Sitting here listening to the full new Black Sabbath album for the first time start to finish. I like much of what I hear but think this will take some time as many of the songs are long and in much of the same tempo. “Loner” seems to be the one track at 4 minutes and a bit more uptempo. Like the production, Tony is the riff king, Geezer rules as always, and Ozzy sounds good on it. In the absence of Bill Ward sounds like Brad Wilk does a great job. It’s obvious the band spent time listening to their first album at the direction of Rick Rubin. They literally rip themselves off at times. “Emd Of The Beginning” is the song Black Sabbath! The end of the album “Dear Father” also sounds like a direct sample of the open of the song “BLack Sabbath” (and makes for a nice way to close what might be their final album, since it opens the first one in 1970) But if the creators of metal can’t borrow from themselves after being borrowed from for decades who can? I’m still digesting this and will have more of a feeling for it after a few listens. But for a band in it’s 43rd year of making records on first listen it’s better than anyone could have expected, especially when you consider the new tracks they did with Ozzy for the Reunion collection which were not strong in my opinion. Also great to see the strong first week sales for this album around the world. Much is being made of this and rightfully so, it’s great to see for the band and metal, but the REAL test will be where the album is chart and sales wise in 3-4 weeks from now. Most legendary classic bands with huge fan bases have great first week or two sales and chart standing. The real test is after the base buys the album what happens? Most drop off the radar quickly. This is due to the lack of any real radio or video support to keep it going and bring in new audiences. This is far from a commercial album so it will be a challenge for the label to keep it alive outside of specialty shows like mine once the first week buzz slows. So let’s hope Sabbath can land a number 1 in the US in week 1. After that it will be virtually impossible. Just a bi product of the music industry today. Hope to have Geezer and or Tony on the radio shows soon to discuss all. They have been frequent guests in the past. MOST important let’s hope Tony continues his recovery to good health! As always we welcome your thoughts and opinions as well!
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27 Responses
I think their new album is great! It’s flawless! There’s a lot of influence from their original stuff but that is what Rubin was focusing on. That’s what makes it awesome! Geezer, has delivered as well as the brilliant Tony Iommi, who has proven time and time again that he IS the Iron Man! Ozzy Osbourne, to me, is a true legend who has always had his fair share of criticism and yet he always manages to overcome all the obstacles in his life, and at 64, his abundent energy and love for entertaining his fans is unstoppable!!
I hope that your radio station continues to play “13” for many more years to come and that everyone else will follow suit as this album deserves it!
I give “13” a 10/10!
The 4 most rockin uptempo songs are on the bonus disc.
1. METHADEMIC 2. PEACE OF MIND
3. PARIAH 4. NAIVETE IN BLACK
THEY STILL DELIVER!!
Eddie, I love everything you do for metal and hard rock, keeping the flag flying and respect your opinions on everything. I listen to your radio shows, watch TMS religiously, HUGE FAN!!, but for god’s sake it’s taking you this long to digest what is a fantastic album Sabbath has recorded from start to finish, extra tracks and all, I was hooked from the time the first single came out to the first time listening to the entire album, it’s masterpiece of music with quality songs throughout that fits in their great catalog of music by great musicians that are still on top of their game. Despite his problems singing live now, Ozzy sounds great on this album. Sabbath have always done long and short songs, regardless of how long the songs are, C’mon Eddie the songs are fantastic, God is dead?, Loner, Damaged soul, Dear Father, Live forever, methademic, Pariah etc, etc. This is a band clicking on all cylinders. We got two great albums from the fathers of heavy metal, the other being The Devil you know with Dio.
I love the new Sabbath album!!! Anyone who likes classic Sabbath will love this. Thought Wilk did a great job.
for 60 year old guys to rock out like this is inspirational (though age shouldn’t be any deciding factor on it the music rocks or not). Several songs Tony and Geezer are playing some intricate stuff perfectly together. Young guys couldn’t keep up! Sounds great.
Also glad to see that Richie Blackmore (Blackmore’s Night), Deep Purple and Black Sabbath all still releasing new music in this day and age. Keep the music alive!!!