Review Summary: Dio's back, and Sabbath make their best album in a decade, but that still doesn't mean this even comes close to being a necessity.
Generally, all Black Sabbath did past 1982 was either poor or very poor. Since Ronnie James Dio left, multiple vocalists had been trying to fill his shoes, and no one really succeeded.
The Eternal Idol was still a pretty enjoyable metal record, but that's where it stops. Tony Martin, Sabbath's vocalist for their last era, was talented but didn't keep things up. After
Tyr, something unexpected occured in the reunion of the
Mob Rules-formation. Dio and Vinny Appice, and perhaps even more surprisingly, original and superior Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler rejoined Tony Iommi for one last time.
The result:
Dehumanizer, Sabbath's last record that succeeds in making the mark. Dio's voice is still almost as powerful as it was at his prime in the late 70's/early 80's, but let's not forget old Geezer, who is one of the strongest heavy metal bassists of all time and sometimes terribly overlooked. Thanks to him, Sabbath's rhythm section was the best it had been in a decade (because those 80's albums were all about guitar and vocals).
That said, the weaker part of
Dehumanizer is obviously that it feels a little recyled. The riffs sound good and dense, but not fresh. Dio's lyrics have always been a bit cheesy, but when he writes songs about worshipping computers, we know he can do better. Luckily, that complaint is minor since it's his voice that counts in the end. The major complaint remains the fact that the music overall sounds stale in comparison to
Heaven and Hell and
Mob Rules. Those who enjoyed those two albums will almost certainly find something to enjoy in this, but while many Dio-era fans desperately try to make this into a fantastic Sabbath record, completely reviving their sound, that simply isn't true.
Dehumanizer is still nowhere near essential, which counts only for Sabbath's first ten records.
Dehumanizer's Black Sabbath was:
- Frank Anthony ‘Tony’ Iommi ~ Guitars
- Ronald James ‘Ronnie Dio’ Padanova ~ Vocals
- Terrence Michael Joseph ‘Geezer’ Butler ~ Bass Guitar
- Vincent Appice ~ Drums
- Geoff Nicholls ~ Keyboards
TO BE CONTINUED...
