Not bad for a reunion album! If it doesn't have the weird early-'80s vibe of the original Dio records (the line-up on here is the same one that did Mob Rules and Live Evil), it's at least a heck of a lot heavier and more memorable (probably) than any of the Iommi+whoever records released during the preceding decade. Dio's voice has calmed down a little without turning to crap like Brian Johnson's, so he comes across more like a hip '90s Soundgarden kinda guy than oh, that guy in Poison or ... read more

JEEEEzus. Music just doesn't get much worse than this, I'm afraid. Did you notice that not one, but TWO of these riffs are swiped pointblank from old Sabbath tunes? Did you notice that track 2 is pretty much the only good song on here?

If you've ever wondered why '80s metal died such a miserable death, try to sit through this pile of overblown shim. Not that this album was popular, but it sure did sound like every other "metal" band alive. This stuff is wretched!! Dull old by-the-numbers riffs, Mr. Martin doing his finest Dio impression to no avail, and really stupid "threatening" keyboard lines backing up every song. The last song is pretty good (it actually has notes instead of those dumbass chords ... read more

Maybe my taste in music has gone down the shitbowl since I started antidepressants, but for some reason I enjoy the hell out of this record! The singing is a joke, of course, with this silly man trying to sound IMPORTANT like Whitesnake or the Scorpions, but Tony's got some killer riffs goin' on! Also, the production is a lot less slick than the last record, so the sludgy, crunchy guitar sounds more like the early Sab stuff. Too bad Ozzy wasn't around to make this an 8!

Pbleeaaah. Tony Iommi replaced the entire band and kept the name Black Sabbath for no good reason whatsoever. Well, honestly, the guitar riffs on here aren't bad. You can tell they're Tony, and some of them are honestly catchy. The real problems with this record are (a) the slick overproduction, which sterilizes the Sabbath sound to the point where they would have fit right in on MTV had MTV had any interest in them at all, and (b) A FUCKING HORRIBLE SINGER. Maybe Ian Gillan was hoarse, but ... read more

Ronnie's gonnie and Ian is ian. Thus this album's major flaw. Ian Gillan was a master voiceboy for Deep Purple for many a fine year, but his aging grunt/scream just isn't a very attractive instrument, aurally-speaking. The chord sequences are great, though; "Hot Line" and "Zero The Hero" really take advantage of that "repetition" concept, "Disturbing The Priest" claims a crazy weird intro/outro harmonic shiver, and every last one of the others rock like a ... read more

Hmmm. Well, what do you know about cranapple? This is kind of a big step away from Never Say Die! Heavy metal! Actually HEAVY metal!!!! Low-end distortion and everything! Cool. It's no Master Of Reality, but these guitars are clearly designed to make the ol' head bang up and down at an often rapid rate. Good for Tony. That high-pitched guitar just wasn't made for these times. And the songs? Just as good as the ones on the last album. Might as well be, since some of 'em are pretty much carbon ... read more

Ooooh! Ronnie James Dio has a cool voice! Kinda the ultimate generic heavy metal screamer. And I mean that in a good way! He hits all the high notes, revels in vibrato, reeks of malevolence - it's cool! Much more professional than ol' Oz, who was definitely no slouch himself, but sometimes sounded a bit... umm... dull. Now then, the eight songs on this record are much more simplistic than we've grown to expect from Tony Iommi and his little friends, but they're not less enjoyable for this; ... read more

Although not the easiest album in the world to enjoy (with horns, pianos, disco beats, and more overblown Quadrophenia riffs, this is hardly the Sab de old), repeated listens reveal deeper truths about rock music (if not heavy metal) as a concept and thus open the whole flamin' donut to wild and unscrupulous debate.
In my ears, this is a bizarre mixture of Nugent cock rock riffs and deliberately artsy song stylings. Granted, you might say the same thing about Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, and ... read more

In my original reviews, I totally wrote off this album, having only heard it once and remembering it as being really darn lousy. Truth is - it's not bad at all. It's definitely the least inspiring of any album sporting the name "Black Sabbath" that was released before Orwell's 1984 found Mr. Iommi surrounding himself with scabs and using the name anyway, but there's honestly not a bad song on it. No great ones, either, unfortunately, although the dark keyboard tune "You Won't ... read more

Not heavy, but rockin'! Sounds similar to the last album, but there's more to bang your head to - especially the slow crapkicker "Hole In The Sky" and the quintessential heavy metal song (and I mean quintessential - without this song, there would probably never have been an Iron Maiden or a Metallica or a Slayer or a Deep Blue Something) "Symptom Of The Universe." It's just your basic three-chord stutter rock, but it's played at such a level of dark intensity and ... read more

Someone must've called 'em boring, 'cuz this don't sound at all like the last four. There are bits of heaviness every now and again, but the tone is a lot brighter, darn it. It's more like normal mid-'70s hard rock - a little funky, a little bluesy, a little overblown - kinda like Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, but not as instantly memorable. These songs take a little getting used to, but they are good. I can't guarantee that fans of the first four will dig this, 'cuz it doesn't sound like ... read more

More like Volume Ten! (as in...loud...). As heavy and dense as Master Of Reality, but with more songs and moods. It doesn't hit you over the head like the last few (the band sounds like the drugs are getting to them a little - very very densely packed stuff without tons of personality), but somehow, as a whole, the record comes across very well. Ozzy has finally learned how to sing against the guitar melody, which improves the simple songs ten-fold, and Tony sticks lots of little side riffs ... read more

This is where the guitar suddenly becomes a fuzzy earth rumble. How Mr. Tony acquired a tone like this as early as 1971 I don't know and I don't need to know, but holy jesus and larry chain, is this one heavy friggin' album, which is strange considering it's also one Christian friggin' album. Did the PMRC ever read these lyrics? How would they react to a bunch of long-haired potheads singing "Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say if they knew you believe in God above? / ... read more

An overblown theatrical take on the themes and sounds we heard on the first album. Hasn't aged amazingly well, honestly. I've always hated the obnoxious funk rocker "War Pigs" (later covered by Faith No More and Alice Donut), plus "Electric Funeral" is to "Black Sabbath" as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is to Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, and "Rat Salad" is pretty much a drum solo.
On the upside, the title track is a stutter-metal classic (later ... read more

Like seemingly every other band formed between 1963 and 1972, Sab's roots were in the blues, which is why their debut sounds like a slightly heavier re-recording of Led Zeppelin's debut. Regardless, sounds great. Ozzy's voice has a strange low quality to it that we would never hear again; I still wonder what it was. Do you think that when he reached puberty, his voice got higher? Hmmm.... And the mix is supersharp - everything's loud and clear, and there's lots of reverb, so it sounds fresh and ... read more

Let me stress this with my shirt on; it's extremely difficult to believe that this album came out the same year as Loose Nut. Loose Nut was loud and proud, vocal-oriented heavy metal. This is weird note-oriented jazz metal with a heavily-reverbed Henry buried waaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the background. I can't believe ol' Loudmouth allowed his trademark scream to be silenced like this, but it's certainly an interesting listen as a result. Half the time, you can't even tell he's in there!
Luckily, Greg ... read more

Okay, they're getting it together. Finally. This is metal, but it's not messy overlong crap metal, like SOME albums I know! These are well-produced and slick (but loud and creative) new melodies presented in a pretty orange sleeve. Diverse, too, thanks to musical input from other non-Greg sorts of folks, including bass player Kira, who contributes the obviously-written-by-a-bass-player-but-still-or-perhaps-as-a-result-absolutely-fantastic rockers "Best One Yet" and "I'm The ... read more

Well, it's better than Family Man, but that's a lot like being better than a hot dog with urine and vomit all over it. I don't know. Go to Hell.
Let's start over, you and I. Forget our differences and go the high road for once. Herein begins the "Black Flag as overblown sex-crazed rock 'n' rollin' juggernauts" portion of their career. Greg Ginn musta not been gettin' any of that stuff, cuz he sure couldn't stop writing about it! This title track is repulsive, even before the girl ... read more

Without a doubt, one of the most godawful albums ever pressed. The first half is Henry Rollins reciting bad poetry (FYI: Some of the Henry spoken word stuff on other records is actually very entertaining - especially the more humor-oriented material, but this particular batch can best be described as "moronic drivel"), and the second half is Greg Ginn leading his band through a series of tuneless, pointless, ugly improvisational jams. On only one track does Henry join the clutter - ... read more