Tag Archives: Black Sabbath

Derivative Works, Influenced, Music

Black Sabbath – 13

When I heard that Ozzy Osbourne had returned to Black Sabbath and that they are going to write and record new music, I was excited.  I was expecting this state of the art album, that would stay true to the Black Sabbath legacy, and an album that defines a new modern legacy for the band.

Then I heard that Rick Rubin was hired and to be honest I was concerned.  Rick Rubin was a master producer.  These days, he just gets bands to recreate albums that they have already created.  I have listened to the new Black Sabbath album a lot on Spotify.

The problem that I have with it, is that it tries too hard to recreate the first four Black Sabbath albums.  However, one thing I do like is that they have stayed away from the Verse – Chorus – Verse – Chorus – Bridge – Solo – Chorus structure.

God Is Dead should have been a fantastic song, only if it was edited down to about six minutes.  The clean tone intro moving into the heavy crunchy riff stays true to the Black Sabbath legacy, while also creating a new modern legacy for the band.  At one stage, Diary Of A Madman popped in my head.  In my opinion, the extra three minutes just drag it out.

End Of The Beginning tries to recreate the song Black Sabbath just a bit too much.  Loner also falls into the same boat, borrowing very heavily from N.I.B.  Live Forever borrows from Fairies Wear Boots.

Zeitgeist on the other hand was surprising, with it’s Emerson Lake Palmer From The Beginning vibe.

Damaged Soul also falls into the surprising category, as it is a blues dirge in the vein of Dazed and Confused from Led Zeppelin merged with Dirty Women, Into The Void and Electric Funeral from Sabbath.  Iommi is at his best when he references the blues genre for Sabbath and I don’t believe he gets the respect he deserves for it.  His lead break is up there with all the blues greats.

Dear Father also has that Into The Void heaviness, however it really borrows a lot from War Pigs and Behind The Wall of Sleep.  I really like that Beatles She’s So Heavy chord progression.

Peace Of Mind is a D side Ozzy Osbourne solo cut.

If there is a song to recommend as almost perfect, it is Age of Reason.  It has everything in it that is Black Sabbath.  It is a nod to the past, a nod to the present and I am sure in twenty years time a new generation of musicians will be crediting this song as an influence.

Methademic is up there as well.  As with Age of Reason, I believe that this song will be talked about by a whole new generation of Black Sabbath fans, brought up on 13.  How good is that sinister acoustic intro, and boogie driven bass verse?  Iommi is in his element, rolling riff after riff.  There are so many blues references that he brings up in the riffs and he makes it sound effortlessly.

Pariah has a riff that is so familiar, I just cant pin point the song.  At first I was thinking Guns N Roses, then I was thinking Deep Purple, then I was trying to rack my brain on a Black Sabbath song.  This is the kind of derivative work that I like.  It’s okay to reference yourself or another band, you just need to do it in a way, that invokes the feeling that Pariah invoked in me; it is familiar, yet i cant pinpoint it.

Overall, it is a comeback album that could set the foundation for the next album.  It has an album that the good, the bad and the ugly.

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Music, Treating Fans Like Shit

Predictions

A lot of changes have taken place in bands that we all love over the last 18 months.  Some good, some bad and some sad.

Slayer
Dave Lombardo found out online that he has officially been replaced by Paul Bostaph.  Main songwriter Jeff Hanneman sadly passed away. For the touring cycle, Hanneman has been replaced by Gary Holt from Exodus.

Prediction: Slayer will just tour from now on, playing the summer festival scene, without any new music being released.  The estate of Jeff Hanneman would fire off a legal letter to Slayer over unpaid royalties.

Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland is fired and then he claims he can’t be fired from the band.  Chester Bennington from Linkin Park is in as the new singer, and on top of that there is a lawsuit, where the STP guys are alleging that Weiland has broken the terms of a band agreement, which stipulates what each member can do outside of STP.

Prediction: This will just stay in the social media pages, with pot shots thrown at each party.  STP will do the Twentieth Anniversary tour for Core, and so will Scott Weiland.  Expect another Queensryche saga.

Bon Jovi
This is all about Richie Sambora.

First he didn’t turn up to a show.  Jon Bon Jovi then grabbed Phil X to fill in for Sambora and the PR machine issued a statement saying that Sambora had to leave the tour for personal reasons.  Fans are still purchasing tickets, only to see the band without him. Sambora remained quiet for some time and now the feuding is going public, with Sambora saying that Bon Jovi is making his return “very difficult”.  Bon Jovi then mentioned that Sambora is replaceable, whereas The Edge from U2 is not. Bon Jovi further stated, that Sambora wasn’t committed enough, and that his clothing business had taken up more of his time.  Sambora tweeted that is not the case, as his clothing business has been happening for 5 years, and music is and always is his first priority.

Prediction: This will get sorted. Jon and Richie will make up, record another album and then the same thing will happen again.

Queensryche

Geoff Tate is building a resume, that includes spitting at Scott Rockenfield, telling festival crowds they suck, pulls a knife at his band members, tell’s fans to record themselves telling him how bad his new album is (he actually thinks it’s funny) and now he takes a fans cell phone and throws it away.  This guy is all class.

The lawsuit over the name is in limbo land and the Todd LaTorre fronted Queensryche are about to release their album.

Prediction: Geoff Tate will be classified insane and then he will blame all the fans again, telling them they suck.  The Todd LaTorre fronted Queensryche version will also fail.

Machine Head 

Adam Duce was fired from the band because his heart wasn’t in it anymore.  No official replacement has been announced, however on-line bassist auditions have taken place and the list was whittled down to 8.

Prediction: Robb Flynn will ensure that Adam Duce is taken care off in relation to royalties payments post his departure.

Black Sabbath 

Prediction: The Bill Ward saga is over.  The band has moved on.  Black Sabbath will sell out their shows, however the new music will be hit and miss.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

Classic Album Closing Songs

Diary Of A Madman (1981)

Entries of confusion
Dear diary, I’m here to stay

What can I say, it had to be a Randy Rhoads song.  Diary shows the monster that Randy was becoming.  Despite being seen as Ozzy’s band, the star of the band is Randy Rhoads.

Diary Of A Madman is the perfect fusion of progressive metal, technical rock and sinister classical all rolled into one potent song.  As much as Sharon Osbourne tries to re-write Ozzy’s history, she can never re-write the music that was created.  The music comes from the guitar, bass and the keys, all instruments her beloved Ozzy doesn’t play.

Australian Bob Daisley as the lyricist and bassist is the unsung hero in Ozzy’s second coming.  He doesn’t even get credited as playing on the album, thanks to a spiteful Sharon Osbourne.  He was recruited from the Dio fronted Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.  How ironic, that Dio would leave Rainbow to sing for Black Sabbath, and Daisley would leave Rainbow to join the singer that Black Sabbath fired.

Hallowed Be Thy Name (1982)

Mark my words believe my soul lives on
Don’t worry now that I have gone
I’ve gone beyond to seek the truth

When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you’ll begin to understand
Life down there is just a strange illusion

It’s a Steve Harris composition, however the voice of Bruce Dickinson is the savior. It gave Iron Maiden the fire to break away from the New Wave of British Metal image and forge a new direction.  It made them relevant.

Iron Maiden became a household name on the back of The Number of The Beast along with it’s anthem Run To The Hills.

However the real star on this album is the closer, Hallowed Be Thy Name.  The definitive version is the live version featured on Live After Death (1985).  The tempo is increased slightly and Nicko McBrain (who replaced Clive Burr) on the drums, gives the song the fury it needs.  The song is about the last moments of a prisoner before the execution.

Who We Are (2011)

We are the young
And young at heart
The strong and the brave that are destined to start
We are the change
The world needs to see
Look in our eyes and see our belief

This is who we are
This is what I am
We have nowhere else to go
Divided we will stand

The mighty Machine Fucken Head.  It’s a Robb Flynn composition.  He should have changed the Divided We Will Stand to UNITED WE WILL STAND.  It would have fit the lyrical message of the song to a tee.  The only time we metal heads stand united as a metal show.  Apart from that, we are in a elite class of the genres we like.  I like Black Veil Brides.  Try telling that to my elite Slipknot and Mudvayne friends.  Do you get what I mean.

S.M.F (1984)

Black sheep of the family, nothing like the rest
Separate from the others, failing all their tests
Can’t they see you’re different, so hungry and so lean
You’re a walking wonder, you’re a metal machine
Look and you’ll see you’re a lot like me

You’re an S.M.F.

Any closing song that abbreviates the term Sick Mutha Fucker has my attention.  Twisted Sister was one band, that knew how to write songs for the live show.  Put that down to their 9 years of playing the club scenes before they even got a shitty independent deal.  Dee Snider was a master.

Of course the Stay Hungry album was known for the smash hits, We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock.  However the real star of the album is the ode to all of those Twisted SMF’s who supported the band.

The lyrical theme follows the same theme as We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock. It’s about metal fans versus the system and the family dynamic. This time the band is telling me, it’s okay to be different, it’s okay that I don’t fit a mold made for me.  There are others out there, that are experiencing the same and let our love of music, find us a home.

Shogun (2008)

Time has come to face all evil

It’s an epic.  The musicianship is excellent.  Trivium to me are part of the current Big 5 of metal bands, along with Machine Head (actually Machine Head to me are part of the Nineties Big 4 as well as the 2000’s Big 5), Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God and Five Finger Death Punch.

That time to face all evil came to me in 2010, however I should have faced it in 2008.  Avoiding it, only made it worse.

If you succeed in this battle
You still will lose so much more

Ain’t that the truth.  Winning a battle (albeit a court case, a street fight or a real battle) is one thing, dealing with the aftermath is another thing.

Aerials (2001)

Life is a waterfall
we’re one in the river
and one again after the fall…

life is a waterfall
we drink from the river
then we turn around and put up our walls

System Of A Down nailed it on Aerials.  They really captured their European Armenian minor key arrangements and fused it with modern metal. The music is written by guitarist and backing vocalist, Daron Malakian and the lyrics are shared between Serj Tankian and Malakian.  I got into SOAD because of the unique vocal style of Serj.  In bands, it doesn’t matter how great the music is, if the singer cannot connect with the listeners and deliver, then it’s time to find someone who can.

How true is the statement?  We flow into each day, into each routine without any effor and we could flow like that for days.  Then one day, it all changes and we are going down the waterfall.  It’s quick, it’s crazy and when we come out of it, we will flow again like we did, but we will be different.

 

The Count Of Tuscany (2009)

Could this be the end?
Is this the way I die?
Sitting here alone
No one by my side

I don’t understand
I don’t feel that I deserve this
What did I do wrong?
I just don’t understand

Dream Theater deserves a mention for this beauty.  The lyrics by Petrucci could have been better, however the last section makes up for it.  Furthermore, there is no denying the impact of the music.  I also have my own edited version, where I cut out that atmospheric 4 minute keyboard and guitar interlude.

The stars of the band have always been the guitarist and the keyboardist for me.  John Petrucci and Kevin Moore was Mark 1.  John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess is Mark 3.

The great fear in humans. Death.  There isn’t a subject on it.  Hell, there even isn’t a subject about getting old.  I know that the lyric lines quoted above are about how John Petrucci as a child, got lost on a family holiday in Italy and he was fearing for his life, in an Italian cellar with a strange-looking Christopher Lee.  The beauty of lyrics done right, means that they can also be taken in a different way.

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A to Z of Making It, Music

Megadeth

Dave Mustaine.  He has a mouth on him, an influential legacy, a chip on his shoulder called Metallica and an excellent outlet of creativity called Megadeth.  He is super creative on other fronts as well.  He is a book author. He runs his own label. He organises the Gigantour tours. In my view, he is the creator of technical metal riffing.

The shit he did in the early days of Metallica and Megadeth, set the standard for many bands to come.  He raised the bar.  As much as everyone credits James Hetfield for being this awesome riff machine, I believe that James knows deep inside, that angry young Dave Mustaine, was an influence on him.

I am just listening to a new song called Kingmaker from the upcoming album Super Collider.  The first thing that grabs my attention is the Children of The Grave influence in the verses.  At one stage the vocal melodies are identical.

I like it when artists give a nod to their influences.  Of course some “artists” create music in a vacuum and that is why they are so original and never influenced by anyone.  Yeah right, whoever tells you that is spinning bull shit on a grand scale.

It is way better than the major key happy feeling Super Collider.  Actually i wouldn’t be surprised if this song is a left over song from the Cryptic Writings or Risk album sessions.  It fits those musical styles.

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Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music

Saraya – Love Has Taken It’s Toll and Runnin Out Of Time

The band was formed in New Jersey, by Sandi Saraya and keyboard player Gregg Munier.  One of the first names they had was Alsace Lorraine.  They then travelled to LA to make it.  They didn’t make it and returned home broke, ready to start over again.  In interviews from 1989, Saraya has stated that the other members didn’t have the same commitment.  This always leads to tensions.   So the band dissolves and the nucleus of Saraya and Munier start again.  They keep on writing new songs.  Then songwriting great Sandy Linzer came into the picture.

Linzer assisted the band in obtaining management with David Sonenberg.  Sonenberg then organised an audition for Saraya and Munier, with Polygram Records.  The rest is history.  Saraya and Munier secured a record deal.

Throughout all of this Linzer was still in the picture, assisting Saraya and Munier in fine tuning the songs they had been writing.

Guitarist Tony Bruno Rey joined during this period, bringing along with him his other Swift Kick band mates, bassist Gary Taylor and drummer Chuck Bonfante.

Songwriting for the album took over a year.  Before Saraya signed with Polygram, she turned down another major label deal, because the label said to her, that all she needs to do is wear a skirt and they will find the songs for her.

The first album was released in 1989.  It was produced by Jeff Glixman.

I actually made the decision to purchase the album because I saw Glixman as the producer.  He had produced albums that I liked a lot, like Leftoverture and Point of Know Return from Kansas, Corridors of Power and Victims Of the Future by Gary Moore, The Eternal Idol by Black Sabbath and the classic Odyssey from Yngwie Malmsteen featuring the talented Joe Lynn Turner on vocals.  So to me it was a no brainer, Jeff was the man.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Production was world-class.

Love Has Taken It’s Toll was the lead single, and it is the opposite of what Timeless Love is.  It’s a classic rocker.  The song is written by Sandi Saraya, Tony Bruno Rey and Sandy Linzer.  The vocal track you hear from Sandi, is the dummy vocal that she recorded as a guide for the rest of the band.  She did it so good, it was decided that it should be used as the final cut.

I remember reading in an interview, that one of her influences was Glenn Hughes and that he never got the attention he deserved.  Fast forward 24 years, and it is the same for Sandi Saraya, she never got the attention she deserved.  She had impeccable timing, a bluesy swagger and sex appeal to match the vocals.

Runnin Out Of Time has that Ritchie Blackmore feel, sort of like Speed King, Highway Star and Death Alley Driver from Deep Purple and Rainbow all merged into one.  It’s written by Sandy Linzer, Gregg Munier and Sandi Saraya.  The lead break by Rey is a song within a song composition.  The guitar work is unbelievable and the Saraya is pushing her voice to the limit.  It feels like it’s she’s going to blow her voice at any minute.  This is my favourite track on the album.  It was exactly what I was into at that time.   Sandi said that one of her favourite instruments is a Charvel Jackson RR Flying V.  I am assuming that she wrote quite a few riffs for the album.  

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Music

Thirty Seconds To Mars

This is one band that I never expected to get into, however the very Tool / A Perfect Circle sounding first album got my attention back in the early days of the 2000’s and A Beautiful Lie solidified it.  This Is War had its epic moments and so far the new album LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS is shaping up to be another monster.

I am really digging Conquistador.  You can hear it being performed in a large arena.  It feels like that is what they had in mind during the writing stages, the big anthem.  Even it’s opening riff, reminds me of early Black Sabbath for some reason.  Maybe due to the fact that I have been cranking early Sabbath recently.

Shannon Leto on drums is very underrated.  A lot of the songs from Thirty Seconds To Mars have significant drum patterns that really take the songs to another level.  (I still remember the We Will Rock You pattern that Shannon did for Vox Populi from the This is War album).

It’s the complete opposite to the first single Up In The Air.  That is another form of promotion that Jared Leto has down pat.  Chalk it up to his acting days.  Each video clip is a statement, a mini movie, a saga.  It’s very rarely over in 4 minutes.  I really like that part of the band.  Two out of two so far.

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Music

Stone Sour – Children Of The Grave

Stone Sour – Children Of The Grave

“… without this band, no one back stage and no one out here, will have a career or a life.  This is dedicated to the band that started it all, Black Sabbath.”

Corey is spot on.  I know I have been tough on Sabbath and their new songs so far, however there is no denying their contribution to the metal genre.  

Children of The Grave is my best Sabbath song.  I still prefer the blistering Randy Rhoads version on Tribute.  It’s got more of a metal feel to it and the lead break that Randy unleashes is another one of his songs within a song lead break.

Stone Sour kills it, Corey’s vocals are spot on during the verses.  I like the Slipknot guest appearances.  What kind of forward flip was that from one of them?  They ended up on their asses.

Performing live is a tough gig.  On stage the sound is always different to what you think people are hearing.  I have walked of stages, thinking what a top show and then people come up and tell you, that the sound was horrible.

You notice the difference in sound, between the camera that is way out compared to the camera that is close in.

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Music, Stupidity, Uncategorized

Black Sabbath Debuting New Songs Live

If i was the Black Sabbath management team or marketing team, i would tell them one thing.  Just pick your best new song and play it.  The fans are not there for the new stuff.  They don’t even care about it.  They are there for the classics and if the new stuff is not on par with the classics, don’t play it.

Check out Loner, which is another new song from the greatest thing Ozzy has ever done department, the album 13.  It’s awful.  I know Ozzy is totally out of key and singing the song so bad, it makes the ears hurt.  Even if he did sing it in key, it still can’t help the song, because it is crap.  Watch the clip, every time Ozzy grabs the microphone to move around the stage, he takes one step, stops, realises something and moves back to the microphone stand.  WHY you ask?  That is where his teleprompter is.

So why play a new song if you don’t know the lyrics.  He was doing the same for the Sydney show I saw him.  The normal Sabbath songs that Ozzy performs on his solo tours, came easy to him and he was a different performer.  The other classic Sabbath songs, he had to read,  but not as much as the new ones.  You watch every live clip of the new songs, and Ozzy does the same movements.  His not singing, his reading, making it sound like he is attempting to sing.  It is karaoke in front of thousands, who paid up to $160 to watch them perform.

The irony of all this is that Ozzy went public with his version of Bill Ward’s ousting recently.  The thing is, it is clear that even Ozzy cant go on for a two and a half hour show.  Ozzy mentioned that Bill had post it notes on his drum kit, so that he can remember what to hit on certain songs.  So, how is that different from a teleprompter.

If these four songs are indicative of the album to come, it’s going to be a disappointment.

God Is Dead, is way too long for what it is.

End Of The Beginning is a dead set joke where they rip off their own Black Sabbath song.

Methademic has the best title i have seen in ages, but it is a shit song.

Loner = Methademic.

People have commented on the brilliant guitar riffs from Iommi.  I admit, those four songs have some cool riffs.  As a guitarist, I can appreciate that.  Cool riffs can’t make the song great, and to have a great song, you need more than just cool riffs.

To be honest, the song titles sound way better than what the songs sound at the moment.

I don’t know why Black Sabbath isn’t releasing the songs to be downloaded via iTunes or to be streamed.  It’s just a stupid business model that they are operating on.  The live versions out there, are pretty poorly recorded and Ozzy sounds completely out of tune, so get on the front foot and change peoples perception of the songs.  Release the auto tune, melodyne processed songs.

It looks Sharon cant compete with the Internet age, the best distribution system ever.

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Music

Black Sabbath – the final word

When I was checking the stats of the page, I saw that a lot of people where referred to my site by typing “Brad Wilk drum solo Allphones Arena” in Google.

So people are going to watch Black Sabbath, but they don’t even know who the drummer is performing live with them, even after Ozzy mentioned that “on drums we have Tommy Clueftos”.

I am a big Black Sabbath fan. That is the beauty of music, I like a lot of bands and styles. I like Machine Head, Dream Theater, Motley Crue, Killswitch Engage and so on. I even saw the set list on http://www.setlist.fm from the New Zealand and Brisbane shows, so that I could do a play list of the songs they would be playing live. More importantly, I knew who was playing on the stage for them. Why would I want to know that? That is what fans do, we want to know everything about our heroes. When information was scarce in the seventies and eighties about our heroes, we seemed to know more. Now with the rise of the internet and information at our fingertips, we seem to know less.

How a person can spend $160 on a ticket and not know who the drummer is beyond me?

Black Sabbath is an institution. The name of the band is now bigger than the individuals in it, I heard a person say. Sort of like Pink Floyd. Roger Waters thought he was Pink Floyd, and then when he left, he thought the band would end. Dave Gilmour had other ideas.

Will Black Sabbath fans care if Zakk Wylde fills in for Tony Iommi on certain dates of the North American tour? I’m not saying that Tony is ill or is pulling out, I am just getting that thought out there. All you need to do is glance back a year and see the Ozzy and friends shows played when Tony was undergoing cancer treatment.

Basically if Ozzy goes out on the road with his solo band and calls the tour Black Sabbath, I don’t believe people will care that it is not the original line up anymore. It has already happened. Remember, that Tony Iommi did the same with the Dio and Tony Martin versions of Black Sabbath. You can say the Dio version of Sabbath is the real deal as it featured three of the original members, however the Tony Martin era, was all new musicians and if anything should have been called Iommi.

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Music, My Stories

Black Sabbath – Are They Still Relevant?

I watched Black Sabbath at the Allphones Arena, in Sydney last night and i was wondering, if they are still relevant.

Black Sabbath owned the beginning of the 70’s.  Towards the end of that era the band was bleeding and Ozzy was fired.  The beginning of the 80’s, saw Black Sabbath have the Heaven and Hell period, with Ronnie James Dio on vocals.  After that, you can say the band didn’t really set the world of fire, however i must admit that i have a soft spot for the Eternal Idol and Headless Cross albums with Tony Martin on vocals.  The Dehumanizer album in 1992 with Dio was an attempt to make both Dio and Sabbath relevant in the 90’s, however it didn’t really hit the mark.  

In the crowd around me, there was an audience of young and old.  Fan T-Shirts of the younger generation showed a lot of Ozzy colours (especially the Diary/Blizzard era), so it is safe to say, that Ozzy’s solo career has played a big part in Sabbath finding a new audience.   That is how i got into Sabbath, from Ozzy’s solo career.

Then I saw Machine Head, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Rob Zombie and Metallica t-shirts on fans.  These concertgoers are fans of those bands, checking out Black Sabbath, as all of those bands have mentioned Sabbath as an influence.  Rob Zombie is one person who speaks very highly of Sabbath.

One thing that really irks me, is Rick Rubin.  He was an extraordinary producer once upon a time.  Not anymore.  Black Sabbath did wrong taking him on board for the new album.  From what I have heard so far, it is a dead set joke.  It is basically Black Sabbath 2013, covering Black Sabbath 1969 – 1972.

Black Sabbath of the 70’s questioned authority, challenged institutions and preyed on people’s fears of heaven and hell.  They don’t do that anymore.  Why is why the current music they are releasing sucks.

What happened to the two new tracks Psycho Man and Selling My Soul from the Reunion CD?   They are better than the two songs they have released so far from 13.  I was re-listening to God Is Dead! again.  I have given this song a few go’s now, trying to find something to like about it, as all the celebrity metal / rock musicians have spoken what a great song it is.  

It is still mediocre.  Then I came across a song called In Due Time from Killswitch Engage.  It got me interested.  It hit a nerve inside of me, and I needed to know more.  The melody in the music is captivating and heavy, the chorus is unbelievable melodic and catchy, the screaming in the verses borders on insanity… SHADOWS GIVE WAY TO LIGHT…  

Listening to In Due Time brought back memories of Live In Love from Times of Grace, which is more or less Adam and Jesse from Killswitch.  After listening to Live in Love, I went back to the 2009 Killswitch album and cranked The Forgotten, hearing Howard Jones singing it and if he is reading this, he will never be forgotten.

When i listen to Sabbath, i think of Randy Rhoads and the unbelievable version he did of Children of the Grave on the Tribute album.  When i listen to Sabbath, i think of Ronnie James Dio.  When i listen to Sabbath, i think of Ozzy.   To me Ozzy is more relevant than what Sabbath is.  Ozzy really didn’t have to go back to Sabbath for a new album, he didn’t need it.

So is Black Sabbath still relevant.  For their influence and legacy, YES.  As a band writing new music, NO.  It is great that they are attempting to release a new album, however as i have mentioned previously, if it is not great, people will move on.  Our time is short these days.

Life has its highs and it’s lows.  Careers are the same.  I don’t want to waste time listening to lame music anymore, I’m ready for great.  Black Sabbath have been away for a while now.  The Ozzfest shows gave them some leverage again.  People saw them, appreciated it, but no one was eagerly waiting for them to reform and do a new album.

The new Black Sabbath album will be a hit.  It will sell at least a million in my view.  These days, it’s not about the hit record anymore, it’s about sustaining the buzz.  In my mind, 13 is already in the rearview mirror and it hasn’t been released yet.     

 

 

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