album anyway, abandoning the operatic approach.

Tony Martin stated in an interview that when the songs were initially written and rehearsed, they sounded good - and I believe him. Some of these tracks - well, most of them for that matter - are legitimately good Black Sabbath tracks. 'Get a Grip', 'Kiss of Death', 'Guilty As Hell' and 'Sick and Tired', I like all these songs. I think even 'The Illusion of Power' is cool too - but the way the album was mixed really brings 'em down. The drums are mixed way too loud and sound like tin cans, Tony Iommi's guitar is lacking in reverb and suffers from a really thin tone, and Martin's vocals sound muffled at times, like he's standing too far away from the mic. Oh, and the bass is barely audible too. It's a damn shame, because although I still wouldn't put this in the same league as Cross Purposes... and certainly nowhere near the ranks of The Eternal Idol or Headless Cross, I would at least give the album a 7.5/10 had the album actually sounded good - in fact, I think I'd like it more than Tyr. I think at heart this record is at least as good as Tyr, but there you go - and I certainly don't think it's bad as a lot of people say it is. Tony Iommi has apparently been working on remixing this album. He said it'd be done when it's done, and he's taking his time. I sure hope it appears soon, because I would go and buy a copy on day 1. 

Like all the other Martin discs bar The Eternal Idol, this album is out of print. It wasn't on my priority list like the others were because of it's reputation, but I managed to get my copy around 2012 (at least I think) for £7.50.
Adam's rating: 7/10

GEEZER BUTLER - PLASTIC PLANET          1995          (BMG)

- Standouts: 'Catatonic Eclipse', 'Giving Up the Ghost', 'Seance Fiction'

This is an album that I was aware of for many years, but never got around to actually picking up for myself until recent years. It's the first album from Geezer Butler's solo band, GZR, which he formed in the mid-90's after leaving Black Sabbath once more after the Cross Purposes tour. I have the 2020 reissue, which instead of having the 'g//z/r' label on the cover, it's been re-released as 'Geezer Butler' - I can only assume this was done to make it more obvious to people who is actually behind this record. Along with Geezer himself performing all bass and songwriting duties, is Burton C. Bell on vocals. Burton was beginning to be a big deal in the metal scene with Fear Factory, releasing Demanufacture the same year. 

For better or worse, you can hear the Fear Factory influence on Plastic Planet, and not necessarily just because Burton C. Bell sings on it. That means the album has a strong groove/industrial presence. Meh, I can take it or leave it. I will say that I do get some Sabbath vibes on tracks like 'Catatonic Eclipse' and 'Giving Up the Ghost'. While Burton goes in and out of his signature clean/harsh vocals like he does with Fear Factory throughout this album, the guitar riffs are generally slower and doomier, and not played in the same tight, precise manner that is typical of FF. However, the production to me sounds very close to that of a 90's FF record, which is partly why it's so difficult to shake off that groove/industrial-based metal sound here. Sadly, even with the slight touches of Black Sabbath throughout a bunch of these songs, overall I feel the music sits closer to that 90's groove sound more-so than it does vintage Sabbath... or even Dio/Tony Martin-era Sabbath for that matter. The title track for instance, kind of sounds like Fear Factory, Chaos A.D./Roots-era Sepultura and early Slipknot thrown in a blender to me. I mean, it's not terrible per say, it's just not what you'd expect from one of the founders of heavy metal!!

The good news is that regardless of the fact the 90's metal scene is written all over Plastic Planet, the album is at least heavy and certainly not bad if you compare it to what other 90's metal bands were doing at the same time. There aren't any tracks on here that were downright unlistenable to me... like I said, I do like 'Catatonic Eclipse' and 'Giving Up the Ghost' in particular, as well as the doomy 'Seance Fiction'. But most of them don't really stand out all that much either. The guitars are cranking out endless detuned, mostly mid-tempo riffs - all very heavy stuff, but kind of tiresome after a while due to the lack of any real melody. And they certainly don't stick in your head in the same way that Tony Iommi's do. 

I feel slightly hypocritical for liking Rob Halford's first 90's solo band much more than I do Geezer's. Rob too, did something completely different from Judas Priest and jumped on the 90's groove metal bandwagon with Fight. Maybe it's because that War of Words record sat closer to Pantera than it did Fear Factory, or maybe it's just because Rob's vocals are compatible with a lot other metal subgenres outside of Judas Priest. Either way, he pulled it off, whilst Geezer released a solo album that barely has any of his characteristics on it. It's okay for what it is I guess, but it's hardly essential listening. And if you never liked Fear Factory, Burton C. Bell's not gonna win you over on this album either.

I mean no disrespect to Geezer when I say this, but when you compare Plastic Planet to an Iommi solo record like Fused, you can really hear just how much influence Tony has on Black Sabbath, musically speaking. Geezer is integral to really getting the Sabbath rhythm section down, and he was also primarily the band's lyricist. But Iommi's solo work is definitely much more Sabbath-y than Butler's. Then again, at least Geezer didn't write a song like 'No Stranger to Love'!

Adam's rating: 5.6/10

TONY IOMMI - EIGHTH STAR          1996          (Bootleg)

This bootleg Tony Iommi solo CD dubbed 'Eighth Star' - a sort of follow-up to 1986's Seventh Star, if you will - was recorded in 1996, and once again features Glenn Hughes on vocals and bass, as well as legendary keyboard player Don Airey and ex-Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland. Being a bootleg release, the sound quality is understandably sketchy, but far from unlistenable. And as for the music, this is great stuff. Like Seventh Star, it's doesn't quite fit the Sabbath mould, but the guitar playing is unmistakeably Iommi. If like me you're a fan of Tony's playing, then you can instantly hear his signature touches all over this CD!

The songs range from fast ('Not the Same'), slow and heavy ('I'm Gone), bluesy ('Don't You Tell Me') to surprisingly soulful ('Real World') - a 'lotta variety then. It does still differ to Seventh Star in that it's missing the commercial 80's sheen of that record - yeah, yeah, I know this is a rough bootleg, so obviously it's missing a coat of paint. But the thing is, the songs on this recording were cleaned-up and re-released in 2004 as 'The 1996 DEP Sessions'. I'm keeping this review brief because I also own the other CD I just mentioned, and will go further into detail with said album. Either way, for fans of Tony and Glenn, this disc is worth tracking down if you can find it cheap.

Adam's rating: 7.8/10

REUNION          1997          (Sony Music)

In 1997 Tony, Geezer, Bill and Ozzy reunited for two shows in their home town of Birmingham, at the NEC. Ya know, for many years I always wrote this one off as unessential, and it's because of Ozzy's voice. Like, on 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', he doesn't ever try to hit the high notes, and there's times where he doesn't even bother to sing certain passages on this record. I consider the first six Black Sabbath albums with Ozzy to be among some of the best albums of all time, but I was never a fan of his solo stuff. So I guess I've always had a chip on my shoulder about him reuniting with Sabbath... but I listened to this two-CD live record at the gym for the first time in a while the other day, and I've gotta say - it's great stuff. Yeah, Ozzy's on another planet at times, but damn, he sure knows how to get the crowd pumped! And I always loved just how fucking heavy this album sounds. Tony, Geezer and Bill are in fine form indeed. Just listen to 'Black Sabbath', 'Children of the Grave' and 'Into the Void' here and tell me that Sabbath aren't one of the heaviest fucking bands to grace the planet! Whoever attended these two shows were lucky to be there - Bill's health has been so bad for such a long time now that he's literally only appeared behind the kit at a few Sabbath shows here and there since Heaven and Hell. All things considered, he did an amazing job with this gig.

One other major factor that makes Reunion stand out is the inclusion of the two studio tracks, 'Psycho Man' and 'Selling My Soul'. We wouldn't get any new Sabbath material again with Ozzy until 2013. Personally, I dig these songs more than I do the majority of the stuff we heard on the 13 record. Both are heavy slabs of doomy metal with a slight modern sheen regarding the production - and thanks to the wonders of recording technology and editing, Ozzy at least sounds pretty good in the studio! These songs along make Reunion an essential purchase for the serious fans. Of course, things were pretty quiet on the Sabbath front for a long time after.

On a side note, ten years after this show, I would see Black Sabbath in 2007 at the Birmingham NEC when the Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup reunited. I was fifteen years old, and it was my first ever concert. 'Course, the band were using the Heaven & Hell name at that point, which always used to piss me off - it was Black Sabbath and everybody fucking knew it. They probably would have sold even more tickets if they'd just called themselves 'Sabbath' like they always had done. Great show, by the way!

Adam's rating: 8/10

PAST LIVES          2002          (Sanctuary)

A nice two-disc live compilation for the collectors out there. Disc one contains a newly remastered version of the unofficial Live At Last album, recorded in 1973 (I actually already have the 1986 CD version, it's reviewed above somewhere) while disc two is a collection of unreleased 1970's live material. Of course, it was disc two that made me pick this one up, seeing as I didn't own these live tracks already. Both discs are strong, but I prefer the second mainly because it contains live performances of underrated classics such as 'Hand Of Doom', 'Hole In The Sky', 'Behind The Wall Of Sleep' and 'Megalomania'. That and the fact I'd already over-played Live At Last prior to hooking up with this. I had also wanted some more live songs from the Sabotage album for some time, and Past Lives seems to be the only official live Black Sabbath album from the Ozzy-era to contain any live tracks from that album. The 1997 Reunion album doesn't contain any, which sucks, and that was the only other original line up live album I owned bar Live At Last for years, so I'm glad I eventually got round to checking this one out. In addition to both CD's is some nice packaging, with a digipak case, a decent bookelt with lots of photos from the era as well as a poster and guitar plectrum. Seeing as I got this one used, I was surprised the guitar pick was still in there.
Adam's rating: 9/10

TONY IOMMI - THE 1996 DEP SESSIONS          2004          (Sanctuary)

- Standouts: 'Gone', 'From Another World', 'Don't Drag the River', 'Time Is the Healer', 'I'm Not the Same Man', 'It Falls Through Me'

As stated in the Eighth Star bootleg review, that disc was eventually officially released in 2004 as this - The 1996 DEP Sessions. A few things have changed - the song titles and some lyrics have been altered, and Dave Holland's drums were re-recorded by Jimmy Copley. Uh, the reason for this was because in 2003 Holland was locked up for the attempted rape of one of his drum students, 17 year old lad. Yeah, the less said about that the better. Still, this resulting album is a great one alright. When Tony teams up with Glenn Hughes, you can expect strong results. Glenn is, in my opinion, one of the greatest voices in rock. I don't think his discography is perfect by any means - it's pretty varied and diverse given how many projects he's been involved in, so there's stuff of his that I dig a lot more than others - but he's almost always great to hear when he does sing. Being a bass player, he also performs the bass parts on this album too (on Seventh Star he only sang).

If you ask me, 'Gone' is heavy enough to appear on an actual Sabbath record. It's a slow, plodding number with a little more groove than the average Sabbath track, and I love it. 'From Another World' is a strong, ballad-like number that takes advantage of acoustic playing and heavy riffage. 'Don't You Tell Me' is slightly unusual in that it once again is built around Tony's distinct heavy riffing, but the way Glenn sings the chorus is done with an almost pop-like sensibility. Sounds bad on paper, but the two distinct styles somehow mesh together rather well. There's another very strong number in 'Don't Drag the River', which again blends melodic, ballady elements with heavier guitar riffs. 

'Fine' has a whiff of Technical Ecstasy about it... possibly even a touch of 'Over to You' from Never Say Die!. It's a slow, melodic rocker and again, I like it. Not as much as I like 'Time Is the Healer' though, which is probably the heaviest track on this album. This song steps back into the traditional doomy side of Iommi's playing, as well as an overall simplistic song structure. Sometimes that's all you need. I also really enjoy 'I'm Not the Same Man', which is a fast rocker full of great guitar playing, and an awesome vocal performance too. Might be my favourite from this disc, actually. The album ends with the moody 'It Falls Through Me', which once again mixes clean and heavy playing, and features some very bluesy lead guitar solos and chops.

Overall a strong effort from Tony and Glenn. This time however, they didn't slap Sabbath on the cover  so I can't criticise it for being something it's not. Of course, being an Iommi solo record, there's a strong Sabbath vibe throughout - just don't expect the sheer heaviness all the time. None of the songs are gonna blow you away, but they're well-crafted, well-performed and well-executed cuts that any Sabbath fan should be able to enjoy.

Adam's rating: 8/10

TONY IOMMI - FUSED          2005          (Sanctuary)

- Standouts: 'Dopamine', 'Wasted Again', 'Saviour of the Real', 'Resolution Song', 'Grace', 'What You're Living For', 'The Spell', 'I Go Insane'

Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes return once again, and I'll get this out of the way right now and say that Fused is the best Iommi solo effort, and also one of my favourite Glenn Hughes projects. I've always enjoyed albums such as Seventh Star and The 1996 DEP Sessions; both were relatively varied, diverse albums by Tony's standards, Fused on the other hand is much heavier and often borders on old-school doom metal, only with more flair. Album opener, 'Dopamine', is phenomenal. It's stupendously heavy in the riffs department, but the chorus is hooky as hell and the way Glenn sings it absolutely grabs you. Fantastic stuff. 'Wasted Again' is built around doom riffage and massive, almost arena-like vocal arrangements. I think the crushing 'Saviour of the Real' could easily have fit on a modern-day Sabbath record too. One of my favourite tracks from this CD is definitely 'Resolution Song'. It's full of stomping riffs, but also very moody segments and a huge vocal line that basically consists of Glenn going "AYAAAAAA - A - AYAAAAAAA - AYAAA!!!", and it's fucking awesome! Glenn almost sings like his life depended on it for this tune! 

'Grace' has a ballad-like quality in it's chorus, but it still doesn't hold back on the heaviness. It just takes use of more melodic moments than usual, but that fast riff in the middle pure Sabbath alright. Another superb track. I will admit that 'Deep Inside a Shell' is a bit less-Sabbathy, but let's not forget that this is an Iommi solo effort. This track is a grungy ballad, while 'Grace' is only partially one. Then again, we've had songs like 'Changes', 'It's Alright' and 'I Won't Cry for You' from past Sabbath records, they could be different when they wanted to be.

'What You're Living For' on the other hand, cranks up the tempo with it's borderline speed metal riffs. 'The Spell' is slow and doomy as hell, in fact, the riffs have a slight touch of 'Black Sabbath' (the song) about them. It's not aiming to be creepy like 'Black Sabbath' was, but it still manages to be foreboding in it's own right. The final track, 'I Go Insane' is a lengthy, often bluesy and soulful number with some particularly fine lead guitar work from Tony. The only filler number on here for me is 'Face Your Fear', and that's only because I'm not particularly keen on the way Glenn sings this one. The riffs are still cool though.

Honestly, if the record label had stuck 'Black Sabbath' on the cover, I'd have been more than happy. Fused could easily have passed for such a record, and it'd also be one of the heaviest too. And I'm sure I either read or watched an interview somewhere in which Glenn basically stated that he's not really a heavy metal singer at all - well, he can quite easily sing metal if you ask me, 'cos this album is fuckin' heavy. The production is spot-on as well. Superb guitar tone throughout. 

This album is Tony giving the fans what they wanted during a period of inactivity for Black Sabbath. To me he is the master of the riff, so don't try and lecture me on how someone like Dimebag is the GOAT - 'cos he ain't! And Tony brings the riffs on this one that's for sure. And with a respected, distinctive singer like Mr. Hughes on the mic, you really can't go wrong. Fused is the best Black Sabbath album ever to be released without the Sabbath name on the cover! It's also not available on Spotify, so don't be a fucking cheapskate - go online and buy a copy now!

Adam's rating: 9/10

THE DIO YEARS          2007          (Warner Bros.)

A compilation of songs from what exactly the cover states: The Dio Years. If you own Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Dehumanizer, then you'll probably write this one off as inessential. Normally I would too, apart from the fact that this CD contains three brand new songs from the Dio, Iommi, Geezer and Appice line up: 'The Devil Cried', 'Shadow of the Wind' and 'Ear in the Wall'. All three of these songs are excellent, and certainly better than those two songs recorded for Reunion.
Adam's rating: 9/10  

HEAVEN & HELL - THE DEVIL YOU KNOW          2009          (Roadrunner)
- Standouts: Everything here is very good, but the flow of the album is an issue.
Way back in 2006 (which certainly doesn't feel like 14 years ago to me...), the Mob Rules, Live Evil and Dehumanizer-era Black Sabbath lineup of Tony Iommi (guitar), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Geezer Butler (bass) and Vinnie Appice (drums) got together to record 3 new tracks for a compilation called The Dio Years, released in 2007. The band ended up performing under the name 'Heaven & Hell' (named after the 1980 Sabbath album of the same name, and Dio's first record with the band) instead of Black Sabbath. That year, they embarked on a tour which was very significant for me. 

Heaven & Hell (well, to me this is still Black Sabbath, but whatever...) playing Birmingham NEC in November of 2007 was the first proper gig I ever attended. I was 15 years old and me and my friend couldn't wait - Sabbath were my favourite band in the world, and are still probably in my top 3 to this day. Iced Earth, then with Tim 'Ripper' Owens on vocals, were the first band to play that night. Then it was Lamb of God, who were pretty damn heavy to me back then because I hadn't heard as much metal at that point. Then when H&H came on stage, I enjoyed a setlist of all the classics from Heaven and Hell (the album), Mob Rules, Dehumanizer and some of the new tracks from The Dio Years compilation. I don't have a picture-perfect memory of the show, but I remember Ronnie sounding good in his old age, and I remember standing there in eager anticipation when the lights dimmed a few minutes before the band hit the stage and the murky instrumental 'E5150' started playing.

Personal stories aside, the band did eventually record The Devil You Know, and it came out in 2009. Essentially, what you have is a continuation of the gloom and doom of 1992's  Dehumanizer. The Devil You Know certainly has more in common with said '92 release or Mob Rules than the fantasy themes and melodic elements of Heaven and Hell, and that's fine by me. Not that I have anything against Ronnie's lyrics or the music on the 1980 classic, but I always thought that it was a surprisingly 'bright' and elegant album when compared to anything else in Sabbath's discography. The Devil You Know is pure doom through-and-through.

This record features some absolutely amazing tracks and riffs - the first half of 'Rock and Roll Angel' is simply awesome with it's riffage and vocal arrangements. I think 'Atom and Evil' perfectly sets the tone too, and it crushes. 'Bible Black''s acoustic moments are surprisingly majestic at times, but when the song gets going, it's classic Dio-Sabbath. And 'Follow the Tears' chugs along in a menacing manner. In fact, ALL of these songs are great. The only issue is that there's little to differentiate them from one another. The only time the album's tempo picks up at any point is when 'Eating the Cannibals' kicks in - but this isn't until track 7 out of 10. 'Neverwhere' is sorta quick at times too, but this album is slow. Slow as fuck. 

I feel it's worth bringing this up because while Sabbath have always been associated with doom and gloom, even Dehumanizer and Mob Rules had faster, fist-pumping numbers like 'The Mob Rules', 'Turn Up the Night' and 'TV Crimes'. Casual metalheads probably won't enjoy The Devil You Know right away due to the lack of any variety or real distinctiveness to the songs. Despite this, the record has an awesome atmosphere and vibe that still gives it it's own vibe, even along side the past Dio-Sabbath releases. Even if the songs take a very long time to digest, this is still better than 90% of any metal you hear these days. Tony Iommi is obviously a riff god, and Ronnie James Dio still sounded very powerful even at this stage of his life. However, I'm struggling to give the album higher than an 8.5 simply because I never listen to it as much as any of the older Sabbath records with Dio on the mic. Still, I can't not recommend it. It's certainly better than the Ozzy reunion album, 13 (don't get me started on that one).
Adam's rating: 8.6/10

HEAVEN & HELL - NEON NIGHTS: LIVE AT WACKEN          2010          (Armoury Records)
This live CD is a celebration of everything Ronnie James Dio brought to Black Sabbath. I mean, any serious fan who's actually bothered listening to anything beyond the Ozzy-fronted records will tell you that the Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules and Dehumanizer albums are genuine classics. Even the 2009 Heaven & Hell effort, The Devil You Know is a very, very solid record. Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell is a recording of their 2009 headlining performance at Wacken Open Air in Germany - the biggest metal fest in the world - and features songs from all the albums I just mentioned. It's surprising just how good Dio still was live in 2009 before is tragic passing the following year from stomach cancer (RIP). I actually managed to see the band live for a second time a couple of weeks prior to this performance, at Sonisphere festival in Knebworth (bring that festival back! Download lineups really suck some years...). Anyway, standouts for me here are 'Children of the Sea', 'I', 'Falling Off the Edge of the World', 'Neon Knights' and the extended 'Heaven and Hell', but this whole set is performed brilliantly. The only real think that sucks is that 'Country Girl' is missing for some reason (it was on the DVD however). I remember buying tickets to see Dio's solo band a few months before his demise, but obviously the tour was cancelled and tickets were refunded. Gone, but certainly not forgotten - with albums like Rainbow's Rising and Long Live Rock n' Roll, Sabbath's Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules and even his own Holy Diver, Ronnie left a hell of a legacy in the world of metal music.
Adam's rating: 8.8/10

13          2013          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'Loner', 'Live Forever'

Hey, the unthinkable happened with this album! Ronnie James Dio passed away, Heaven & Hell disbanded and Ozzy and Geezer are back in! They even played reunion shows for a few years prior to 13's release! Actually, that's not all entirely true. This isn't a 100% reunion because Bill never returned to the kit (Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk steps in for the drums), but this is still the first (and only) Black Sabbath album since 1978's Never Say Die! with Ozzy at the mic! And truth be told it's....not that great. Let me elaborate...

On the surface of things, this is retro Sabbath. It sounds like a mixture of the debut, Paranoid and Vol. 4-era for the most part, so what the hell am I talking about when I say it's not that great?! There's something about 13 that just feels unnatural at times, like Tony was trying too hard to deliberately write songs akin to the early days, rather than write riffs that come from the heart. Opener 'End of the Beginning' is obviously supposed to sound like the band's self-titled song from the first record, right down to the slow, opening heavy chords to Ozzy's verses. Structurally and musically the song sits disturbingly close to the song 'Black Sabbath' - there's even an uptempo riff about halfway in. Then there's 'Zeitgeist', which is basically just 'Planet Caravan' part 2. So, it's a trippy, spaced-out psychedelic ballad complete with the same congas and timpani percussion (or whatever fuck drums they used to create that unique sound) and lyrics about flying through space. 'Dear Father', the album's closer even ends on that exact same thunderstorm and tolling bell you heard on the self-titled track from the debut. 'God Is Dead?' has a few dull riffs in it too, especially the heavy 2-3 chord part.

If you're muttering 'so what?' to everything I've just said so far, I won't be surprised. After all, how is replicating an iconic sound they trademarked a bad thing? Well, it isn't, in theory...but I personally do  have a problem with this because I feel Ozzy had been gone too long to make another studio record with Tony and co.. Because of the deliberate throwback sounds, Tony's riffs are, for the most part, nowhere near as inspired as the stuff he wrote on the 2009 Heaven & Hell record, The Devil You Know, nor are they as strong as what he did with his 90's/2000's solo work with Glenn Hughes. They just feel like rip-offs of classics a lot of the time. If Ozzy wasn't present and Tony just said 'fuck it, let's make another Sabbath record with a new singer', I honestly think it would feel more inspired while still sounding like Sabbath. But because Ozzy's back, and because much of Black Sabbath's so-called 'fanbase' aren't even aware of the post-Ozzy material with Dio/Ian Gillan/Tony Martin etc., they're only gonna be familiar with the first 8 records therefore, a new album has to sound like those. Let's add to the fact that Ozzy himself sounds much worse these days. I mean, he was never a great singer in the first place, but he was integral to those early records. Listen to the live album Reunion from 1997 however, and it's clear he can't pull off the majority of the setlist - and that show was recorded 15 years prior to 13!

My last real complaint is the fact they got the most overrated producer in the history of music to, er, produce it - Rick Rubin. His work on seminal classics such as Slayer's Reign in Blood, the first few Danzig albums and various hip-hop records from the 80's and 90's are great, but a lot of his newer credits piss me off. As usual, he cranks up the compression and loudness to the point where the bass is barely audible and the guitar sounds thin, just like how he screwed up Metallica's Death Magnetic. Granted, the songs are still doomy, but they could've sounded much richer, heavier and doomier had this been recorded differently. I honestly believe this is one of the worst sounding Black Sabbath albums. Given the retro approach to the songwriting, the actual production sounds anything but retro.

Thankfully there are a handful of decent songs on here. 'Live Forever' is solid, with some awesome rumbling riffage from Tony, 'Loner' is one of the best tracks out of any later-day recordings including Heaven & Hell and the Iommi solo albums, and 'Damaged Soul' is alright too with a slight bluesy tinge to the riffs. In fact, none of this album is really 'bad' as such (apart from the production), it just feels unnecessary to me. I totally understand them touring - who wouldn't want to catch them live one last time? But as far as making an album goes, it just didn't turn out as well as I thought it would (and this was easily my most anticipated album of 2013, maybe even the whole decade). 13 is listenable, and it's definitely Sabbath, but much of it is Sabbath trying desperately to replicate the past rather than actually focus on the quality of the songs. Yeah, I don't hate the album. It's not terrible, but it is quite possibly the most disappointing of all time for me personally. *sigh*

I feel if they were gonna make another album with Ozzy, they should have made one during the 1997 reunion - Ozzy still sounded terrible then of course, but those 2 studio tracks from the Reunion album were at least more creative than anything from here. Obviously by the time this album was recorded, Dio had passed away, so another record with him was out of the picture. A new album with Tony Martin would've been great, but all the casual so-called 'fans' would've just ignored it, just like they ignored everything from 1978-onward. Around 2011/2012, Tony Iommi recorded 2 new and frankly great songs with Ian Gillan, under the moniker WhoCares. I would've been happier with a whole record like this than a new album with Ozzy - at least Ian can still sing (plus the lineup for those songs also included the legendary Jon Lord on keyboards, Jason Newsted on bass and Nicko McBrain on drums). 
Adam's rating: 5.6/10


LIVE IN NEW JERSEY 1975          2018          (King Street)

This is a pretty well known bootleg live album in the Sabbath catalogue, from the looks of things. It's the band performing in Asbury Park, New Jersey for a broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour in '75, and if the sound quality had been touched up ever-so-slightly, this record could easily have been released as an official live album. The performances are fire. The band sound heavy and raw as fuck, especially on the opener 'Killing Yourself to Live' and the Sabotage numbers ('Hole in the Sky', 'Symptom of the Universe' and 'Megalomania'), Ozzy sounding particularly crazy. I do have a couple of minor complaints with my 2018 release from a label called King Street however. At the end of each track, instead of them seamlessly flowing together, there's a brief pause, which is off-putting. Also, after the introduction, why is the Budweiser advert an individual track?! Who sits down, sticks this album in their stereo and says "I'll just listen to track two, gotta love that Bud promo!"?! I can live with these niggles however, because I actually think this is a better live record than Live at Last, which is probably the most famous Sabbath live album from the original lineup. There's been multiple bootleg releases of this thing over the years, but in terms of packaging, the King Street version is very nicely and professionally presented across two CD's, in a digipak case. Essential for Sabbath fans.

Adam's rating: 9/10 

TONY MARTIN - THORNS          2022          (Dark Star Records)

- Standouts: 'As the World Burns', 'Black Widow Angel', 'Book of Shadows', 'Crying Wolf', 'Damned By You', 'Nowhere To Fly', 'Run With the Devil', 'This Is Your Damnation'

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this new album by Tony Martin. Since his departure from Black Sabbath, he's been involved in a lot of projects (all of which seem to be pretty highly-rated on Metal Archives), but I guess I just never really followed the guy beyond his Sabbath career. Not entirely sure why, because I consider him to be one of the most underrated vocalists in heavy metal history, and absolutely love the albums The Eternal Idol and Headless Cross. Still, I did eventually wind up picking up a copy of latest solo work, 2022's Thorns. Tony is also a multi-instrumentalist, adding guitar, bass and even violin parts to this album. But he also has a band of his own going on here, including Venom drummer Danny Needham, ex-Hammerfall bassist Magnus Rosen and guitarists Scott McClellan and Dario Mollo, the latter a frequent collaborator with Tony.

The opening number, 'As the World Burns' is absolutely phenomenal. Now THIS is how doom metal should be!! We're still in 2022 as I write this review, and 'As the World Burns' is hands-down the best song I've heard this year. It's riffs are crushingly heavy in an extremely Iommi-esque manner, and Tony's vocal performance and the way he arranges them is spectacular. What a fucking great way to begin this record!!

You only have to hear the second track, 'Black Widow Angel', to realise that Tony was clearly going for a sound that resembles his work with Black Sabbath. This is another top-notch old-school doom metaller complete with an awesome bass solo. 'Book of Shadows' has a very gothic texture, and this largely due to the choir-like vocal arrangements, but they only work in the songs favour. They give this song an epic kind of mystique, plus, there's a keyboard solo on this one too. Anyone that knows me and my musical tastes knows that I love a good keyboard/organ solo, probably a subconscious thing due to my unhealthy obsession with Deep Purple! 'Crying Wolf' again mixes things up, and is an acoustic-driven rock song with another outstanding vocal performance from Martin.

The riffing on 'Damned By You' is about as Black Sabbath as it gets from a band that isn't Black Sabbath (save for the cult doom band Iron Man that is)! Those riffs sound like they've been pulled directly from anything Tony Iommi was writing in the 80's or 90's with Sabbath, and that's only a good thing. Interestingly, there's a violin that accompanies the riffs twice throughout the song, and it adds another layer of melody to the music. 'No Shame At All' is a nice and straightforward, compact slab of dirgy metal. In fact, the main riff on this one has a stoner rock vibe about it. 'Nowhere To Fly' though, is pure Sabbath doom worship. Slow, heavy, sludgy, but with Tony singing on it, it has a fine sense of melody too.

There's another solid slice of true heavy metal with 'Passion Killer'. This one isn't quite as memorable as the bulk of the other songs, but it's still decent enough. Certainly heavy enough too. 'Run Like the Devil' on the other hand, is one of the faster tracks here, more inline with Sabbath tracks such as 'I Witness' or 'Time Machine'. It's great, naturally. Tony mixes things up with the surprisingly bluesy/Americana-like acoustic ditty, 'This Is Your Damnation'. Strangely enough, it actually breaks up the album rather well, and is the closest thing to a 'fun' track on the record. I enjoy it. Maybe this song is a throwback to Martin's first solo effort, 1992's Back Where I Belong? I don't actually own a copy of that album, but I remember listening to it on YouTube many years ago and it had more of a hard rock/AOR style going for it. Back to Thorns, the title track is the final song and a fine ballad at that. Pamela Moore duets on it, and adds more emotion to the music.

If Tony Martin was still in Black Sabbath today, I honestly think there's a chance it could quite easily sound like Thorns. Along with Tony Iommi's Fused record from 2005, I'm happy to say that Tony Martin has dropped another 'Black Sabbath in all but name' kind of album with Thorns. Unlike anything Ozzy's been doing for the last twenty-or-so years, Mr. Martin is the real deal. So if you are a Black Sabbath fan, before you go out and buy Ozzy's new album (Patient Number 9) with it's endless guest slots and most likely fake enhanced vocals, go and buy a copy of Thorns first. You won't regret it.

Adam's rating: 8.9/10