| Black Sabbath | review #2 | 1970 |
| Paranoid | review #2 | review #3 | 1970 |
| Master Of Reality | review #2 | 1971 |
| Black Sabbath Volume 4 | review #2 | 1972 |
| Sabbath Bloody Sabbath | review #2 | 1973 |
| Sabotage | review #2 | 1975 |
| We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll (compilation) | 1976 |
| Technical Ecstasy | 1976 |
| Never Say Die! | review #2 | 1978 |
| Live At Last | 1980 |
| Heaven And Hell | review #2 | 1980 |
| Mob Rules | 1981 |
| Live Evil | 1982 |
| Born Again | 1983 |
| Seventh Star | 1986 |
| The Eternal Idol | 1987 |
| Headless Cross | 1989 |
| Tyr | 1990 |
| Dehumanizer | 1992 |
| Cross Purposes | 1994 |
| Forbidden | 1995 |
| Reunion (live) | 1998 |
Black Sabbath, in my opinion and of almost every other critic and huge metal fan, were the band that had the largest impact on the history of heavy metal as we know it. They originally started out as a more bluesier band called Earth but then began using more distortion and volume into their sound, as well as a lower guitar tuning which made the music sound dark and uncompromising. There were other bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Who that existed before them that also had a somewhat heavy sound, but their style was more blues or pop-oriented (although still very influential to metal's development), while Sabbath were the true innovators of this dark, heavy, evil-sounding and mysterious atmosphere in hard rock.
Their lineup included Ozzy Osbourne, a vocalist who wasn't great technically, but certainly had enough dreary power in his voice to perfectly match the songs (not to mention that curious technique of him singing along with the guitar melody), while Tony Iommi came up with a great deal of the most brutal riffs in metal's history, and also played blazing and fiery solos. Geezer Butler had a great bottom-ended bass sound, and was also in charge of most of Sabbath's lyrics (which sometimes approached trite, horror-movie nonsense but were still pretty convincing), and Bill Ward was probably one of the better metal drummers out there, incorporating challenging drum fills into his work and an often ferocious style.
Critics have usually ripped apart this band (especially in their early days), but now recognize the album generally regarded as their finest hour, Paranoid, is a rock classic (something myself and Casey Brennan confirm). The band got even heavier with Master Of Reality before attempting to expand their sound in the next few albums Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and Sabotage. Their creativity ran a bit dry after Ozzy's departure, though, but their momentum did return briefly for the Ronnie James Dio-fronted comeback albums Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules. Unfortunately, though, they continued releasing subpar albums through the 80s and 90s (featuring various frontmen including, interestingly enough, Ian Gillan, who was formerly in Sabbath's rival band in the 70's, Deep Purple). Even if the later stages of their career has tarnished their reputation just a tad, their legacy as metal's forefathers will undoubtedly live on.
--Nick Karn
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Black Sabbath, Wasp/Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B., The Wizard. LOW POINTS: A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning.
There's always been this ongoing debate among music fans over the origins of metal's history. While I don't think there's any question that Led Zeppelin's debut released the previous year defined this style in terms of heaviness and overall bludgeoning, epic power in the overall sound, this album really marked the beginnings of the really dark, evil, and mysterious elements in the genre - I'm not sure if there's a death, doom, black or thrash metal band out there that doesn't owe at least something to these classic period Sabbath records. The heavy, downtuned, riff-oriented guitar crunch, 'satanic' lyrics, multi-part arrangements, indulgent soloing, and general ass kicking power, the stuff classic metal is made of. Though there are a couple of things, besides the innovative aspect of it, that distinguish this one from further Sabbath albums - in places, this seems to tread more toward a heavy 'blues' style than hard rock (much like Zeppelin) and Ozzy Osbourne's vocals seem to be in a lower register than he'd ever approach again.
So it's basically the most revolutionary album metal has ever given us, but the question is, does it live up to its' originality and influence? Well, for the most part it does, particularly on side one, which just has to be the most brilliant half of music the band ever did. And I'm really not sure that there's a more appropriate career starter in all of rock history than their signature title track. Beginning with the sound of a rainstorm, its' built on a main riff that is simply the most epochal here - slow-grinding, doomy, and majestic. There are several totally unforgettable moments here to go along with that riff, such as the 'what is this that stands before me?' opening melody and Ozzy's cries of 'oh no! no!' right before The Riff's reappearance, the great fast second portion of the song where Tony Iommi's playing what is thought to be the 'devil's interval', and the way it comes to a halt afterwards is mindblowing stuff.
Granted, this is the best (and most defining) track on the whole album, but the side has a couple other goodies here as well. "The Wizard" may have absolutely ridiculous and dated lyrics that probably inspired countless metal bands to come later, but forget about those - musically, this is a highly convincing heavy blues tune (complete with harmonica) well worthy of Zeppelin and early Jethro Tull, with excellent start-stop riffing and a powerful energy you just can't find on many late 60's-early 70's records. And to end the whole side comes a sort of four part suite in which several sections get connected together, including another simply fantastic riff-fest 'Behind The Wall Of Sleep' (great menacing atmosphere, and neat echoey vocals throughout) and an interesting little bass solo from Geezer Butler called 'Bassically' to allow the listener to catch their breath for awhile, before...
Dun dun dun dun, da dun... dun dun dun dun... OH YEAH! Alright, it's pretty darn hard to give an accurate picture of a great riff over the computer screen, but take my word for it... 'N.I.B.' really has one of the greatest ones in the Sabbath catalog. You'll probably know it when you hear it, too, and it's also one of the most famous instances of Ozzy's following it exactly with his vocal melody. Along with that great counterpoint refrain ('your love for me has gotttt to be reaaal...') it contributes to making virtually this whole suite into a classic. And side two starts off on a good note, too. "Wicked World" is a bit weaker than the songs on side one, but still has that 'evil' atmosphere about it, and while Iommi does seem to steal the riff from The Doors' "Wild Child" for the verses, he also manages to take the song into darker, much more epic territory than that band could there, and that really cool portion where he plays this haunting barrage of guitar notes afterwards creates a spooky effect. It's good!
In fact, these 4 tracks are so good, that were the album composed of only these 25 minutes or so, I would easily give it a high 9 or maybe even a 10, but unfortunately, it ends with another lengthy suite (over 14 minutes) in the form of "A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning", and well, it ain't all that good. It's hardly awful as a whole, and it does have its' moments, like the haunting opening acoustic part, and when the band again enters heavy blues mode in a few of the sung parts, but overall, it's really difficult for me to remember how a lot of the suite goes, and Iommi's soloing throughout, as technically impressive as a lot of it may be in its' improvisatory glory, really wears on me over the course of this piece's running time. Needless to say, it knocks the rating of the album down a bit, but regardless of this excess at the end, Black Sabbath is still an absolute must for any metal collection due to its' more immortal tracks, even if the next one is somewhat more consistent.
This was released almost a full year after Led Zeppelin's first album, which was very innovative in terms of scope and sound. Black Sabbath's first album introduced doom, the occult, and mysticism in their lyrics along with a much heavier, although not more energetic sound, than in what came before it. Somewhat innovative, it is an excellent album that is very blues-oriented; containing many guitar solos and heavy riffs in its five tracks.
"Black Sabbath" opens up the album with a rainstorm and in comes the first haunting chords which truly is the perfect way to open up the band's dark career. The song is very dark, with Ozzy's voice adding depth to it; four and a half minutes into it, fast guitar riffs propel it into an exciting ending. "The Wizard" is almost as good, which starts off with a harmonica before going into a heavy classic blues riff that grabs your attention. The next song has four parts to it; "Wasp", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep", "Basically", and "N.I.B." This is the major highlight of the album because it contains memorable riffs and soloing that form it into an epic of great status; the most known part on here is "N.I.B." which is catchy.
The last two songs on here are "Wicked World" which is good, and the 14 minute, 3 part song, "A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning" which keeps your attention for awhile but some of the soloing is tedious and too long. That's 'basically' the only weak spot on this venture into Sabbath's world.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Electric Funeral, Iron Man, War Pigs, Paranoid, Hand Of Doom, Fairies Wear Boots. LOW POINTS: Rat Salad.
While the band's debut might have certainly been a more revolutionary album, their sophomore effort released the same year was undoubtedly where the Sabbath sound really reached their potential. Throughout, the classic riffs are complemented by often incredible, thrilling epic arrangements, and the material has such a great consistency that it almost resembles a greatest hits album, with only a couple very minor stumbles that keep it from being even more immaculate than it already is. For some reason, a lot of people also call this album very overrated, and I can sort of understand why. True, the comic atmosphere created by the lyrics can seem laughably dated at times, not to mention the way Ozzy sings them. But I'll be damned if this isn't the absolute pinnacle of the cartoonish aspects of metal, or one of the best, most breathtaking albums ever created by the genre. Seriously, this is some fantastic stuff.
The opening, nearly 8 minute epic "War Pigs" is one great example of this. It might be just slightly sluggish (which is why I probably prefer the faster Faith No More cover of it), but the overall mood perfectly embodies the album's sound (and it's what the album was supposed to be called, but the record company wouldn't allow it - whatever). The foreboding intro (with sirens in the background) leads into a really simple, but bludgeoning main riff that sets the tone for the rest of the tune. Sure, these verses are really silly (with the 'political commentary' of the lyrics to go along with the infamous rhyming of 'masses' with 'masses'), but they're catchy, and their sheer power, along with the fantastic instrumental breaks and breathtaking guitar soloing within them, really make the song an utter classic. And you've gotta love that sped up ending!
Another lengthy excess in brilliant riff-driven stupidity would be the side closing "Iron Man", a song that's entertaining beyond words in spite of itself. The drum tapping intro, the dumb mechanical chanting of 'I AM IRON MAN!!!', the exceptional main riff to start off the song, the obvious but incredibly entertaining 'same melody as the riff' verse to go along with the stupid lyrics (I particularly get a kick out of the 'fills his victims full of bread' line), more astonishing guitar solos and exceptional playing from the rhythm sections - it all manages to rule mercilessly. And the way it's followed by the nuclear war anthem "Electric Funeral" - pure bliss. Man, I just love that song to death. The main riff is about as poisonous as the lyrical matter (which is still very comic) and Ozzy still sings along with it, which makes it cool enough. But the middle section of the song - the awesome dynamic fast riff change - is what really makes it kick, with the echoey vocal tone and the 'Electric funeral! Electric funeral!' chant, plus the way the song eventually returns back to the main riff is a thrill. Simply brilliant in all its' nonsense.
Two other 'epics' come in the form of another apocalyptic, very bass-driven tune ("Hand Of Doom") and the ode to dementia that is the closing "Fairies Wear Boots". Neither of them are as great as the highlights, but both have the same tendency for epic structure and overwhelming sillyness. The former's slow bass groove and very creepy drug-influenced subject matter makes for an ominous build to the heavier portions of the tune (with a somewhat strange vocal approach), and it has another very, very thrilling guitar break, so you can't go wrong with it at all. The latter, meanwhile, has an astounding bluesy intro and truly gripping main riff that sets up a fun little groove for Ozzy to sing about how 'fairies wear boots, and you've got to believe me' and other sort of hallucinatory things. The fast guitar in the outro also rules (and was even partially ripped off by Metallica on their best song, "For Whom The Bell Tolls", in fact).
As for the three shorter numbers here, the title track can at least count as a definite classic, and the one number that consistently made it to Ozzy's live sets as a solo artist (featuring a defining guitar solo by Randy Rhoads on his Tribute album). The band actually intended this tune as just a 'filler' of space, but it actually turns out to be a very exciting fast rocker with maybe the catchiest melody on the whole album, with a great thrashing riff to boot. Fantastic drumming by Bill Ward as well. Then there's "Planet Caravan", which may be a little bit of a letdown, since it's considerably slower and lighter than the other tracks, with not much of a vocal melody, but still, the main repetitive bassline and 'bong water' effect on the vocals produces a captivating effect and a neat atmosphere to boot, so I certainly can't knock it.
The only other moment that keeps me from adding a plus to the rating of this album is the instrumental "Rat Salad". Thankfully, it's only two and a half minutes long, and it does work as a breather between "Hand Of Doom" and "Fairies Wear Boots", but the main riff here just isn't as exciting as the other songs (though decent) and they had to ruin it by going into a professionally played, but ultimately flow disrupting and kind of pointless, drum solo (why were these things such a trend in the late 60's - early 70's?). That song and "Planet Caravan" are the only two that I just can't rate too highly, however - the other six tracks are absolutely mindblowing material that make it by far the band's best album, and easily one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Get it to hear the fathers of this style in action!
While their first album was very bluesy and had lots of self-indulgent guitar, Paranoid is much more powerful and louder. Half of the songs are epics in themselves, full of many strong and changing guitar riffs with compact guitar solos. "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Electric Funeral", "Hand Of Doom", and "Fairies Wear Boots" are the major highlights on here that fit into that category because of their great sense of dynamics. In fact this is easily their best album because they never made as many memorable heavy metal classics like they do on here.
The shorter songs are excellent too, with the exception of "Planet Caravan" which is a very soft song with almost no melody. It pales in comparison to the others and sounds out of place, but it hardly makes a dent on the overall album because the other tracks are monumental. Besides that little flaw the other short songs are "Paranoid", which was a hit and has a great pulsating fast riff (though a cool song, the longer ones even knock this one over), and also "Rat Salad" which is a great little interlude between "Hand Of Doom" and "Fairies Wear Boots". It's the instrumental on the album with great guitar dabbling and a short drum solo that doesn't get boring.
Anyway, out of the epic tracks, "Iron Man" is the most known with with it's distinctive beginning; a light drumtap is played and then all of a sudden the great guitar tone comes. "War Pigs" and "Hand Of Doom" come charging at you like a thousand bullets because they contain such strong compact playing that gives you chills up your spine. Most of the album does that though. The other two, "Electric Funeral" (the middle section being the high point) and "Fairies Wear Boots" (with its phenomenal bluesy intro) are classics too. On later albums Black Sabbath wouldn't display as many riff changes within each song like they do here, and if they did it usually wouldn't be as powerful. Still, Black Sabbath were at their prime, and were going to make several more albums in a row that are good.
Well, well, well.....a Black Sabbath album that's not satanic? Of course! If you notice, they never were satanic whilst Ozzy was in the band; it was Dio who really brought that stuff in. You see, I have no problem with a band talking about evil; I've have a problem with a band glorifying it. The Sabs with Ozzy just didn't do that. Evil people always get their come-uppance in the end; God is a righteous and holy God to them; Satan is utterly evil; sinners are still wicked and evil. They don't promote the ocult; they condemn it. At least, they do so at this stage. OK, with the religious opining finished, I suppose I can get down with business! GET DOWN GET DOWN GET DOWN GET DOWN GET DOWN TONIGHT....oopsies, wrong review. Whoa, just had a feeling of deja-vous there.....creepy. Anyways. I don't really like doing reviews that say the same as the rest, but it cannot be denied. Paranoid is a heckuva metal record. I mean, how could you NOT rate the album that gives us War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, and Hand of Doom as a 10?
This is not to put down the other ditties. I quite like Planet Caravan; its a very pleasantly surprising ballad with some (believe it or not) jazzy soloing by Iommi. Now, the whole weird distorted vocals thing hasn't aged TOO well, but really it perfectly suits the atmosphere of cosmic....stuff that the band was looking for. Meanwhile, Electric Funeral's fuzzy riff really sounds apocalyptic, which certainly matches the lyrics. I like the song OK, but it makes me wanna jump into a bathtub with a plugged in toaster.....can you say morbid tone overkill? Fairies Wear Boots certainly passes the Kevin Baker Test Of Riff-worthiness as well, and shoot, even Rat Salad doesn't bother me at all. They kept the drum solo short, which makes me happy. Very happy. So friggin happy that not EVEN Electric Funeral can get me down!
But what about the classics, you say? THEY'RE FRIGGIN' CLASSIC, WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT YOU NAGGING LITTLE....sorry. Got a wee bit carried away there. My personal favorite is War Pigs....it was actually the first song by Black Sabbath I heard. Ooh....that kinda draggy intro, that instant kick-in-the-pants first blow of the main riff, the outro.......all of it rules. One of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time. Of course, that same epitaph can be extended to Iron Man as well. If you haven't heard that riff, you've been under a very sissyish rock all your life. A pansy rock? Sounds like a garden decoration or Barry Manilow. But at any rate, Iron Man kicks some major gluteus maximus...except for the words which absolutely blow. I could also live with a melody that doesn't follow the riff completely, but we can't always get what we want, can we?
Meanwhile, Hand Of Doom is a real creepfest anti-heroin song. The bass on this absolutely rules....well, so do the guitars and even Ozzy turns in a better than normal performance. Of course, the title track is a speedy wonder that needs no introduction....great song. Now, what kind of review by Kevin Baker would this be without some malarky about imagery? Not one at all, I say, and since this is my friggin' review, I'll say what I please thank you very much! Gloomy. VERY gloomy, especially Electric Funeral. Nobody has ever more accurately captured nuclear holocaust in music so well. The whole dang song sounds like a closing scene to a film about atomic war. Meanwhile, Planet Caravan really does give me this image of a, well, caravan of spaceships leaving the earth? Maybe fleeing the ensuing atomic destruction? Did the War Pigs cause this? Is the guy in Hand Of Doom seeking escape because of the dismal state of human affairs just as the beginnings of a nuclear winter set in? All interesting notions. Also all friggin' depressing thoughts. Like my lovelife.....talk about Electric Funeral being a downer....
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I have had this album for quite a while, but i just cannot get into it, so no full review from me. I'd like to say that Iommi has one of the most incredibly thick guitar tones ever (obvious observation #1) and a nice gift of melody. The other blokes aren't bad either. Bill Ward and Geezer Butler are a very decent drummer and bassist. Ward has some very nice fills, particularly on the phenomenal "War Pigs" which also features some excellent bass playing by Geezer. Despite the fact that Iommi's solos don't sound very complicated, his tone and feel more than make up for it. "Iron Man" "Electric Funeral" and "Planet Caravan" are all very good, but Pantera did "Caravan" better on Far Beyond Driven. That last comment may extract some cries of "Heretic!!" but i'm just telling it like it is. I've never liked Ozzy's voice and never will, but thanks to the excellent songwriting on parts of this release, he does not seem quite as annoying. I'd give it a 7. Bear in mind I've never got into Sabbath or this album in particular.
(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: After Forever, Children Of The Grave, Into The Void, Sweet Leaf. LOW POINTS: None.
Now this is one strange album. Apparently, Tony Iommi really set his playing to overdrive here, as the overall Sabbath sound is even heavier than Paranoid, a pummeling crunch so intense that many consider this one of the heaviest albums ever made, and even after hearing way too many metal albums in my life than I should have, I simply can't disagree with this at all. The lyrics, though, unlike the cartoonish darkness of the last album that undoubtedly inspired countless bands (some great, some not so great), are in a much more Christian vein. I don't know whether or not Geezer might have been going through some spiritual inspiration or anything, but what I do know is that this makes for a strange and very interesting contrast to the album itself. Many fans, probably due to its' heavyness, consider it the best Sabbath album ever, and that's reasonable. For me, though, there aren't quite as many powerful moments as Paranoid, and it's a little too short at 34 minutes, which leaves me wanting a bit more.
But still, there are quite a few riff heavy monsters here that make me bow down in the temple of Iommi. The great pot anthem "Sweet Leaf" in particular is quintessential in opening the album - beginning with a really loud coughing noise, it has a fabulous eight-note riff and great fast guitar solo in the middle to add to his Hall of Fame, plus another entertainingly obvious melody. "After Forever", though, is even better, and I can't figure out why it usually doesn't get as much praise as the other classics - the lyrics might be at their most obviously Christian, but the main riff is absolutely fantastic, and the bass line backing it is equally effective. Plus, the verse riff and melody is easily the catchiest portion of the whole album, and it also has a completely breathtaking bridge, so with all these great strong points, it gets my vote for best song here.
The most influential song of the lot, though, has to be the extremely intense closer "Into The Void", a very riff-heavy and brutal tune that really brings to mind a rocket ship spiraling in a black hole. Not only that, though, but it seems to me that this song is one of the most major influences on the grunge movement in the late 90's that occured way before it happened (like Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and King Crimson's Red). Great epic track on the whole. "Children Of The Grave" might be more boneheaded, with a really simplistic groove based riff, but it really really brings out the addictive power of the whole Master Of Reality sound, dark and monstrous, lyrically intriguing with its' rebellion themes, and the spoken outro is truly a haunting conclusion to the song - it rules.
The rest of the album is certainly not quite as worthy as those four, but I'd still be hard pressed to really name a single point where it sags that much. Two of these tracks are short instrumentals that exist only as a lead-in to the following track. The 30 second "Embryo" and "Orchid" are both nice preludes to their respective tracks (with versatile, and quite depressed sounding, acoustic playing from Iommi), "Children Of The Grave" and the hard-hitting "Lord Of This World", which has a great lead riff and an addictive midtempo groove, and that leads into a very aggressive, pounding chorus where Ozzy really belts it out.
Finally, rounding out the album we have the mandatory 'ballad' "Solitude", where Ozzy takes another weird vocal approach like on "Planet Caravan", and it's similar in style to that song. It's better, though, as it goes for an interesting, dreary approach that does a really effective job of conveying hopeless 'solitude', for lack of a better word, and it's quite unlike the rest of the album. The melody is striking enough, the guitar breaks are effective, and there's even nice flute playing. A good tune. Very excellent album, too. Maybe it doesn't have the overall depth and 'stupid' charm that Paranoid had, but it's equally as defining an album for the band as anything else they did, and it's surely one of the best albums of their career.
An even heavier album than Paranoid with plenty of powerful songs on here. Surprisingly, the songs are about Christianity and how you should love God, even when the music is at it's most brutal. "After Forever" is one of those songs; it is probably the heaviest of the whole lot, with it's pounding fast riff. It comes to a climax in the middle part when Ozzy sings, 'Is your mind so small..', so it's arguably the best song on here, and maybe the most memorable and hard-hitting of their whole career.
Most of the other songs are great too, like "Lord Of This World" which struts along on an awesome midtempo groove before giving away to some tasty guitar solos. "Into The Void" (with it's speedy monumental riff), "Sweet Leaf", and "Children Of The Grave" are other major songs on here too. That leaves us with three other songs, two of them being instrumentals; the first one is "Embryo", which serves it's purpose and is a great interlude to "Children Of The Grave", and "Orchid", a not half-bad acoustic song stuck in the middle of the album. "Solitude" is another slow and soft song in the mode of "Planet Caravan"; while it's an improvement on it, it still would be better left off the album. It's for the most part repetitive and boring. The rest is highly impressive though, it shows Black Sabbath at the height of their heaviness, being heavier than anything at the time.
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COMMENTS
MASTER OF REALITY is clearly Sabbath's best album. Every song is carefully constructed to set the feeling of destruction, despair and darkness...with just enough hope to keep you listening closely, closely. This beats the overrated PARANOID by a long shot.
Listen closely! Better yet, if you have the record, the lyrics are printed on the back cover...just read along with OZZ! ...Oh...and you might learn something along the way...
(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Supernaut, Under The Sun, Snowblind. LOW POINTS: Cornucopia, St. Vitus' Dance.
Contrary to some, like Mark Prindle, for one, I don't really see how this album could be considered a classic. To me, it just sounds like many of the characteristics of the band displayed so well on the previous albums really aren't as prominent. There seems to be quite a lack of real memorable riffs and melodies here, the overall guitar sound is a bit sludgier than before, which detracts from the power of what Tony Iommi's playing as well. There are also even more ventures into bluesier (and even mellower at times) territory than usual, and this does work to the album's advantage, but for some reason, several of these songs just aren't that striking. Maybe it's just that I miss that epic, really riff-heavy and dynamic feeling from before, but let's put it this way: Sabbath was 'going through changes', and not all of them were too special. But this album's actually somewhat consistent, with no real awful tracks, but not much to really love either.
For instance, the well-known piano ballad "Changes", while certainly an enduring song in Sabbath's history, is a bit overrated - the lyrics are so obviously trite and weak that it threatens to overshadow an otherwise quite melodically beautiful song, with the Mellotron in the background and all. And the 8 minute epic opener "Wheels Of Confusion" does pull off the bluesier side of the album effectively, but I don't know - it just doesn't seem that thrilling or memorable, even though it's convincingly 'dark' while it's on and has occasional exciting moments. Other tracks like "Tomorrow's Dream" and "St. Vitus' Dance" are probably good examples of a more 'ordinary' approach to the band's sound - decent riffs, but they just kind of trudge along at a boring tempo and never really get going.
Fortunately, there are a few songs on here that boost up the rating quite a bit from an otherwise fairly boring and routine album. The lone absolute classic is the side closing "Supernaut", mostly because the riff for this one is truly one of Tony Iommi's shining moments - it's aggressive and totally exciting, and the rhythm section is really tight. Plus, it's one of the more enjoyable instances of Ozzy singing with the melody that he's so famous for. The acoustic instrumental "Laguna Sunrise" is also one of Iommi's best efforts in that area - the main melody and atmosphere he gets for this piece is really quite beautiful and melancholic all at once, and it's a wonderful diversion from the rest of the material.
Elsewhere, the plodding feel of the chorus in "Snowblind" (guess what this one's about) actually works really well within the context of the song, with the slooooooooower refrain creating quite a dark and haunting vibe that suits both Ozzy's vocals and the overall sound of the album well. The closing "Under The Sun" also ends the album on a great note, with a thrilling two-part arrangement that has both the instrumental precision of the band and the overall convincing heavyness of before, and I dig the manner in which it breaks away towards the end. As for the remaining two tracks, "Cornucopia" pretty much completely escapes me, and "FX" is a somewhat pointless, though short, sound effects piece, so no essays on those. This is a bit of a disappointing album in all, despite a few really strong songs. Still good, but it seems to me Sabbath is beginning to sound uninspired here (not a rare theme throughout the later career), plus the production style is a bit distracting.
What happened to the "powerful and heavy" sound on their previous two albums? Well, it didn't totally go away, but Black Sabbath Volume 4 does have a more sludgy and boogie sound to it. In some ways it's a diverse album because it has a piano song, "Changes", a short sound effects piece "FX", and a nice acoustic instrumental "Laguna Sunrise". Elsewhere it's usual Sabbath territory like "Tomorrow's Dream" and "St. Vitus' Dance". The songs themselves aren't as memorable as before, but they still sound good; interestingly, the riffs, fast as they can be, always seem to trudge along at a slow grinding speed. This actually sometimes adds a special quality to songs like "Under The Sun" and "Snowblind". Other good songs on here are "Supernaut" (the fastest song on here) and the previously mentioned "St. Vitus' Dance". Although not as good as their last two albums and no immediate stand out songs, it's a pretty consistent record with hardly a weak spot.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Spiral Architect, Looking For Today. LOW POINTS: Killing Yourself To Live.
I guess right around that time, Sabbath realized that their formula wasn't going to get them much further creatively, so they decided to experiment a bit more with the sound (i.e. add a bit of synthesizer here and there, emphasize more pop-oriented melodies, continue on the hard boogie the last album had) that was really only hinted at before. Although the end result is certainly recognizable as Sabbath (since both the aggressive Iommi riffs and that vocal style are unmistakable), this effort is something of a departure from the previous ones. For one thing, it's a lighter album than before due in no small part to the poppier influences here and the embellishments throughout. Of course, a few people might say a lot of the deviations from the sound are failures, but that's where I disagree - I'm not exactly sure what's so bad about the experimentation here, and a lot of these melodies are quite memorable to boot. If anything, it seems to me a creative revitalization after the last album.
Plus, it kicks off with what I think is easily one of the five best songs they ever did in the totally phenomenal title track. It would certainly earn its' place of greatness if only for that riff that starts it off (another one of Iommi's best), but what really puts it over the top is the musical dynamics of it - the way it switches to a somewhat lighter and moodier, pop-oriented chorus is a fascinating contrast, plus the extremely catchy main melody and the heavier countermelody ('Sabbath bloody Sabbath... nothing more to do...') really contribute to the total addictiveness of the song. "A National Acrobat", while having a very similar main riff to it, also has quite a haunting edge in its' pummeling intensity, top-notch vocal melody, pro-life oriented lyrics and nice guitar solo at the end. "Sabbra Cadabra", meanwhile, slightly recalls the sludgier sound of Volume 4 to good effect, as its' entertaining, fast boogie riff and appropriate melody is especially helped by a moody synth/vocal effect portion ('lovely laaaaaaady...').
For the most part, the remainder of the songs here mostly rely on stylistics that are a bit different from what's typically expected of the band. "Who Are You?" is also one of those instances where the synths are employed, and although the atmosphere of them might be a little ugly, I can't deny how effectively grim and haunting they work in plodding together with the vocal melody. Elsewhere, "Fluff" continues in the "Laguna Sunrise" acoustic instrumental vein, and while it's not as good as its' predecessor (it repeats itself a little too much over the course of 4 minutes), the depressing, yet hopeful, atmosphere creates a captivating mood that will probably stick with you. And besides the title track's chorus, there's also a very pop-flavored moment in the near classic "Looking For Today", in which another great main riff is answered with an equally infectious hook that personally reminds me a lot of the more successful Ozzy solo songs (I also love the echoey and majestic production they get right before the chorus)
Not all is that wonderful on the album, though - there's one attempt at a somewhat progressive arrangement in "Killing Yourself To Live", and unfortunately, it doesn't work too well, as very few of the multiple melodies and riffs it features are that memorable or exciting. But thankfully, the closer "Spiral Architect" is pretty exciting - maybe skeptics could see Sabbath collapsing under their own weight with the addition of an orchestra, but here's an idea that really works, since the actual song has a really gripping melody and despairing atmosphere that's only enhanced by the orchestral backing. It really has an epic feeling that almost seems to foreshadow the next album's style, too, and it's easily one of the crowning achievements here. As for the album itself, it may not exactly be a tour-de-force for the band, but it's surely one of their more interesting and musically solid efforts, and remember, the title track is essential listening!
This album sounds more light and airy compared to the dark and heavy doom-laden sound they had on previous releases. I'm not saying that it doesn't rock as hard; it's just that the guitars don't have that sludgy and fuzzy sound that was so much a part of Black Sabbath Volume 4. This is a little bit better than that album though as there are some great songs on here. Some of the songs are actually quite melodic. Synthesizers add a decent touch to this album, and they are used just slightly, except for the one song on here, "Who Are You?", which uses synthesizers for the main melody (quite a haunting song).
Some of the great songs on here are the title track, "Killing Yourself To Live", "Looking For Today", and "A National Acrobat". "A National Acrobat" is one of the best; it starts off with a midtempo riff that uses up the first four minutes of the song, and then it goes into a really awesome guitar solo that is done in fine 70's style. There's an instrumental on here too (like the past few albums) and it is called "Fluff". Basically the title of the song describes what it sounds like; it's a light acoustic song that is nice although doesn't really do anything.
Most of the songs are pretty good on here and are uplifting in some way; especially the closer "Spiral Architect" which has a nice melody and an orchestra in it. Most of the songs though still have those great Sabbath riffs in them. Ozzy and the band just wanted to go for a change; which was indeed a good thing to do after the tired sounding Volume 4 album.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Megalomania, Symptom Of The Universe, Am I Going Insane (Radio). LOW POINTS: None.
If Sabbath Bloody Sabbath showed the band branching out a little further into experimental territory, its' followup could possibly be called their venture into 'art rock' territory. Not that it's really all that much like a typical 'prog metal' album, as the songs aren't really that complex and in several parts not even that heavy, but what really strikes about this album is the overall sound it creates. Simply put, almost everything about Sabotage is pretty epic and grandiose, with a really unsettling Sabbath twist which makes it almost sound like this stuff came out of another dimension. Truly moody and depressing stuff it is, a vibe that sounds pretty natural for these guys. In a way, I guess it could be looked at as a huge influence for the artsier side of metal, though - at least in terms of arrangements and the way they bands merges multi-part structures together with grim subject matter. Plus one of these songs is really groundbreaking for the genre...
What song would that be? Arguably the first widely known thrash metal song, of course, in "Symptom Of The Universe"! Well, okay, it doesn't really have as much punkish speed as some stuff that would come later, like Slayer and Metallica or anything, but just the way the doom-laden riff starts the song on a fast grind is something that didn't really have any sort of analogy in hard rock and metal history previously. Plus the vocal delivery and Bill Ward's drum bashing at the end of each verse just really sounds intense, and somehow, even the weird acoustic groove at the end doesn't sound out of place. Not that its' predecessors, the pummeling hard rock of "Hole In The Sky" (whose riff really sounds crunchy and hellish, and there's something really majestic about how Ozzy yells out the title in the chorus) or the unsettling acoustic interlude "Don't Start (Too Late)" aren't worthwhile, too.
The true tour-de-force of the album, however, would be the huge epic that closes the first side, one of Sabbath's best single compositions ever in "Megalomania". The dynamics of this one are just genius, especially in how the first half starting off with these chilling vocal echoes (i.e. the repeating 'obsessed, obsessed, obsessed....') interplaying with a haunting guitar part that eventually lead into the first line of each verse and the way the song changes about 3 minutes in to this riff monster that sounds perfect for listening down a dark road (this one honestly gave me chills experiencing it that way, and still does even in the daytime!). Ozzy's incredible vocal energy sounds perfect for carrying the main melody here, especially at that hard-hitting counterpart portion ('well alright!'), and I especially love the 'sting me!' yell at one point right before Iommi's about to break into that riff again. And what's up with those apocalyptic, almost siren-like Mellotron(?) sounds in the background near the end? They sound so appropriate here.
The second side, however, is a little less impressive in quality, but actually, the all-around epic power of it really feels great when first listening to it (at least it was this way for me), but doesn't really get any better afterwards. As a result of this, both "Thrill Of It All" and "The Writ", while certainly having considerable virtues of their own, kinda wear me out a little with their overlong arrangements when I'm not in the mood. But there's no way I'm going to deny the multiple riff power and the catchy vocal melodies of the former (especially the more poppy second, during which I especially like the 'oh yeah..... OH YEAH' outbursts) or the complete and total heavy bleakness of the riffs and lyrics merging with great melodramatic acoustic/bell sections in the latter track. They're still very good songs, though, as is the really bizarre, pretentious sorta instrumental "Supertzar", which has sound effects and huge choir vocals added to its' nice guitar line, but in spite of this potential excess, its' atmosphere manages to work very nicely.
Finally, just like the last album, this one's occupied by a more 'pop friendly' animal at track seven in "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" (heck, just look at its' parenthetical title!). It's every bit as good as "Looking For Today" (its' predecessor on the last album), however, as it has nice, tasteful use of synths and one of the most honestly well-written verse and chorus melodies in the Sabbath catalog, yet despite that pop influence, it still manages to have the same kind of disturbed mood as the other songs (as the title rightly hints). And the way everything seems to come together to create that strangely unique vibe on this record (from the instrumentation and production style to the melodies, lyrics and vocals) is such an appropriate way for the band to end their peak period. Yes, unfortunately, it was all downhill for the band from here - they were still able to put out their share of good (sometimes even great) music amongst a load of crap, but it was Sabotage that marked the last time Sabbath ever really sounded vital on record.
This might be the last album in which Ozzy cared about working on. Tony Iommi, the lead guitarist, wanted to go into a more progressive direction while Ozzy wanted to stay true to the classic Sabbath sound. Although you can't call anything progressive on here, a lot of it is quite epic. Two of the songs are over eight minutes, and most of the songs have this mystical and haunting quality about them. "Megalomania" which at over nine minutes long, is full of lyrics about fantasy and the mind; it is an intruiging listen because of it's evocative power. The most commercial song on here, "Am I Going Insane (Radio)", ends with what sounds like elves laughing and fades into the next epic song "The Writ". By the time it enters "The Writ" though the laughter turns evil and the song comes into full force, with great gloomy riffs and some twists along the way.
A lot of this album is rocking, with speedy riffs, like on the song "Symptom Of The Universe". Could the invention of speed metal be on this song? It is a highlight on this album that is fast paced but turns surprisingly into an acoustic song at the end. The rest of the tracks are good too; "Hole In The Sky" 'rocks' out in typical Sabbath sound, "The Thrill Of It All" has an infectious riff, and "Supertzar" is interesting and too serious sounding. Sometimes the songs on this album sound similar with each other but they pull it off by keeping things interesting all the time. They still keep things new and exciting but this is the 6th and last of the 'classic first six' albums they made; pretty soon the quality of their work was going to go into a noticeable decline.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: You Won't Change Me, It's Alright. LOW POINTS: She's Gone, Rock 'n' Roll Doctor.
Yup, it's this album that begins the period of Sabbath many hard rock fans care not to think about too much, what with the slow decline of the songwriting, Tony Iommi's riff writing creativity, and Ozzy's general laziness with the material. But of course, Sabbath, like most bands on the decline, didn't simply just start releasing crap albums overnight - while still undeniably a huge falloff from Sabotage in quality, I don't find this effort to be as bad as some think. Sure, the problems with it are obvious -the band (particularly Iommi) is rapidly losing their distinctive edge and turning into your average power chord-driven hard rock band, but it's still salvaged by the appearance of a couple very, very solid overlooked gems, a decent amount of diversity in the arrangements (for them, anyway), and a few songs that just generally get by on the hard rocking power of old.
The album begins with such a song like that in "Back Street Kids", a somewhat simplistic, but still convincingly played and ultra-distorted chugging rocker which holds your attention throughout, especially with its' nice energy and multiple good-quality vocal melodies (the 'nobody I know will ever take my rock 'n' roll away from me' refrain and the middle bridge that's kinda reminiscent of Ozzy's solo career, in a good way). There's also some sort of vague funkish sort of track in "All Moving Parts (Stand Still)" that alternates between that engaging bassline and more forgettable, but still okay, faster sections, an otherwise forgettable hard rocker with touches of disco and piano pop in "Gypsy", and even a somewhat cock-rock style song in the closing track "Dirty Women". Not that this one's all that great of a song, as I can't exactly remember how the main melody goes, but that repetitive coda in the last few minutes or so is one of those things that definitely leaves an impression. Good showstopping moment.
Of course, like hinted at before, this album does have its' share of somewhat impressive songs, the strongest of which being "You Won't Change Me", a self-confessional epic dominated by an intense, slow tempo, some emotional vocal work and lyrics (a rarity on the album for Ozzy, sad to say), and of course, that really neat, almost creepy, organ line and haunting melody that runs through most of it. And as a neat diversion, we even get a song with Bill Ward on lead vocals. "It's Alright" is a really, really nice, somewhat Beatles-style piano pop tune that boasts what is easily the strongest and most infectious melody on the album, with a nice flow between the verse and chorus. Definitely something you wouldn't expect from Sabbath, that's for sure. And hey, am I the only one who thinks his vocals sound a little like Justin Hayward here?
Technical Ecstasy is hardly without its' share of stinkers, though, and also taking into account that more than half of it isn't anything more than decent, it ensures that I can't give it anything more than a normal 6, as enjoyable as it sometimes can be. For one, there's "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor", which might be somewhat catchy and more memorable than most of the stuff on here, but it's catchy in an annoying and obnoxiously generic way (you won't want that hook stuck in your head, believe me!), and "She's Gone", an annoyingly sappy orchestrated ballad with an absolutely flat vocal performance and not much of a melody to boot. Skip it. But don't dismiss the album itself totally, like many fans do. There is some good stuff on here in spite of quite a few flaws, really.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Johnny Blade, Junior's Eyes. LOW POINTS: Swinging The Chain, Air Dance, Over To You.
Now this is where the tensions of Sabbath and their overall creativity seemed to be at opposite ends. As far as I know, Ozzy actually left the band for a brief period after Technical Ecstasy, and when he returned (in a somewhat umm... 'mentally unstable' condition), he was presented with material his bandmates had written in his absence - and being the nice guy that he is, refused to sing any of it, preferring to sing only material they recorded with him being involved. While the album did eventually reach completion (though probably a lot quicker than the band would have liked), Ozzy's behavior and drug problems didn't sit well with the rest of Sabbath, and he was eventually fired from the band, beginning an improbably successful solo career two years later (read on for his replacement). But as for the end result of this album, Ozzy really didn't care very much about the stuff on here, and it shows in his very tired-sounding performance, but what's even more noticeable is how flat the material is.
With that being said, side one of this is at worst okay, and at best near great. Even the two songs that have quite a bit going against them work - the opening title track has a weak four note riff that sounds like a poor man's simplified version of "The Boys Are Back In Town", but yet it's actually one of the catchiest and most energetic songs here. "A Hard Road" has the potential to be limp too, since it pretty much showcases exactly the same lackluster riff for over 6 minutes, but yet the anthemic melody and tempo is still engaging and poppy enough to sustain excitement for at least a little while. As for the highlights, "Johnny Blade" is far and away the most melodically dynamic song here - the bridge in particular really grabs me, and it's effective in terms of riffage and neat futuristic synth playing throughout, so it's probably the highlight. And although "Junior's Eyes" really doesn't have much to it musically other than its' great bassline interplaying with the guitar feedback, it has a really depressing mood, especially in the lyrics, which makes it very much stand out.
But side two... now this one is a lot harder to praise. Well, "Shock Wave" is merely an unmemorable rocker that sounds more like a B-side quality 'classic' Sabbath number, and the instrumental "Breakout" is at least an interesting curiousity, since it actually combines horns with generic hard rock, and it does have a memorable hook, but the other three are just... ugh. Let's see... "Air Dance", when it's not completely generic hard rock (with only an occasional decent guitar part popping out of the mix), is mostly awfully bland soft rock / lounge jazz crap, "Over To You" is based on a generic and cliched slow heavy ballad riff that about 8 million bands have probably written (with a boring melody to boot), and the closing "Swinging The Chain", featuring Bill Ward's second vocal appearance, is the nadir of the album, and one of the band's worst songs ever. God, what an ugly melodyless mess of a rocker that one is. Never mention it again. Or the album, for the most part - despite a few strong moments, this is kind of a sad, half decent to good, half mediocre to awful, swan song for Ozzy in the band.
After the disastrous Technical Ecstasy album, the Fab 4 tried to rebound with an album that would get them back on track and kick some more ass like they did a few years back. Unfortunately, they couldn't accomplish that on this release. However, this album is an improvement over the last one, but that's not saying much. Also, this was the last Black Sabbath studio album that featured Ozzy Osbourne on vocals.
To me, a good majority of this material is very confusing. If you listen to this album very closely you can tell that the band had a difficult time putting some nice finishing touches to these songs. Mind you, there are a few songs on here that make this album worthwhile (the title track, "Junior's Eyes" and the awesome "Shock Wave") but the rest is not what I would like to call enjoyable. Take "A Hard Road" and "Over To You" for example. The former is a 6 minute boring rocker with the same riff playing over and over again while the latter has a boring ass riff and is so bloody slow that it can put anybody to sleep (also the last track Ozzy sang on a Black Sabbath album) Those tracks mentioned have absolutely no creativity at all.
And even when the band tries to be creative, the results turn out to be alarmingly dull. The jazzy and confusing "Air Dance" for example and the absolutely awful instrumental "Breakout" which sounds like a high school band practice. And the album closer "Swinging The Chain" with drummer Bill Ward on vocals (his second vocal appearance on a Black Sabbath album - his first was "It's Alright" from the Technical Ecstasy album) is nothing to write home about either. Overall, another disappointing release. IMO, this album is only recommended to the "Hardcore" Sabbath fans. As mentioned before, Ozzy Osbourne got fired from the band right after this release, but then he got himself into a pretty successful solo career. And what happened to the other 3 band members?? We'll just have to wait and see. Stay tuned.
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(Nick Karn's review)
HIGH POINTS: Heaven And Hell, Lady Evil, Children Of The Sea. LOW POINTS: Walk Away.
After Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band after the half-hearted and dreadfully inconsistent Never Say Die!, his mates decided to make a comeback with a new singer at the helm, the first of many, many subsequent cartoonish personnel changes, Ronnie James Dio, the original singer of the Ritchie Blackmore-led Rainbow outfit. While Dio's 'mystical' lyrics about evil women, wishing wells, neon knights and such are certainly over the top and even laughable at times, he possesses the kind of strong, soaring voice that actually makes this subject matter enjoyable to listen to (the same is true of the songs he fronted with Rainbow and his own band that bears his name), much like Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson. Plus, the vocals still work extremely well with Tony Iommi's dark monolithic riffs, Geezer Butler's bass playing here is some of the best of his career, and Bill Ward is Bill Ward. Ozzy who?
Side one in particular is a fantastic stretch of music on here. "Neon Knights" is certainly a notable way to open an album like this, as it features proof that Iommi can still crank out fabulous metal riffs, even if it's not as memorable as the other stuff on side one, which is for the most part even better. The way "Children Of The Sea" crunches throughout in between the really beautiful acoustic bit that opens and closes the song is also quite notable. But "Lady Evil" is, undoubtedly, the most addictive number on this side - it boasts a totally killer bass groove as the instrumental hook of the song (an example of Geezer's fine playing here) over Dio's really fun wailing in the chorus of the song ('lady eeeeeeeeevil, evil... she's a magical mystical woman!')
The pinnacle of this album, though, comes in the epic title track that ends side one. It has a great, slow build over a haunting and sparse atmosphere, and this happens to work perfectly with the really overblown 'grand' statement of the lyrics. It thrashes along really nicely as your typical metal epic should, and it closes on a haunting acoustic theme to bring closure to the piece. And elsewhere, "Wishing Well" features another one of those precise, hard-hitting riffs, with tight bass playing, and a lyrical approach from Dio that's actually entertaining for once without bordering on really dumb guilty pleasure. Even "Die Young", which admittedly has a silly acoustic portion and a dumb repeating 'die young die young die young' near the end, is at least memorable. It rocks just as hard and convincingly as the others at its' best.
The last two songs on here also have good enough moments that make me forgive their obvious weak points. The more straightforward "Walk Away" has a catchy enough hook for me to tolerate the obnoxiousness given off by the vocals and lyrics here, even though it's certainly not that substantial of a song, making it a weak point. The slow and bluesy "Lonely Is The Word" also works on account of an apocalyptic feel, with the whole thing coming full circle at the chorus. The only slight problem with it is the soloing here being a bit overlong, but I can live with that. When this album was released, it was a good comeback of sorts from the Sabbath crew, and is still considered by some to be a classic. I wouldn't quite go that far, as this is a weak 8 here, but there are enough excellent moments for me to recommend it to any Sabbath listener who doesn't have something big against Ronnie James Dio.
When Ozzy Osbourne was getting back on track with his successful solo debut album Blizzard Of Ozz, people wondered if the remaining members of Sabbath had any gas left in the tank. Instead of the band breaking up and going their separate ways, Tony, Bill and Geezer decided to hire a new singer who would hopefully bring them back on top of the metal ladder again and attract some new fans. The new singer turned out to be none other than the amazingly talented former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Sure, Ronnie sounds nothing like Ozzy and may not have the same stage presence, but on this release Ronnie just blows him away, making him the perfect successor to Ozzy Osbourne and saving the band from going into the gutter.
Everything on here IMO is near perfection. The only song that never catches my attention is the simple rocker "Walk Away", but it doesn't bring the album down too much. And I must say that every member here is at their best. Ronnie is kicking ass all over the place, Bill rules on the kit, Geezer does some of the most incredible playing of his career and then there's Tony, for those of you out there who think that he's just an average guitar player who plays nothing but barre chords should take a listen to this album, the guitar solos at the end of "Die Young" and the terrific album closer "Lonely Is The Word" are magnificent. And he displays some killer riffs in "Neon Knights", "Children Of The Sea" and the awesome title track. But the real icing on the cake here is the absolutely incredible Martin Birch mix - everything is crisp and clear; it doesn't get any better than this. So as you can tell, this album is highly recommendable and is easily the second best Black Sabbath album behind Paranoid. Sure there's no Ozzy on this, but once you crank this up, you'll see who was and is the better vocalist. Pick it up.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: The Mob Rules, Turn Up The Night. LOW POINTS: Falling Off The Edge Of The World, E5150.
Not as good. As much as Heaven And Hell was probably made a lot better by Dio's presence (although I think it was more of a case of new blood briefly revitalizing the power the band once had before), repeating the same formula again, especially when your guitarist is running out of cool riffs to use, can only carry you so far. Oh well, at least the singing here still rules as usual, even if that's a given for Dio, but the melodies and playing aren't really that much to write home about. There's only like, two or three really good ones on the whole album! And why the heck are half these songs so damn slow? Slow metal songs are good when they actually have cool atmosphere and great melody, but these ones don't, and they're more often than not a bore. In other words, this album's just a weaker sequel to what came before, as enjoyable of a listen it can be sometimes. At least it's not horribly dumb or anything.
Plus, two of the songs here are at least big highlights. Maybe if they stayed in ass-kicking faster mode for the whole album, it would have turned out a lot better, as the side openers "Turn Up The Night" and "The Mob Rules" prove. Both of them are fairly great speed rockers with the trademark brand of solid Tony Iommi riffing, and feature the catchiest melodies here. This is the key - Dio's vocal conviction works best when it has excellent hooks or guitar work to complement it, like when he yells 'TURN UP THE NIGHT!' in the former as it's followed by lightning fast soloing. Plus on the latter song this kind of conviction combined with speed works extremely well - in fact, this one can pretty much be called a great punkish political chant, with that 'if you listen to fools, the mooooooooooob rules!' chorus being an absolutely awesome adrenalized moment here.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album is kinda boring. There's nothing really awful here in theory, but also nothing that really makes me want to listen again. Just average one-riff generic metal songs that are okay listening due to the energy, but nothing really memorable or inventive ("Country Girl", "Voodoo"). Sometimes these riffs have a sense of overfamiliarity, too - the fast one in the middle of "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" sounds cliched enough to be ripped off from a ton of earlier hard rock bands (so the song's never saved from the slow, melodyless grave that it quickly falls into at its' beginning), and the one on "Slipping Away" sounds extremely similar to just the opening bit on the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking".
The remaining three songs really aren't that special, either. Besides "Falling Off The Edge Of The World", the only one close to bad would be the 'experimental' wannabe sci-fi soundscape "E5150", which attempts to sound all epic, satanic and dark but instead comes off as stupid, gimmicky, dated and pointless. I guess "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" is the best of the slower songs, as it does have a distinctive riff, an acceptable creepy melody and more powerful showstopping vocals at its' core, but compare the dynamics of this one to any of Sabbath's earlier epics (even "Heaven And Hell", for that matter), and it comes up very short. Plus, it certainly shouldn't be almost 8 minutes long. The closing "Over And Over" is at least memorable due to its' mildly effective repetitive coda, but absolutely nothing substantial. That sums up the album I guess - decent, and rarely bad (with two near-classics, of course), but unspectacular.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Keep It Warm (maybe). LOW POINTS: Digital Bitch, Disturbing The Priest, Hot Line, Born Again, Zero The Hero.
Ah, now we come to the era of the worthless reputation tarnishing shit music a lot of critics and fans associate with Sabbath's late period. Not that there wasn't some stuff that didn't suck before (Never Say Die! was probably the most obviously indicator of tiredness), but this is about as close an awful self parody as one could possibly imagine. This time around, Dio is gone (though he would return nine years later for an album not much better than this sorry piece of crap), only to be replaced by.... Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. Hmm... now someone try and figure that one out. Yes, I realize both bands are in the hard rock/metal category, but anyone who's listened to Purple knows damn well that they were not one of those dark, evil sounding, death metal act inspiring bands in the same vein as Sabbath. And even though he's still okay, by this time his voice has nowhere near the powerful range of his predcessor (it's unfortunately lost something over the years).
And this fact plays a part in the overall sound of this album, because the songs are going for this huge overblown sort of atmosphere, with important sounding, but pointless, brief interludes ("Stonehenge", "The Dark"), and all sorts of Satanic garbage in the lyrics, and Gillan's vocals do not fit in with this mindset at all. He's pulling out all these woeful screams in songs like the truly atrocious "Digital Bitch" - I mean, that painful chorus will either make you cringe like you've never cringed before, or cause you to proclaim this song as one of the greatest parodies of heavy metal ever (this album even unsurprisingly inspired the Spinal Tap movie, as well as the band's Stonehenge set not being able to fit on stage!) The rudimentary music is so lame, too, but hey, that's a standard for this album. "Disturbing The Priest" also falls flat on its' face with similar pretentions, with all this overblown screaming and subpar riffing set to hardly any melody at all, and even the quietest moment (the title track) is a slow, lengthy soul-sucking borefest, with a repetitive atmospheric guitar line that goes nowhere.
As for other stinkers, the uptempo rocker "Hot Line" is so generic and obnoxiously midtempo I could easily see it being done by Kiss (in the verses anyway), while the rest of the song is painfully predictable. "Zero The Hero", despite a catchy, if stupid, chorus, is way too overlong and rambling, with a riff so simplistic that it's downright painful to hear how far Tony Iommi had fallen by this point. Though I must admit, the album isn't totally worthless - the bookend tracks, appropriately enough, save Born Again from being around a 2 or somewhere that hideous. The opening "Trashed", despite being pretty darn trashy and generic (with its' simplistic punky riff), is at least the catchiest and most energetic number you'll find here, and the closing "Keep It Warm" is my favorite almost by default - sure, it's merely an okay song, but it's got an uplifting singalong chorus and a somewhat excellent guitar solo, so it rises above the garbage. Nothing else really positive to report here, though - and I don't even want to mention the horribly muddy production, and the astoundingly ugly cover art. Oh, I just did. Whoops.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Computer God. LOW POINTS: After All The Dead, Letters From Earth, Buried Alive, Sons Of The Father.
Late period Black Sabbath albums are often regarded as almost completely worthless disasters (post Mob Rules or Born Again I mean), and in my judgement, their first album with Ronnie James Dio at the helm after various lead vocalists in the 80's and early 90's doesn't exactly help to disprove this idea. Throughout almost the entire 50 odd minutes of Dehumanizer (which is actually structured sort of like a concept album, albeit in a somewhat vague fashion), the lineup that brought you the impressive Heaven And Hell opus pathetically rehashes old ideas explored far better both by Sabbath themselves and other hard rock bands of the past in such a limp fashion, and much of it is horrendously boring to listen to. The songs aren't that lengthy, but most of them just seem to drag on and on and on with very little in the way of memorable riffs or melodies.
Actually, there's very little horrible here. By themselves, I'm not sure if any of these songs can actually be called pure crap, but taken together, it's for the most part an incredibly tedious experience. But there is some good in all this. The opening "Computer God" even approaches being a very good song - the riff is pretty damn simplistic, but it does have great intense power, the verse melody is quite good, and the almost conceptual subject matter of the lyrics are interesting. It also builds nicely, and it only drags a bit near the end. There are a few other songs, while not that great on account of lack of memorable moments, are a little enjoyable - "Time Machine" and "TV Crimes" are your typically generic headbangers (the first of these a Wayne's World anthem), while a couple of them even directly steal classic rock riffs or melodies ("Master Of Insanity" = Led Zep's "Wanton Song", "I" = "Purple Haze"), but that makes them less boring at least, and those songs do have better vocal melody than the others.
And as for those others, it's the slower songs that really tend to suck. "Letters From Earth" and "After All The Dead" are particularly dreadfully paced and ponderous, with little if anything interesting happening the whole way through (not even Dio can save them) and you don't know how appropriate a title "Buried Alive" is for the closing track of this album. Yikes. I don't seem to recall "Too Late" being quite as boring, though that's not a particular compliment to that song. And finally, "Sons Of The Father" is by far the most non-descript and uninteresting of the rockers, so it gets a particularly big thumbs down. In short, a quite forgettable and dispensable album that's probably not even worth the 5 bucks my brother paid for it. And it's supposed to be one of the more accepted releases from this era of Sabbath, so what can be said for the other albums? Stagnation is sad, indeed.
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COMMENTS
Dio returns to the band. Obviously, you would think that this is a good thing but it's not actually. This record just bores the hell out of me. I've tried to get into it but I just can' t. It's not that the songs are bad, it's just that nothing exciting happens. Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules and Live Evil are kick ass records, no doubt about that, but this one just isn't. Sure, there are some cool Iommi riffs here and there, but there isn't one song on here that makes me say "Kick Ass!". Maybe because the mix is not that great. Whatever. Well, at least Iommi got Tony Martin back on vocals for the next album, Cross Purposes, which is miles ahead of this one. Who knows??? Maybe if Dehumanizer was released in 83, then it would of been hailed a classic??
DIO
| Holy Diver | 1983 |
| The Last In Line | 1984 |
| Sacred Heart | 1985 |
| Intermission (live) | 1986 |
| Dream Evil | 1987 |
| Lock Up The Wolves | 1990 |
| Strange Highways | 1994 |
| Angry Machines | 1996 |
| Inferno: Last In Live | 1998 |
| Magica | 2000 |
After a brief stint as lead vocalist of Black Sabbath (for the Heaven And Hell and Mob Roles albums, Ronnie James Dio formed a new group that bore his last name, and it was over the top metal which featured mythical lyrics, bombastic arrangements, flashy guitar riffs, technically flashy but tasteful solos and of course Ronnie's trademark "evil-sounding" vocals. The debut Holy Diver was the blueprint for the band's entire career, and the style was used to both good and bad effect.
--Nick Karn
released by Dio
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Holy Diver, Rainbow In The Dark, Caught In The Middle. LOW POINTS: Invisible.
While the overall sound of Dio's solo debut might not be all that far removed from your typical hard rock album released in the early 80's, it's ultimately distinguished by a couple of the same things that he brought to the table on Sabbath's Heaven And Hell - namely, addictively catchy melodies and vocal presence. It also helps that, as with Sabbath, he's got a quite talented backing band assembled here, in particular Vivian Campbell, a then very young guitar prodigy who would later go on to join Def Leppard and Whitesnake, but at least during this stage of his career he could flat out rip on his instrument, and a couple of the tracks he even steals the show. The rhythm section of bassist Jimmy Bain and drummer Vinny Appice are also solid players. There's also a matter of the lyrical matter here - while it's really overblown and cartoonish (in a short time this would become parodic), it never really seems that way on account of that convincing throat.
The full power of Dio and his band are showcased immediately on the opening rocker "Stand Up And Shout", and while that might have a bit too much of a generic tone, a vehicle for Dio's vocals, a fun anthemic chorus, and Campbell's soloing, some of his absolute best on the record, can't really be all bad. To a similar extent, the middle solo in "Gypsy" (as noted in the comment below) also works well to illustrate just how electrifying Campbell's work can be when its' at his best - needless to say, he's a pretty decent player. "Straight Through The Heart", meanwhile, is arguably the sound at its' most forceful, with a tight, ripping groove to go along with it in providing a pretty decent pleasurable metal track.
The album works best, though, when the three best sides of the album are combined - the generic power rocking side, the epic side and the catchy pop side. It just so happens that the album's epic title track is the best at doing so, as it has quite an effective intro build that holds interest throughout until the main portions of the song. The verse and chorus melodies are both insanely memorable especially the 'gotta get away... get awaaaaay' portions of the refrain, and the whole structure remains exciting, with great guitar work throughout. "Caught In The Middle" also does a great job of rocking out and pleasing your ear, with a fabulous main riff and a chorus that almost sounds affecting in the context of the song, and "Rainbow In The Dark" turns out to be by far the catchiest song here - the cheesy synth part that drives the song is really entertaining, the melodies of the song will get crammed in your brain for awhile, and it's got more vintage guitar work. What more do you want?
Of course, not all is that perfect on the album, as there are a couple more unmemorable, flatfooted tunes that just don't do anything in comparison to the rest. Lyrically, "Invisible" is some sort of social commentary or something to that effect, but that's about all that stands out here, and "Shame On The Night" is just kind of a sluggish point that brings a disappointing end to the album. These two weaknesses, along with the mostly generic type of sound here, is why I can't quite think of this as a great album, but it's worth picking up for metal fans anyway, since it's a fine display of guitar chops and catchy melodies. Plus, it's probably the Dio album to own.
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COMMENTS
Awesome solo debut by Dio! To me, the albums he did with Black Sabbath are awesome and I knew that I was in for a treat when I made this purchase. The main reason why this album kicks ass is because of the incredible guitar playing by Vivian Campbell! A truly amazing 6 string performance. I love all the tracks, especially "Gypsy" with that kick ass solo in the middle! And not to mention that Dio is kicking ass all over the place as well! Any hard rock fan will enjoy this!
While i agree that this album is good for the most part, its topics are even more overblown that what Maiden was doing at the time, and that may scare an awful lot of people away. And i dont care what that other Maiden site says, Dio is not a better vocalist than Bruce. He doesnt even seem to have as much range, and certainly not the vocal tone and presence that make Mr. Dickinson such a treat to listen to. BTW, too bad Vivian Campbell is now in Def Leppard, cause at least this point in time, he could really tear it up. Check out that solo on "Rainbow in the Dark"----yeow.
This one is definitely in my top 10 of all-time favorite metal albums. This, my friend is metal at it's best! This stuff is infectious, Ronnie never sounded better, Sabbath was obviously holding the man back, I mean, damn, just listen to his voice here, he sounds reborn!
Repeated listens never get boring either. The solo in "Rainbow in The Dark" is just about the best guitar solo I have ever heard, and I ain't lying, I put it right next to Vandenbergs' "Burning Heart". You see, Vivian Campbell (before he joined Def Leppard) was God.
The production is crisp, the vocals are awesome (Ronnie just goes for broke throughout), and the guitar playing is Godly. An unbelievable release, and an easy 10.
released by Dio
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: One Night In The City, We Rock, Evil Eyes. LOW POINTS: I Speed At Night, Breathless.
From now on, don't expect any surprises from Dio albums, unless there's something about the ones I haven't heard people aren't telling me. I somehow doubt it, though. Anyway, because Ronnie wanted to repeat the band's commercial success first time out, he unsurprisingly repeated the formula (why mess with a good thing, anyway?) Predictably, that could only mean the results are weaker, and they are. The lyrics are growing ever so repetitive and self-parodic, and plus, one of the main attractions of Holy Diver was Vivian Campbell's spectacular guitar work, and it's, well, not quite as breathtaking this time around. The songs themselves, however, seem to be a touch heavier and more melodic overall, and as far as consistency goes, let's just say that the high points here are higher, but the lows are lower.
Starting out with the highs, the opening "We Rock", despite its' utterly formulaic title, is a spectacular flagship rocker that I think perfectly suits Dio's 'ultimate generic heavy metal screamer' voice (as Mark Prindle very well puts it), with good aggressive speed riffing and soloing throughout. "Evil Eyes" and "Mystery", meanwhile, are probably the best of the more poppy tunes, with really infectious verse hooks in both (the former seems particularly fun to me, and the latter makes a decent, though not the best, choice for a single on here). The best of the album, though, comes with the first side closer "One Night In The City", which goes for a dramatic story song approach to it with mostly great results - it's also got great use of keyboards, especially during the solo section of the tune. Speaking of keyboards, the title track here is pretty much a rewrite of "Holy Diver", but even though it's not quite as good, it's still got a catchy hook of its' own, especially at its' majestic chorus, which is driven by, you guessed it, the keys.
Unfortunately, there are a couple real lows in the songwriting here. "Breathless" and "I Speed At Night" are bothersomely generic and lacking excitement, especially the latter - the first one at least has some sort of hook, can't say the same about the second. "Eat Your Heart Out" also qualifies as an okay while it's on, ultimately dispensable pop metal song. That leaves the closing track "Egypt (The Chains Are On)", which is one of the more celebrated epics from the band, but I'm just not taken by it as much - it has its' moments in its' strong lyrics and riff (which, incidentally, disappears midway through the song), but the overall pace of the song is just too slow and lengthy and it doesn't really budge the whole way through. So in all, if you liked Holy Diver somewhat, you should dig this album, especially since the highlights are superior, but be prepared for a more inconsistent and sometimes tiring, though still good, album.
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released by Dio
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: As Long As It's Not About Love, Losing My Insanity. LOW POINTS: Lord Of The Last Day, Otherworld, Fever Dreams, Turn To Stone.
Maybe Dio was a little bored with his formula in the late 90's, since this album at least partially attempts a break from his sound. The distinguishing feature of Magica is that it's actually a full blown concept album, with a whole story and the obligatory links between the tracks, that he often performed live in its' entirety. The end results, however, don't quite live up to whatever promise might be apparent in that idea, as this album really lacks the elements needed for it to be a success. For one, the plot is often left way too obscure - despite liner notes that outline the entire story in very long detail and even Dio reading them himself over keyboard backing as the final track "Magica Story", I'm still lost as to what exactly is going on, only sure that it has something to do with alien beings and typical medieval dungeons and dragons crap.
I could deal with a confusing plot, however, if the songs were that good, but for the most part, they just aren't. The approach here reminds me a lot of late period solo Ozzy - maybe he hasn't lost any of his distinctive voice, but generally, the songs are really, really, really slow, monotonous and don't develop at all. They're often built on dreary, lumbering riffs with generic melody, and sometimes these riffs are even almost completely identical to each other ("Fever Dreams" and "Turn To Stone"). At other times, like on "Lord Of The Last Day" and "Otherworld", the whole tempo is so snail-paced and incredibly dragging that I can't stand it, with a cold, lifeless atmosphere not exactly helped by the occasional robotic spoken word voices. Plot developers like "Ebeil" and "Challis" aren't quite as bad in that area, as they do have occasionally interesting parts (like the ending in the former), but they're undistinguished, for the most part.
Thankfully, there are a few highlights throughout the boring murk that are worth listening to. The lone great song is actually the ballad "As Long As It's Not About Love" - for once, the chilling atmosphere works, because it has a fine melody, orchestrated guitar backing and passionate vocals to match. "Losing My Insanity" also has an excellent lively riff in its' chorus and intro that pretty much makes up for the fact the rest of the song isn't all that fabulous, "Feed My Head" has an enjoyably menacing grind in its' refrain (which is quite memorable) and I really wish the beautiful "Magica's Theme" that comes as a great introduction was developed from its' way too short 1:16 length for an even better diversion. As it is, however, these songs don't make up for the dreary mess created by the weaker material that overwhelms this album. I'm usually a huge fan of concept albums in general, but this is one that I'd consider a miss.
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| Plastic Planet | 1995 |
| Black Science | 1997 |
Geezer is the solo outfit for Black Sabbath's most famous bassist and lyricist, Geezer Butler. Quite like Sabbath, the lyrics deal with Satan, death, supernatural powers, aliens, and other such things, which can be good or bad, depending on your taste and/or the particular lyrics to a particular song. Unlike Sabbath, however, Geezer makes music more suitable for moshing than the slower music of Black Sabbath, creating some surprisingly heavy modern metal. Geezer's solo debut, Plastic Planet, was released as being by G//Z/R (for reasons known only to Butler) featured Fear Factory's Burton C. Bell on vocals. After that album, Bell left the band and was replaced by Clark Brown, a decent heavy metal screamer. At this point, he dropped the slashes from the name and released Black Science to mixed reviews in 1997.
--Philip Maddox
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released by Geezer
(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
After Korn hit heavy metal, most newer heavy metal bands (and even a few older ones) started to copy their funky, noisy style. Some, however, ignored the trend. Geezer Butler, for example, sounds like he's never even heard of Korn. I, for one, don't mind - I never was a big fan of Korn. What you get on this particular release is 13 grinding, pounding, grooving heavy metal machines. Singer Clark Brown is really good here - his loud voice is PERFECT for this kind of intense metal. Geezer wrote a few absolutely killer riffs here, too - the opening "Man In A Suitcase", the superbly pounding "Box Of Six", and the nearly perfect "Justified" all rule like heavy metal should. If you're in the mood to thrash around, more than half of these songs will get you going. Hard. Lots of great material to be found here.
Unfortunately, there are a few problems. First of all, Butler decided to add some "ambient" keyboards to a lot of the material, and the result is crappy more often than not. As such, slower, "ambient" tunes like "Number 5", "Myterons", and "Unspeakable Elvis" are pretty lame. Some of the riffs are kinda old, too - not too many new ideas kicking around here. "Area Code 51" sucks. Again, "Unspeakable Elvis" is horrible. Let me make that more clear - "Unspeakable Elvis" may be the worst song ever recorded. Which reminds me of another thing - a lot of these lyrics are TERRIBLE! Occasionally, as on the cool "Has To Be" or "Justified", he pulls out some great lyrics, but tunes like "Xodiak", "Area Code 51", and "Unspeakable Elvis" have the worst lyrics I've ever heard.
You want some examples? "The aliens are coming/And the world is succumbing/Flying saucers have landed on earth/The invasion is coming". Insightful, eh? And of course, my personal favorite, "Lights go out/I feel a presence in the room/The evil grows/Elvis' singing on the radio/Acid hair/From Memphis Tennessee/This is the man/The legend known as Elvis Presley/Oh Elvis do you love me?/Oh evil Elvis Presley". It gets worse. Yipes! All in all, though, a good half or more of this material rocks. Just skip over the crap and ignore most of the lyrics and you'll have a good listening experience. Tunes like "Justified" and "Box Of Six" are too awesome to ignore, so the crap is more forgivable, but still, there's WAY too much crap here. Weed out the good tunes and you'll do just fine.
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