It would be great if one of these days somebody could surprise us all and state that Sabbath`s best albums are Technical Ecstasy or Never Say Die or even albums like Born Again and the Glenn Hughes album Seventh Star.

Born Again does have its diehard defenders and fans, ya know

The problem with that album is that Ian Gillan didn`t fit in with the band and at times the album sounds lacklustre..........had they really gone for it with some belief it could`ve been very different.

I think the following Seventh Star album with Glenn Hughes to be a much better album.

i will eventually check out the RJ Dio Sab albums soon

Heaven and Hell and MOB Rules are absolute metal classics. He rejoined several years later with the Dehumanizer album (an album I`ve never heard) but now that I remember it will soon give it a listen.

Dehumanizer is a great album. Totally forgotten by most people, unfortunately.

What do you think of the Tony Martin albums, he practically sound like Dio?

there's also a pretty good Balck Sabbath but not quite Black Sabbath album with RJ Dio

2009's Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know

Yer it was like a one-off reunion of the Sabbath Mob Rules line-up.

I wouldn't say that Dehumanizer is a Dio's best with Sabbath but it is the one I listen to the most actually. I absolutely love it. Real raw, no bull metal.

The Devil You Know was an acceptable album too. Nothing amazing but solid. And as has already been mentioned, it was the Mob Rules line-up. They just weren't allowed to use the Black Sabbath name. I think Ozzy has the rights to that now, doesn't he? Or something along those lines anyway.

there should be an option for that Heaven & Hell album

current fave at the mo', cos it sounds so.... "Malay"

I just can't comprehend how my two favourite Ozzy-era Sabbath album's, Vol 4 and Sabotage, have a combined total of three votes while my two least favourites (bar maybe Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die, which I hardly ever listen to), Paranoid and Black Sabbath, are winning this poll by a huge margin.

Sabotage I never thought was a great album anyway despite it having some killer tracks, but I`ll agree with Vol 4 its one of the Sabbath classics and far better than the debut which seems to have pinched most of its votes.

I`d rate the Ozzy albums like so:

Master of Reality> Paranoid> Sabbath Bloody Sabbath> Vol.4 (These are the four masterpieces) followed by Black Sabbath> Sabotage> and both Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die as far as I`m concerned are, nowhere near as bad as they are made out to be and have some good material on them.

For me it goes like this: Vol 4 > Sabotage > Master of Reality > Sabbath Bloody Sabbath > Black Sabbath > Paranoid (although the last two are interchangeable) > Technical Ecstasy > Never Say Die.

However I also agree that Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die are in no way bad albums, they are just the weakest two. The fact they were the final two with Ozzy as well means they get a heavier criticism. Had they been the bands first two albums, they would be treated with a little more leniency.

I think if they were the bands first 2, we would not be discussing them today.

Well, Paranoid and Sabotage. Megalomania is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Why not? If they had been the bands first two then they would either be forgotten about (which may be what you mean) or they would be seen in a much more generous light as stepping stones to greatness, rather than the albums that dragged Sabbaths stock down a little before Ozzy left.

I guess in short what I am saying is if they started out on a low point like those 2 albums rather than a high note like their first, would they have the influence they do today?

Say they came out with something like those albums, sure it could be a stepping stone to much greater things, but in the time it took them to get to those greater things, another band would have probably released something off the bat that was great and gotten the credit that Sabbath has today. I think the reason they are held in the regard they are is cause at the time they came out, they released something amazing and different. Had they not released that, they would have just been passed aside and another band would have taken their place in the influence department.

Could also argue I suppose that had they started with one of those 2, they would have still had some sort of influence, but not on the level of what they have now.

Hopefully you get what I am saying with this and it isn't just something that makes more sense in my head...

I think everyone knows what you're trying to say Bastard, but your assumption carries no validity worth the argument, I would stick to the actual (facts) related to the musical genealogy of the genres, bands, and artist.

I must say my friend, that your knowledge concerning bands that you are already familiar with is very "impressive" in the forums at times, to say the least.:D

It is a very cliched statement but I still maintain that if you could only have one 'metal' band in your collection it would be Black Sabbath always.

I played the album Paranoid for the first time in a couple of years a few days back and it still blew me away. It is not my favourite of theirs. I don't like the title track and Iron Man doesn't do a lot for me but the last 4 tracks are just insane. The drum patterns in Rat Salad. The chunky riffs in Hand Of Doom. The effortless tempo changes in Fairies Wear Boots and all this from a band that were literally making it up as they went along.

Masters Of Reality is probably my favourite album though. The tempo change on After Forever and the main riff on Into The Void have never been bettered in my eyes.

Never Say Die.
 

Progressive related/progressive rock.

(1978) Black Sabbaths 8th studio album Never Say Die.

My favorite singles on the album are Shock Wave and Air Dance. I like the way Shock Wave kicks into a different gear (sound/style) in the second verse.

I don't care for the intro at the beginning of the song Air Dance. But it is a rock classic! I just love the "Jazz" influence during the song.

Johnny Blade and a few other singles on the album are OK..

Psycho man!

^^and you're a piss poor spammer, the last one nearly had me killing him

I prefer Technical Ecstacy to Never Say Die any day. Who's with me!?

I haven't listened to much more than Paranoid, the one I choose. I've owned Vol. 4 for a few years now but it didn't do that much for me, then I've owned Master of Reality for about a year now and only really got Sweet Leaf. Bought their 1st a few weeks ago and I didn't like the structure that the songs were in, that they had several different ones all on one track (though I suppose that a listen of the LP would be nice for there isn't a solid track structure when it comes to records), but I'd have to say that out of all of them Paranoid and s/t are my faves.

I also own Sabbath Bloody Sabbath for a few years now, didn't think of that till the last sentence, so I guess that one was pretty forgettable to me. I do, however, feel the need to listen to those that I own chronologically one of these days. Here's hoping for a listen here soon.

Gotta be their debut. As someoe mentioned earlier, it's a lot more consistent than paranoid and just about anything they've done, Every song is strong.

As much as I love sabbath, I cannot get into the dio era at all. I'm not even really an ozzy fan outside of sabbath, I love bill, tony and geezer, but that band was just at its best in its original form.

I'll say Paranoid--side two's riffs are among metal's best. But the one I've listened to the most recently is Born Again. Awful producion, but Iommi's on fire. Check out the solos on "Trashed" and "Zero the Hero."

I am not a big fan of Mob Rules (although Falling Off The Edge Of The World is a monster track) but Heaven and Hell is a really great album and basically provided the blueprint for the band Dio and it's a better album than Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die. I will say that Junior's Eyes (from Never Say Die) is one of my favourite late era Ozzy tracks though.

Sabotage is my favourite. Although "Am I Going Insane" is pretty unlistenable, there are some epic tracks on there like "Symptom of the Universe" and "Megalomania", which is my all around favourite Sabbath tune. For me, Sabotage is one of those albums that I listened to nonstop in junior high and high school that I can still listen to and love just as much. I've overplayed Paranoid so it's not as great anymore, but I'd say that's my second favourite. I love all of their Ozzy era stuff and, like blastingas10, I can't get into the Dio era, even though I'm a fan of his solo work and Rainbow.

Anyways, it's definitely Sabotage for me.

You forgot "Sign of the Southern Cross"! That's a metal mastertrack!

I love Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules. I just got Dehumanizer. I loved anything Dio did. He truly was God, to me anyway.

I voted for my favorite album, "Heaven And Hell"--Ronnie James Dio is still on top of my
very short list of favorite vocalists, and his addition to the band gave it a welcome reboot.

That said, my second pick by a hair is "Master Of Reality"--the first Sabbath album I heard
back in the day. Just awesome tunes from start to finish, going to go listen to it right now
before bed...

Not to say that Dio Sabbath was better, but Heaven and Hell was just a masterpiece. Ozzy's voice was the identity of the band, and a lot of the song structure was written around his voice.

In contrast, you have Dio's powerful vocals that really seems to contrast Ozzy in some regards, especially how the songs were written; Ozzy often sang parts that were parallel to the guitar lead (N.I.B., Paranoid) and Dio did his own thing.

Yes, Ozzy was Black Sabbath, but a change in identity cannot change the fact that Heaven and Hell was perfect.

Can I say 'The Best of Black Sabbath'... the first album I heard was Paranoid so I will have to stick with it, it must have made an impression

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Incredible album envisioned in the dungeons of Clearwell Castle in The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"We Sold Our Soul to Rock n Roll" is a much better comp

One of my favorite albums. Its Air Dance or Over To You 1st. Then Johnny Blade, Shock Wave, and I like the softer touch BS produced with Juniors Eyes as well.

They have pretty much the same track listing between them, with The Best of having some extra stuff from albums released after that point.

Plus "We Sold..." doesn't have "Electric Funeral", "Into the Void", "Supernaut" or "Symptom of the Universe" , points off for that.

If between "The Best of" or "We Sold Our..", I would go with the former, a tad bit more comprehensive.

Between Ozzy and Dio, I think Dio is a better singer, BUT I prefer the raw sound of early Sabbath. I chose Master of Reality simply because I don't think there is a bad song on there. It had both quality AND quantity.
My second choice would have been Heaven and Hell, and my third would have been Paranoid.

I know its not as renowned as Paranoid, but I love Toni Iommi's guitar sound on Sabatoge, for me its a blueprint for a lot of the stuff that would follow in the 80's.