A few songs from the only Ian Gillian album Sabbath recorded came up on random this weekend. It's a dense record. I think Gillian is as good a fit for Sabbath as Ozzy and Dio ever were. The artwork is ridiculous, but I don't think the album itself deserves the crap it gets.

Or does it?

Double post

I enjoy it more than the Dio ones, although I’ll admit I like those better in my old age than I did when I first heard them.

Tony Iommi's most uh... "interesting" guitar tone, that's for sure. But I'd be lying if i said I didn't enjoy this record. Sonically, it makes Technical Ecstasy sound like a Stevie Wonder record. It's like they were storing the cocaine IN their ear canals.

Trashed is a pretty weird song on a few levels. Most of them are, really.

The song Born Again is the tits though. Like they said "Ian...just write some evil satanic-panic type shit". He's like, "done and done!"

"The grey and plastic retards all floating in circles". haha.

Disturbing The Priest!!!

Barely not crap, but heavy metal-era Sabbath (from Dio onwards), while still bearable, is nowhere near the league of the first six records.

There are a couple dogs on that one, but not crap. I mean, "Disturbing the Priest". That's gotta be the most evil intro of any Sabbath song. I'd recommend The Manor Tapes over the official version.

My first thought was meh: some great riffs, but ddddddreadful production and it kinda comes across as rushed and a bit trashy, which you couldn't say about the Dio era records. I'm sure it was a blast to make, though.

Uh... just about N.C, like Headless Cross. But it ain't great.

The Dark into Zero the Hero sounds like it's coming from another dimension. NC for that alone.

Sharon Osbourne is lucky that MTV executives didn't need "Digital Bitch".