BLACK SABBATH — Born Again (review)

BLACK SABBATH — Born Again album cover Album · 1983 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
The Block
No Ozzy, no problem?

I think not.

While I admit that this album isn't that bad, it is nowhere near the quality that I have come to expect from Black Sabbath. I sincerely miss Ozzy's voice, which drove this band before this. Ex-Deep Purple vocalist, Ian Gillan, just doesn't have a voice that fits Black Sabbath's style.

One of the songs that show this is "Disturbing the Priest" which features odd bass lines and weird guitar riffs. When Ozzy left, Black Sabbath changed their style to fit Ian Gillan, but it was a turn for the worst. His voice is too high to offer anything good to go along with the guitars. I don't like how they used random guitar chords to fill the gaps between the lyrics in the beginning because it gave it a cheap sound. Also the beginning is pretty weak with all Ian Gillan doing is laughing. The only part of this song that resembles old Sabbath at all is the middle where the vocals and instruments are all at relatively the same tone, creating a nice sound.

One song on this that I do like, though, is "Zero the Hero", mostly because of the pop-like riffs, and choruses. It starts off cool with good guitars by Tony Iommi. I also like how Ian Gillan's voice fits in nicely with the guitars and bass. This offers a cool sound that really carries the song. As I said before, one of my favorite parts of the song is the chorus because is has some nice heavy bass lines and a cool feel to it. The guitars in this song are absolutely superb, especially in the middle where Tony Iommi has a pretty good solo.

Sadly, Ozzy Osbourne had to leave this band so early because I saw much potential in this album, which could’ve made it great. First off Ian Gillan’s voice fits Deep Purple much more than it does Black Sabbath. Also, the album seemed to be a little repetitive, another sign that Ozzy wasn’t there, though I do like Tony Iommi’s writing ability. But, on this album all was lacking. One of the things I enjoyed the most, though, was the instrumental sections, which were quite good. Without a decent vocalist, or much thought into the songs Black Sabbath gets 2 stars for this disappointing release.
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