Black Sabbath ‘Heaven and Hell’
Grimcastle, 1980
Gloon:
After two sub-par albums and numerous comings and goings Ozzy left the fray to pursue a solo career leaving Sabbath without a front man and in a way an identity. Enter Ronnie James Dio formerly of Elf and Rainbow fame. Not only did Dio give Sabbath a new identity he also managed to bring back the mystery and magic that the band once possessed. ‘Heaven and Hell’ saw Sabbath recreate themselves and with Dio’s more poetic lyrics and fantasy based themes they were leading in a new wave of Metal which was to be further explored by Maiden and Manowar. ‘Heaven and Hell’ is simply groundbreaking, for this to have come out in 1980 is astonishing and it deserves all the praise and accolades it receives. Kicking off with the now classic ‘Neon Knights’ you immediately notice the change in Sabbath’s sound and the range and scope that Dio’s vocals bring to the mix. ‘Die Young’ and the title track add weight to an already stacked album with both songs deserving equal billing with anything Black Sabbath had done prior. But for me the highlight has to be ‘Children of the Sea’ a mini epic combining great structuring, awesome lyrics and of course Dio’s metal god voice. For me Dio era Sabbath is the bench mark and I am disappointed that the Ozzy catalogue gets all the attention while gems like this are sometimes forgotten. If you’ve never liked Sabbath previous yet love your early Maiden and 80s traditional metal than grab this now, in my opinion easily Sabbath’s best album, no contest.
Favourite Tracks – Neon Knights, Children of the Sea, Heaven and Hell
Rating – 9/10


Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol
Vertigo, 1987
Gloon:
The Eternal Idol saw Sabbath once again play musical chairs with frontman as previous crooner Glen Hughes was fired after the recording of ‘The Seventh Star’ and replacement Ray Gillen recorded the album only to leave before the release, enter Tony Martin. Rather than once again tour with a different singer than what was on the album, Sabbath chose to re-record the vocals and replace them with Martin’s who was now to become Sabbath’s perennial back-up reserve vocalist into the 90’s. ‘The Eternal Idol’ saw Sabbath’s sound morph into a Heavy-Hard Rock (ala early 80s Priest) with galloping guitars and heaving stadium choruses, for which Martin’s mid range vocals were amply adequate. The organs were used sparingly and to good effect as a quiet background haunting rather than a forefront to the songs. Tracks such as ‘The Shining’ and ‘Ancient Warrior’ show Sabbath have lost nothing of their song writing ability and the acoustic instrumental ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ helps mix up the tempo perfectly. Overall a fine album though hardly earth shattering, this was to become the theme for Sabbath from now on as the legend began to fade.
Favourite Tracks – The Eternal Idol, The Shining, Ancient Warrior
Rating – 6.5/10


Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer
Reprise, 1992
Gloon:
Three words for ya baby ‘Dio is back!!!!!!’ Sabbath finally welcome back one of their favourite sons in Ronnie James Dio, and while both have been less than sterling in their recent efforts it was hoped that back together again they would once again shine, I empathize the word ‘hoped’. The album kicks off superbly with the crunching ‘Computer God’ adding some belief to hope that this could be special. What follows is a mixed bag of hit and miss heavy rockers with the doomy ‘After All (The Dead)’ and the stomping ‘I’ the only other standouts. So what happened? For starters Dio’s voice is not what it use to be and lyrically he doesn’t weave the same poetic magic as he use to in his earlier days. Secondly the band sound old and tired caught between their glorious past and the need to progress and still be relevant. Overall disappointing rather than horrible, there are still some good tracks to be found here and Dio is still the voice of metal. A small if frustratingly slight return to form.
Favourite Tracks – Computer God, I, After All (The Dead)
Rating – 7/10


Black Sabbath – Cross Purposes’
IRS, 1994
Gloon:
After only 2 years since the return of Dio, Sabbath once again find themselves with no vocalist at the helm. Dio couldn’t take playing second fiddle to Ozzy during a reunion tour and left, this time for good, so the band welcomes back a former vocalist yet again this time in the form of Tony Martin. ‘Cross Purposes’ shares a lot in common with the first album Martin featured on ‘The Eternal Idol’ with the use of haunting keyboards and rocking guitars creating a good balance between soft and hard. The album shows a lot of progression and modernization of sound from previous effort ‘Dehumanizer’ with the tempo being increased and the production less murky and more polished. ‘Cross Purposes’ starts off strongly with the first three tracks showcasing great song writing and good variation, ‘Cross of Thorns’ easily being the best track on the album. Other standouts include the slightly off-tempo ‘Immaculate Deception’ and the Cashmere-esque ‘Cardinal Sin’. The track that brings this album down however is the terrible ‘Virtual Death’ as it sees the band trying its hardest to be Alice in Chains and coming off sounding and looking plagrisingly bad. Once again Sabbath have produced a solid album without it being exceptionally grand, one can only imagine what Dio and co could have done second time around, well heres to dreaming.
Favourite Tracks – Cross of Thorns, Immaculate Deception, I Witness 
Rating – 7/10


Black Sabbath ‘The Dio Years’
Rhino Records, 2007
Gloon:
Ronnie James Dio is a metal legend and his work in Sabbath is often forgotten and ignored behind the shadow of the classic Osborne fronted era, however Dio’s contribution to the Sabbath catalogue can not be dismissed and his 4 studio ouputs with the band 1980’s Heaven And Hell, 1981's Mob Rules, 1982's Live Evil and then his return in 1992 for Dehumanizer spawned many classics and easily hold their own against their more praised predecessors. ‘The Dio Years’ is a compilation featuring the best songs from Dio’s short time with the band and there are no real surprises with the track listing: Children of the Sea, Neon Knights and Heaven and Hell are all no brainers however it’s the exclusions of ‘Sign of the Southern Cross’ and to a lesser extent ‘Time Machine’ which are the head scratchers. 
The Dio Years also includes three new songs recorded with Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice. "The Devil Cried," and  "Shadow Of The Wind" are classic epic numbers in the vein of ‘Children of the Sea’ and ‘Heaven and Hell’ while "Ear In The Wall," is a rockier number more reminiscent of his second stint with Sabbath on Dehumanizer. Overall this is a great little package but it begs the thought of why it couldn’t have been bigger spread over two disks with some demo stuff and unreleased extras. Apart from this small gripe the album is a must buy if only for the three new tracks and remastered versions of classics which no doubt everyone should have anyways. Hopefully Dio stays and Sabbath can return to the studio for a REAL reunion album.
Favourite Tracks – All
Rating – 8.5/10
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