Black Sabbath --- 13
 

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Black Sabbath --- 13

10/6/13

End of the beginning
God is dead?
Loner
Zeitgeist
Age of reason
Live forever
Damaged soul
Dear father

I didn't find this half as bad as I thought it would be. The idea of Ozzy coming back filled me with ambivalence: could be good, could be bad. I think it ends up being more of the former than the latter. Good and heavy with typical dominance by Tony Iommi but I feel it tries to recreate (whether intentionally or not) the atmosphere and even some of the melodies off the original debut album, even down to the ending of the whole thing, with the thunder, church bells and rain that opens the title track on their first ever album.

I was surprised to find though that I do actually like it, and it's growing on me more as I listen each time.

Not the greatest value though: eight tracks only? Eight? What is this, the seventies? :rolleyes:

Why should you add more songs to an album just for "value's" sake? Some of my favorite albums I love partially because they're short. A thirty minute album with less than ten songs can feel like a much more cohesive listening experience than an hour long behemoth album with twenty-six songs. Sometimes I even say the less songs the better. I love Deep Purple for making albums with only seven songs on them.

Well I just come from a time when eight tracks (hah! I KNOW you hate that word!) was all ya got cos that's all they could fit on th erecord, so nowadays when people have 15/20 or more tracks on it seems better value. Chances are, even if you hate 10 you may like 5, but with eight only your choices are a little limited. Don't get me wrong: I don't condone jamming up an album with unnecessary tracks, and anyway I only paid a dollar for my copy of this one, but had I been going to splurge on a CD, at 20 Euro or so I'd expect more than eight tracks. Some are long but there are no monsters, and considering it's kind of Sabs' comeback album, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the quantity.

That said, the quality's pretty damn higher than I expected.

Thought it was OK but I doubt I'll listen to it again.

The music was pretty good, Ozzy sounded a bit bland which can be forgiven considering his age and condition.

If you wanted a decent Black Sabbath album, you got a decent Black Sabbath album.

Jayzus Fluff! Haven't heard from ya in ages! How are ya? Guess it's the fact that there's no footy on the telly: ah, roll on August eh? :soccer:

All good mate, just boiling atm, really hot. Ta for asking. :cool:

Is it just me, or does the album seem way too long? I liked Black Sabbath and some of their work was quite good, but there is only so many ways that you can play these sweeping power riffs along with thunderous drum beats......I think less is more here. Perhaps 7, or eight songs and we could go with "Lucky 7 " for the title, or something.....

I didn't like it at all. But seldom does a band of legendary senior citizens ever release really inspired new material.

I thought it was pretty decent. Yeah they knocked themselves off a bunch of times, but I think that's exactly what they needed to do. I think it was a little gimmicky, though. I realize that "End Of The Beginning" might not sound exactly like "Black Sabbath", but it's so similar in almost every way. That's what Rick Rubin does, though.

It sounds like Black Sabbath, though, and that's all they really needed to do. Really liked "Damaged Soul".