Hi folks! In line with the announcement of the Tony Martin reissues being announced, I figured I'd have this one as the album of the week! This one is the second Tony Martin Sabbath album after Eternal Idol, which had quite a tumultuous recording process. This one was the first album where the band wrote the music with Tony Martin in mind and it's fantastic! Let me know your thoughts on this album and your favourite songs.

It took me forever to get into this album, and I still think it is overrated, even though I like it now. Even just among the Tony Martin Sabbath albums, I think Cross Purposes and Tyr are much better.

Favorite songs are Headless Cross and Devil and Daughter.

I remember clearly when I was at a concert years ago, listening to the pre-show playlist at the venue. One song especially caught my ear as a killer heavy metal track. I didn't recognize it or the band, but later googled it based on the repeated line of the chorus which I couldn't get out of my head. To my great surprise it was Black Sabbath's When Death Calls! At that point I was only familiar with the Ozzy and Dio eras of Sabbath and had prejudicedly dismissed the Tony Martin material as something "hairy" and belonging to the wrong side of the 80's. Boy, was I wrong and glad to find it out.

I'm not quite sure which I prefer as an album, Eternal Idol, Headless Cross or Tyr, but When Death Calls remains my favourite Tony Martin track (although I kind of wish it had an Iommi solo).

Here's to hoping Iommi and Martin tour with the material. If there was Heaven And Hell, there should be Headless Cross.

I quite like it and have since seeing the video for the title track upon release. I was (and still am) a huge fan of "Eternal Idol" and was eager for this. My least fav song is probably the title track (and I dont care for the drum sound/production here...sorry, Cozy).
"When Death Calls" is a masterpiece.

That said, I've always considered "Tyr", "Eternal Idol", and "Cross Purposes" to be stronger albums, overall.

Overall, an 8/10, and a worthy addition to the mighty Sabbath catalog.

The first time I heard this album, I hated it, I really, really hated it. I thought it was way worse than Never Say Die. The whole 80's production with the obnoxious snare reverb, plus the square drum patterns and basslines, it sounded terrible to me. But for some reason I decided to give it a second chance, and boy am I grateful. It's a great record, not perfect, but I think the songwriting plus the Tonys' skills are top notch. Call of the Wild, the title track, Nightwing, they're all amazing songs. Even Kill in the Spirit World, which at first I thought wad the worst Sabbath song ever, grew on me and it's probably one of my faves on the album!

That being said, I completely agree that Tyr and Cross Purposes are better albums. And if this one's amazing, you can bet those other 2 sit among Sabbath's classics.

Thoughts:

– favourite Sabbath album,
– one of the 10 best metal albums of all time (if you can call it "metal"),
– one of the best vocal performances in metal (especially "Kill in the Spirit World" *swoon*); again and again, "good" (you know what I mean) doom vocals get compared with Tony Martin, not least because of this album,
– the slightly cavernous production is huge, and the monstrous guitar sound is almighty,
– epic hard rocking Sabbath + keyboards = gold,
– "Tyr" comes close but "Headless Cross" is just more consistent atmospherically.
– I don't really like the chorus in "When Death Calls", it's too blunt and unmelodious.

This was the best Tony Martin album - the sharpest songs, the coolest atmospheres. "Kill in the Spirit World" was always probably my favorite - what a weird, adventurous tune... but it's all really consistent and the campy Hammer Horror thing was done really well. Tony Martin's vocals are so good here. I've been meaning to go back to all these Martin Sabbath albums so maybe I will later.

Why not just order the new box set?

At the time, this era of Sabbath was often criticized for being a failed attempt by Iommi to replicate the Dio-era of Rainbow.

Whether or not it's actually true, there were more than a few journalists in those days who claimed Iommi was forever chasing Blackmore, that he wanted to be 'taken as seriously' as the Man In Black was.

Odd how things change with time, as Iommi's standing as guitarist is beyond reproach.

Haven't had the money for a while. Might do it eventually...

edit... not even out til May 31 apparently anyway.

That comparison seems pretty apt for Seventh Star but always sounds wild in the context of the Martin era. I get it with Martin sounding similar to Dio and the AOR factor, but I think Iommi’s riffs just lent themselves to darker tones than Blackmore could ever tap into.

Anyway this album rules and I’m hyped to see it finally properly streaming. It’s like a week younger than me so that’s pretty fun.

What an amazing album !!! top 10 of sabbath

I love this album! While is not Ozzy or Dio, Tony Martin delivers a pretty strong performance. One of the most hard rock albums of Black Sabbath, like the one with legendary Ian Gillian, I like the more Tony Iommi oriented phase of the band, it almost killed Black Sabbath career commercially speaking, but with time I came to appreciate this album a lot more.

On the whole, it's an alright album, but that title track is easily one of the top 10 songs they've ever written. Those melodic lines are perfection.

Yeah - I've heard people say Headless Cross is too glam-sounding or 80s sounding, but even with the lightweight production, you can still hear Iommi's big, heavy rhythm sound. That really tight, hard sound that really made metal what it was...

I really love the way they created these spooky, dark atmospheres on here. Between Martin's vocals and the softer guitars they evoked quite a bit.

Great album, I've been listening to it a fair amount the last several weeks. The songs are all super tightly written, really good clarity to the structures, with rugged but thoughtful riffwork that lets the stellar vocals take the spotlight. The excitement level drops off a tad in the last couple tracks, but every song on here is strong.

I checked out The Eternal Idol the other night in the hopes of more of the same vibe, but was surprised at how muddled and sort of a mess the material was in comparison to this. The vocals and guitars felt like they were stumbling over each other half the time. Not so with Headless Cross, they really perfected the direction on this one.

I can answer this by quoting many others before me here

Damn awesome great sound. I miss that sound on modern records

Yes, the title track is perfection.

Exactly this

Together with the title track 2 of their best songs ever

Yup, loved it from day one

I adore the song Nightwing but I don't know the rest of the song or the Martin era very well. Definitely looking forward to diving in at the end of May.

I was never a huge Sabbath fan growing up so when I went back and picked up almost their entire discography on vinyl in one haul, I had zero bias or expectations when going through the Martin albums. I like just about everything that they recorded together and Martin's vocals are top notch. Great road trip music.

When Death Calls is probably my favorite track but Devil And Daughter, Kill In The Spirit World and the title track are also great songs.

Love this LP- it was the ‘new’ album when I was getting into the band as a 13 year old many moons ago. Love the loud production as well- although I think I’m in the minority in that.

Absolutely love this album. Even in a massive discography filled with great albums it still manages to stand out. I'm thrilled that the Tony Martin albums have steadily been receiving some much overdue attention.