13

The final release in such a legendary career. 13 is the final album from Black Sabbath, and the first one in 35 years to include most of the original line-up. The only difference here is that Brad Wilk from Rage Against The Machine is the drummer here. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are all here, and it feels good to hear these guys go back to the way it was originally.

I can definitely understand why some people wouldn't like this album. This is far from Ozzy's best lyrical work. In fact, it may be his worst for this band. However, you can't deny that the sound of most of these songs are great. They all have that original Black Sabbath sound and vibe to them which made us all fall in love with them. And to me, that makes it impossible for me not to fall in love with this record.

With fantastic songs like End Of The Beginning, God Is Dead, Age Of Reason, Damaged Soul and especially Dear Father, it's tough not to love this. I feel like all of the tracks that I listed were all expertly performed instrumental wise, and Ozzy's vocals are as good as ever. I just feel like the other three tracks that I did not mention were a bit more forgettable, and that may just be a problem with the five that I listed above are much longer in comparison. All of the ones I have named were over seven minutes long, while the rest were shorter than five. The only song that didn't actually work for me was Zeitgeist, and that was because I thought it was just a bit too slow for me. I found myself bored throughout that specific song, but I think that's just a problem with me more than anything.

Overall, I think that this is one of the bands best releases in decades. In fact, I'd call this their best album since 1981's Mob Rules. I'm really glad that Black Sabbath were able to become one of the few classic bands to end their careers on such a high note, even after some truly terrible outings they had in the 90s.

Favourite Tracks: Dear Father; God Is Dead?; Age Of Reason; End Of The Beginning; Damaged Soul

Least Favourite Track: Zeitgeist