about Black Sabbath!

[stormcrow]

your thoughts about Black Sabbath's eras: Ozzy, Dio, Martin/Hughes/Gillan... 

[anfortas]

I haven't really listened to Black Sabbath in a long time now, but did so a lot, when I began to get into metal about 15 years ago. I only really listened to Dio and Ozzy era Black Sabbath, and know only very few songs from later eras, so I can only say something to that 2 eras.

While I like Dio more as a vocalist, I prefer the songs from the Ozzy era, mostly because of their doom elements. That's why I really love their Live Evil album from 1982, Ozzy era songs with Dio on vocals.
What made this band stand out for me back at the time, was their prominent use of the bass. It's not just accompanying the guitar but playing its own great melodies.

[toodarkpark]

BLACK SABBATH is best!!!

[stormcrow]

this is my experience: I got into BS because a friend of mine dubbed the "Dehumanizer" cassette many years ago. I have to say that I LOVE each era of Black Sabbath for different reasons: the Ozzy years for creativity, the Dio stuff because it clearly sounds like a blend of old Black Sabbath and Rainbow, the Tony Martin albums just because they're excellent products of 80s Heavy Metal.
You can see quite often the Tyr or the Headless Cross albums spinning in my stereo...

[poppet108]

Absolutely love the sabb.
I feel like my favorite album by them is Master of reality, but it's impossible to choose as they all have great songs on them.
Born again, dehumanizer and headless cross are all super underrated.

[DieuxDesCimetieres]

Black Sabbath was one of the first bands I ever got into as a kid in the early 90's. I love basically everything (including the album they released as Heaven & Hell) except for Forbidden and 13, which are kind of mediocre albums. I love some of their underrated albums very much, such as Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes on vocals; it's totally US-style soft AOR blues rock or whatever, but still kicks ass. Same goes for Born Again, and the stuff they released with Tony Martin. And the classics are, of course, classics all for a good reason.

I saw 'em live twice after the reunion, in 1997 and 1998 I think, and both are cherished memories. Especially '98, in the front row for the entire set. Sure blew this young kids' mind! My only regret is that I never saw them with any other singer. I would have LOVED to see a Tony Martin fronted version of Black Sabbath perform!

Funny fact nobody here cares about: on every single CD player I have ever owned, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath has been the first album I played. At first it was just chance, but nowadays it is on purpose - I can instantly tell if the sound is any good.

[thekeeper]

Sabbath was a huge influence on me growing up. Played a ton of Sabbath songs on guitar when I was learning. Always thought Neon Knights was really fun to play. My dad would often play some tracks from Paranoid in the car, and I eventually picked my own copy the CD since I hadn't heard the full thing. Electric Funeral blew my mind. It's almost more evil than the title track on the first album. I think Master of Reality is their best album. Played that tape a lot in high-school. Into the Void is in their top 5 songs, easily. That opening riff is ridiculous.

Despite my love for Sabbath and their influence on me, I think Ozzy's band (feels weird to call it a solo project) got me into guitar earlier on than Sabbath, actually. Randy Rhoads was my guitar hero for a long time. His guitar tone was crazy and as a kid who was just learning guitar, it seemed liked he could do anything. Could shred, write great chord progressions, throw in some weird timing, could write heavy chugging riffs or fast high string melodies, could sound pure evil or beautiful. Really got me wanting a Les Paul, that iconic cream colored one. I learned to read tabs from the back of a guitar magazine with him on the cover. Think it was called Guitar Player or something. Forget what song was in it. Might have been Diary of a Madman, which still has one of the best riffs of all time.

[skirmisher]

I would even divide the Ozzy era to phases 1 and 2. Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master of Reality are to me the Black Sabbath. In my opinion it was the most influential phenomenon that has ever happened in anything that's even remotely related to heavy rock music and it had an immense impact on me as a person and as a musician. Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage had some good moments but I don't think they are nearly as relevant or good albums as the first three. Anything after that, nah. I don't really care about any of that. I never really liked anything Dio did that much. Just not my cup of tea.

[beeebon]

Black Sabbath is my favourite band of all time. Their first six albums are some of the most influential music ever recorded and some of the most powerful, I might sometimes go a year or two without listening to them but when I do again it always sounds so incredibly fresh.

Admittedly I haven't heard every Sabbath album but I really like the Dio era and I think Headless Cross and Eternal Idol are two very overlooked 80s metal albums.

[stormcrow]

The most curious thing is that "Born again" seems to be the only 80s-BS album that has been actually reconsidered in recent times.
I am honest, to me that album sounds like SHIT, nothing more and nothing less. And the actual problem with Gillan is not only about his incompatibility with Sabbath's sound, to my ears Gillan's voice started being weak right after Made in Japan was released. He was impressive until 1972, but -like most of 60/70 singers, with rare exceptions- his quality lasted just a few years. When he joined Sabbath (and recorded "Perfect strangers" with DP mark II) he was ANOTHER singer, definitely not a hard rock / heavy metal voice.
Plus, I don't like the Born Again tracks themselves in terms of songwriting. So, I really can't explain myself the rediscover of that album...