BLACK SABBATH — Born Again (review)

Album · 1983 · Heavy Metal

3/5 · 2010-05-05
Time Signature

Trashed...

Genre: heavy metal

I am going to go against the stream and state that "Born Again" is an underrated album of sorts and that it is not a disasterous effort.

The choice was made recruit Ian Gillan after Dio had left, and that probably wasn't the best choice in the world. Ian Gillan is a great vocalist, but he just didn't fit into the Black Sabbath universe at all (he has himself described how he was out of place in so many ways - even the lyrical content was so alien to him that he couldn't remember the lyrics when performing with the band), and he was also dissatisfied with the production of the value ("I puked" was his comment) - and, truth be told, it's not Gillan best performance (according to him there were actually takes that we was much more satisfied with but which, strangely, were not chosen for the final mix).

Anyway, there are undoubtedly three quite good tracks on the album. The opening track "Trashed" is an uptempo rocker, with a wonderfully dark pre-chorus. "Disturbing the Priest" is a very midtempo song which is based on a very evil-sounding and, for Iommi, atypical opening riff. Mind you, this song was covered by Psychotic Waltz, so it can't be that bad. "Zero the Hero" is the third undeoubtedly good track of the album, which is based on groovy guitar riff which Guns 'n' Roses would later lift and use in "Paradise City". It was also covered by Cannibal Corpse, so it can't be that bad either. All three songs are unusually dark, even for Black Sabbath, and I think they are more than just decent. "Digital Bitch" is considerably weaker, but I don't think it's disastrous. It's more of a straight rocker - not a particularly memorable one (I like the chorus though and Gillan's rock 'n' roll scream just before the guitar solo), but it's okay. I quite like the title track, and I truly think that that's an underrated one. It's dark and melancholic, and its athmosphere makes me think of "Songs of Darkness, Words of Light" by My Dying Bride. It also contains some Ian Gillan signature screaming (while nowhere near his incredible vocal perfoamance on "Child in Time" back in the Deep Purple days). "Hotline" and "Keep it Warm" are run-of-the mill 80s metal tracks (but at least there are some rock 'n' roll screams on the former) and not really worth discussing.

I think the main problem with this album is not the music as such, but rather the production. The production's awful. Everything is drowned in reverb and there's way too much treble, or edge, to the lead guitar sound - so much that it's almost painful to the ear. Gillan's vocals sound awful, and if it's really true that his best takes were discarded, then, the production certainly is nothing but incompetent. That being said, I do like how there's a general dark athmosphere on the album, but I'm sure that could have been achieved anyway with better production.

"Born Again" is an underrated album, and I (mostly) enjoy listening to it, but I am not going to recommend it to anyone, because you're probably going to hate it no matter what.