Even now, after Ozzy Osbourne has become a beloved figure, embraced even by conservative politicians, it's amazing that the leader of a band as anti-social and malevolent as...
more >
Beware, my children: 'Tis the eve of the consumerist holiday season, which means we are about to be attacked with some of the most dastardly schemes the record industry...
more >
Spanning 32 tracks and two discs, Sanctuary/Castle's The Best of Black Sabbath is arguably the best overview/introduction of the legendary metal band yet assembled. Although...
more >
This import, three-CD box set collects Black Sabbath's first six albums in near-entirety, excising a few lesser tracks and shorter instrumental pieces like "Laguna Sunrise,"...
more >
We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll is a good single-disc collection of many -- but not all -- of Black Sabbath's best tracks from the Ozzy Osbourne era, drawing about half...
more >
By the late '80s everyone had pretty much given up on Black Sabbath...and why not? Guitarist Tony Iommi was the only remaining original member and the band had seen an...
more >
This particular Best of Black Sabbath compilation should have, in big bold letters on the cover, "without Ozzy." These ten tracks are taken from the IRS albums the band...
more >
Slightly less apocalyptic (more occulty) and downright trippy (albeit gloomily so) in execution, this doesn't contain as many concise hits as Paranoid, but features some...
more >
Black Sabbath's debut album is given over to lengthy songs and suite-like pieces where individual songs blur together and riffs pound away one after another, frequently...
more >
Another stint with Ronnie James Dio. Unfortunately, if anything, Dio's uber-vocals actually make this album sound even more like the derivative youngsters Sabbath...
more >
From the group many credit with creating metal, guitarist Tony Iommi resurrected an earlier lineup of Black Sabbath for Dehumanizer. As is their wont, the Sabs show concern...
more >
The first and most significant album with Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Leaner, meaner and thankfully sans prog fetish, this recaptures something of Sabbath's grinding might,...
more >
Many had left Black Sabbath for dead at the dawn of the '80s, and with good reason -- the band's last few albums were not even close to their early classics, and original...
more >
Black Sabbath was unraveling at an alarming rate around the time of their second to last album with original singer Ozzy Osbourne, 1976's Technical Ecstasy. The band was...
more >
When it comes to classic Sabbath material, it's hard to go wrong, but as good as the band may sound here, this vocalist (no credits appear in the liner notes) sounds...
more >
Black Sabbath's first attempt at an official live album was the straw that broke the camel's back; or rather, it split the band's second lineup right down the middle. Band...
more >
After years of playing musical chairs with various singers during the early '80s, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi finally found a dependable frontman with unknown Tony...
more >
With Paranoid, Black Sabbath perfected the formula for their lumbering heavy metal. On its follow-up, Master of Reality, the group merely repeated the formula, setting the...
more >
1981's Mob Rules was the second Black Sabbath album to feature vertically challenged singer Ronnie James Dio, whose powerful pipes and Dungeons and Dragons lyrics initially...
more >
After quitting briefly following the band's previous tour, singer Ozzy Osbourne returned to Black Sabbath for 1978's Never Say Die -- an album whose unfocused songs...
more >
To celebrate the release of Heaven & Hell, Sabbath's first album without Ozzy Osbourne, Warner released the record as a double-LP set with the group's best album, Paranoid....
more >
With 1973's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (their fifth masterpiece in four years), Black Sabbath made a concerted effort to raise their creative stakes and dispensed unprecedented...
more >
Osbourne Sounds a bit strained, peculiar choral melodrama blossoms in "Supertzar" and synthesizers begin to rear their ugly heads. Overall, a sturdy effort. Highlight:...
more >
Years of constant touring, alcoholism, and drug abuse finally began to affect Black Sabbath around the time of their fifth release, 1975's Sabotage. While it's not a bad...
more >
An often misunderstood and underrated album, 1986's Seventh Star was never intended to be a Black Sabbath release, as the band had effectively broken up following their...
more >
"Tyr--son of Odin and the supreme sky god of the Northern peoples," reads a note on the back cover. "The god of war and martial valour, the protector of the community, and...
more >
Gothic in approach, but crushing guitar riffs galore, TYR followed Black Sabbath's previous return to the spotlight by less than a year. Again leaning heavily on the darker...
more >
What was experimental eclecticism on Master Of Reality mutates into unfocused rambling. True, it does contain the mighty "Supernaut" and the compelling "Snowblind," but on...
more >
Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 is just a cut below its two indisputably classic predecessors, as it begins to run out of steam -- and memorable riffs -- toward the end. However, it...
more >
Incredibly, Sabbath beat the Smashing Pumpkins with an ode to "Zero The Hero" (not the Schoolhouse Rock song) and actually recorded a number called "Stonehenge" before the...
more >
For most heavy metal fans, just the thought of ex-Deep Purple shrieker Ian Gillan joining forces with Black Sabbath would seem like nirvana. And that's just what happened in...
more >
An unwieldy four-disc, 52-track box set, Under Wheels of Confusion: 1970-1987 nevertheless contains the bulk of Black Sabbath's best work, from the seminal Ozzy Osbourne...
more >
Though it was conceived as a mere cash-in for the long-awaited return of the original Black Sabbath, 1998's Reunion is as close to an official live album as the band has had...
more >
