Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy.
New Black Sabbath album! Sounded like a good idea at first. All the original members... kinda. Ozzy on vocals again, Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass, but no Bill Ward on drums. Instead, they had Brad Wilk from Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave as a "session drummer", whatever the hell that means. I guess he played drums for everything but doesn't get paid as much as the other three. Apparently Bill Ward had a disagreement about his contract or the payment or something and dropped out before recording. Another reason I thought it would end up being a decent album is because they had Rick Rubin producing it. Rick Rubin's done tons of albums, including work on a few Slayer albums, Danzig, Johnny Cash, Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, ZZ Top, etc. Usually everything Rick Rubin touches turns to gold.I've briefly listened to the whole album. It's been reviewed by many as being a return to their early sound, and I suppose it is, but it sounds a little... forced. I'm not hugely impressed with it so far. It seems like they've tried a little too hard to kinda copy their second album Paranoid, especially with the placement of the songs on the album. One song sounds like a WAY too obvious attempt to sound like the song Planet Caravan, complete with bongos, watery chorused vocals, and a clean guitar solo at the end. And then the very next song starts off with unaccompanied drums... just like Iron Man. And the placement of these songs would fall at the end of side A of a record if it were on a vinyl record... just like Paranoid.Not that I'm really HUGELY surprised by any of this though. For quite a while now, Ozzy has fallen into the category with the rest of the aging elderly rockers where they've become more of a nostalgic novelty act riding on their own coattails and quite unwilling to do anything new and interesting for fear of pissing off their fans by doing something too unexpected. But the main reason I'm so unimpressed by this latest album is that I know they're capable of making much better music than this. Heaven & Hell was put out AFTER Ozzy left the band, and it was lightyears more advanced than anything they ever did with him around. And Tony Iommi has only gotten better as a guitarist since then. So I think they could've done something more interesting than this. But... the fans wanna hear some dumbed down simplified doomy riffs like back in the early 70's, so that's what they do.Like I said, I've only given it a brief listen. It's not a bad album really, so I know I'll listen to it more. Maybe it's one of those albums that takes a few listenings to really get hooked on it./quote]I listened to the song you posted and agree with much of your opinion. Bottom line: these guys see a chance to make some retirement money and the blood sucking record companies oblige. I was thinking about a good name if they so choose...we're ALL old geezers now When I was 14 or 15 (circa1975) in a record shop I saw an older guy from my school and asked him what is now an odd question, "Is Black Sabbath hard rock"? He chuckled and said "I guess you could say so". I immediately bought "Sabotage" on 8-track. When I got home and put it in for the first time, I was blown away. THIS is what I had been seeking. I think I own a copy of everything they put out. When Ozzy first left, I thought it would be his loss. He put some really good bands together and showed me that he was more influential in Black Sabbath than I had thought. Saw him live not long after Randy Rhodes got killed and the replacement guitarist was bad to the bone (can't think of his name...). Someone threw a Confederate flag on stage and he tied it to the top of his mic stand. I still wish I could have seen Randy Rhodes live though.Heaven and Hell was a VERY good album because I think Ronnie James Dio brought a fresh energy to the band and his voice fit when many others wouldn't.As an aside, by best friend, band mate, and fellow Sabbath fan, used to wonder how Iommi could do those incredibly fast hammer-offs. As you probably know, he had part of his ring finger chopped off in a shop accident and wore a plastic prosthetic while playing. He could make that sucker bounce.
Quote from: Krlll Mule on July 09, 2013, 08:56:38 PMI immediately bought "Sabotage" on 8-track. When I got home and put it in for the first time, I was blown away. THIS is what I had been seeking. In my opinion, and I guess in the opinion of the record purchasing public too, Sabbath started sliding downhill starting with Sabotage in 1975. It had a couple hits like Symptom of the Universe and Am I Going Insane, along with a couple of deeper cuts that were kinda cool. Then in 76, they bombed with Technical Ecstasy. I wasn't even born at the time, but considering I've never seen a single song from that record among any of the "greatest hits" albums I've ever seen, I don't imagine anything off that one ever saw any airplay at the time. Honestly, I didn't think it was a "horrible" album. I have an old copy of it on vinyl, and I still spin it from time to time. And as bad as a lot of people thought Technical Ecstasy was, it didn't hold a candle to Never Say Die. Holy fuckbeans on a bun, that album STUNK! I dunno what the fuck went wrong there, but it was just soooo boring and so NOT anything like their earlier stuff. I think that was around 78 or 79 when they all got more preoccupied with snorting coke and arguing than with writing anything. It was almost pop sounding. Thank god they decided to split ways after that one. Turned out to be the best move for both parties. Sabbath ended up snagging Dio to make one of the best hard rock/metal albums of all time with Heaven and Hell, and Ozzy ended up with Randy Rhoads and they basically gave birth to the fusion of classical and metal. Sure, that ended up bringing us the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen, a regrettable unfortunate consequence, but I think Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman earns more than enough forgiveness for him.
I immediately bought "Sabotage" on 8-track. When I got home and put it in for the first time, I was blown away. THIS is what I had been seeking.
Fader, I think you mentioned the Flaming lips recently. If so, have you heard "The Terror"? You will really like it or hate it.....as a whole, I like it very much.
I didn't like any of their earlier stuff either. 1971's Meddle was decent. Dark Side of the Moon kicked ass obviously. Wish You Were Here was good. Animals was EXCELLENT, a little short with the number of songs, but it was about a 40-45min long album, and still very good. The Wall was a fucking masterpiece.
They were a band best suited for the progressive rock genre of the 70's. The mid-80's hit and they started trying to incorporate the synth sounds from that era, then they also started using more modern percussion techniques... shit like drum samples... and they approached drumming differently too.
They took several years to FIND that formula, and there was still plenty of room left for experimentation and creation within those boundaries. It was a successful formula, and they should've stuck with it longer than they did.
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November 22, 2024, 01:53:48 PM