Born Again

According to the notes in the booklet, Ozzy was quoted saying that "Born Again is the best album Black Sabbath recorded after my departure." This just further proves what a fuckin moron Ozzy really is. Born Again is not a good album and is FAR from being the best Sabbath release after Ozzy. It may not be Sabbath's worst release of the post-Ozzy era (that 'award' goes to 1995's Forbidden) but it is one of the worst.

Born Again, Sabbath's 11th studio album, introduces their third vocalist into the line-up. This time we get Ian Gillian of Deep Purple fame. I was never big on Gillians vocals when he was in Purple but I still went into this album with an open mind.

The fist thing that shocked me about the album was the shoddy production. What the hell happened? It's as if the producer fell asleep at the mixing wheels dreaming he was producing Heaven and Hell instead. Shit, I've heard band demos that have better and more balanced mixing than this....and I even have the remastered release!

One thing that did not shock me was Gillian's vocals. Like I expected they just didn't grab me. His voice just doesn't have the charisma or range of Dio. His performance also just reeks of "session vocalist" like he was just hired as a temporary fill-in so he didn't give the album his all. Sorry, but when it comes to all five vocalists that have sang under the Sabbath logo, Gillian is at the bottom of the barrel. I have heard though, but have not witnessed, that Gillian has a good stage presence and maybe that was what Sabbath was going for instead of vocal performance.

Gillian isn't the only one at fault as Tony Iommi also seems to be on auto-pilot. His simple but memorable riffs are like small pimples compared to the volcanoes present on Sabbath's past releases. The songs themselves lack substance. It is noticeable in the songwriting that Dio was not present to help write as the music is just average to flat. The album opener Trashed is a decent rocker and so is the more moody Disturbing the Priest, but the rest of the album is just poor. The lyrics are just for the most part lame. Ironically I can barely stand the albums one single Zero the Hero. My finger just inches towards the skip button when that track starts up.

I apparently am not the only one feels this way as the band themselves have talked about their disappointment with the release. Gillian even ended up leaving the band over the outcome of the album, which was just fine with me (bring on Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin!).

The album may not have impressed me, but the cover art made me chuckle. I found it fitting for Sabbath's British humor. People who are offended by it (as Gillian was) need to get a grip. It's just a shame the album ended up still born.

Overall if you like Sabbath and were wanting to check out material from the band after Ozzy, then get the Dio era albums Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules or the Tony Martin era albums Headless Cross and TYR. Leave Born Again as one of the last....