http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/news/20 ... -new-album



http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... r-20140929



I may be a doom freak, but I'd rather their last Ozzy album be more like Sabotage than Master of Reality.

Cool stuff. People like to shit on 13 but I thought it was a good album. Can't wait to hear the new one.

Why? 13 was an exercise of concious self plagiarism done wrong. Will this album be even more dishonest?

I dunno about dishonest; it was like new Priest and several other old bands who are just making an album for the fans and to keep doing what they loved when they were young. With that said, 13 was pretty weak, and I'm not very optimistic about this one either. Like it all you want, but after the genre-defining early albums they did, an album like 13 just can't stack up - not for me anyway...I'll give the new one a listen or two anyway though.

Vague quotes from a confused Ozzy make make this sounds awfully unofficial at this point.

13 was the surprise album of last year. It was a great album that was also a critical and commercial success. There's reason to do another one but it doesn't mean they will succeed just as well.

I wish the next one would be more varied and less polished but that's probably not gonna happen. Of course, there's also the question of the drummer. Can't say I'm enthused about Clufetos.

Clufetos would be better than Wilk though, but that's not saying much.
I heard the original plan was to get Ginger Baker. Why they didn't follow through with that plan instead of grabbing those two other wankers is beyond comprehension.

This. I've only heard 13 once and will never go back to it. There's better doom bands around deserving their share of attention.

Yeah 13 was bad and this will probably be bad too.

13 was a little too long for me. And the production wasn't too great.

I'll still check this one out.

This. I can excuse the songs but not the production.

All I know is if they come around here again during their tour, I'm not missing it for the world. Last year I passed on them in favor of a local show, but I'm saving my money for this.

If this ends up being even remotely similar to 13, then it can bugger right off.

This. Excellent news! Let the old guys have their fun.

I don't think 13 was that bad (the title is fucking horrible though). I did however get a feeling that the guys have lost some of the creativity and control over the music thanks to their managers, record labels and shit. I'm glad these old guys are still having fun and recording music but for the next record I hope they are less on a leash if you know what I mean.

Huh only a couple months ago they where saying the gig at Hyde Park in London was there last gig & that was it Black Sabbath done. Now another album & another tour not sure what to think as they seem to split up & come back together now another album hopefully it's good if it's even true?

Hell yes, bring it on. 13 was kind of sort of pretty decent, so I have faith that this will be better. Hopefully Rick Rubin brings some drugs and booze to the studio this time around so Sabbath end on a trippy note. And I really need to get off my ass now and see this band live before it's too late.

Black Sabbath - '13 1/2: The Smell of Cash'. Perhaps to be followed by '13 1/3: The Final Insult'.

I won't write 13 off completely because there is a few good songs, the problem is it's played too safe and the songs feel predictable and plodding as a result. If they go in the studio and inject a bit of energy/creativity then I can see it standing with their older music.

The production isn't going to change so like it or lump it.

wow, 2015 will be a year with quite some metal titans releasing new albums, next to Black Sabbath, it seems Iron Maiden and the the whole big four of thrash (Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax) will release new albums... Quite some competition

Ginger Baker was Rick Rubin's idea. Iommi shot it down because Baker's an angry, violent, and difficult to work with.

Though it would never happen, the guy I'd like for them to get would be Martin Lopez, who doesn't seem to be doing much these days.

While that's true about Ginger Baker, still...any amount of difficulty would be worth not having a very simple timekeeper for a legendary band.

Will it be called 14, 15 or Black Sabbath? Only time will tell.

Maybe they'll go the Microsoft route and call it Black Sabbath One.

or maybe they'll go the Venom route and call it; 'Sabbath Black'

I anticipate this sounding almost exactly like 13 but I'll most likely be excited all the same. It was a solid album, even if a bunch of it feels recycled. I do love me some Damaged Soul.

Eh. I didn't like 13 very much but the fact that a new Black Sabbath album existed at all was enough to make me buy the special edition CDs and the LPs. They haven't got anything left to gain or lose in my opinion, so they should do whatever the hell they want to.

The only reason they do this is cause the sheep still buy it. Cmon people 13 was completely forgettable and this will be even worse.

Well, if it means another opportunity for the band to go out with something other than a trainwreck, I'm all for it.

I listened to "13" a few times and the only thing I remember about it is when there were 30+ pending reviews for it and nothing else because I didn't want to read half-baked release-day thoughts on it. Forgettable and mediocre, I guess.

Really hard to believe that these geezers (or at least one Geezer and two other guys) still have creativity boiling all over their blood and "evil" execs smoking cigars and wearing suits are making them water down their effervescence in order for their sound to be more commercial and mass appealing..

Come on. Iommi's idea of creativity is along the lines that you probably wouldn't like your Sabbath to be. It would be to 2014 what Seventh Star was to 1986, or a little bit of his Iommi/Hughes and Iommi solo project, with some more of those non-metal influences that he's been affectionating and displaying as early as Volume 4. He's a guy who always loved Queen as a band and David Coverdale as a singer (not that there's anything wrong with that), and somewhat had an affection for mixing brass instruments with jazz / blues, not to mention playing with synthesizers. If Iommi really turned himself loose and played the stuff he likes, it would sound nothing like Sabbath. There might be a little "doom" flavor of it, but mostly there'd be jazz, blues, etc.. It wouldn't be Pentagram or The Obsessed.

Guess what, Iommi did play what he liked for a while, then "evil", money-grabbing record companies and the like (agents) forced him to put a Sabbath name on it, somewhat dark lyrics and an album cover clad in black with statues, red babies or eerie paintings/landscapes and to have lyrics that say "Lucifer" a couple of times. That band was called Black Sabbath from 1983 to 1995, with an interuption in 1992/1993, featured 3 different studio singers and for many people, a couple albums were a dishonour to Sabbath's name and the Sabbath legacy should have remained "pure" of those excesses.

So is Iommi listening to some evil record company exec, greedy agent or secret illuminati when he's getting in the studio recording 13 or 14 ? No.. he's listening to the average fans. He's thinking of what the average fan will buy and appreciate and expect from a Black Sabbath "Mark I" (or almost) reunion, and Rick Rubin's helping him getting it out there.

Geezer did have his solo stint under a few names, it sounded nothing like Sabbath, yet he probably enjoyed himself playing it.

Do you honestly think Ozzy has any creativity left in him ?

It's not the industry vs. Sabbath. It's a band knowing it's got only a few years left in them and wanting to go down in history relatively well and enjoying their few last years playing and travelling comfortably. You don't achieve that with an album that's got too much brass, jazz or keyboards on it if your name is Black Sabbath.

What I want is for Iommi and Butler to leave this three-ring circus and restart Heaven And Hell with a new vocalist.

That description of what it won't sound like is probably way more awesome then what it will actually sound like.

That would get my pre order for sure

Fixed it for you!

To say expectations are low would be a gross understatement.

I thought the music was ok on the last album. Nothing special. But I hated the vocals. The autotune gets really on my nerves to a point I would've preferred Ozzy to sing out of tune. But it would be better if they hired a competent singer.

Fine-tuning a bit!

As an aside, did anyone else hear the two tracks Gillan and Iommi did together a while back under the name WhoCares? Not very traditionally Sabbath apart from one or two riffs, and had nothing to do with Born Again, but I for one thought they were a couple of corking songs and would love an album from the two of them together.

I thought those tracks were great (especially Out Of My Mind), and while they didn't exactly sound like out-takes from Born Again it shows that Gillan and Iommi does great thing together.

HA! Ok, ok I can get behind that.