Review Summary: The latest Children of the Sabbath kick ass just like it should.
I love it. You love it. 90% of the Sputnik community love it. Even if there a hundred of different styles, you probably like at least one of them. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Yeah, it's the Metal. In 1970, a band mixed blues with a creepy vibe and downtuned guitars, and in their second album, "Paranoid", we found the first sign of Metal in music. It was an album that ditched their blues part and focused on the slow, creepy riffs that were haunting at the same time it was heavy and catchy. All the songs on that album (and on the next one)are classics that build the path for all the Metal bands to come. Today, you can classify the sound of these albums as Stoner/Doom Metal, but in the next albums they experimented in a lot of different ways, and even if some failed, they still remain as the ultimate Metal band.
Fast forward to the last years. The band was in hiatus since 2001, but they came back in 2012, and did a reunion tour with almost the entire original line-up. They did some stuff in other projects, but Black Sabbath didn't launched an album since the 1995's disaster called "Forbidden" , that was the final nail in their coffin after a streak of weak to atrocious albums. So, the band announced a new album with Ozzy Osbourne(the first one since 1978), and expectations were high. Did it meet these expectations? Sort of.
The album take back that slow, doom sound of their first albums, and blend it with some of their hard rock phase. And it's satisfying to hear Sabbath with a better sound quality, even if the production isn't really that great.
From the beginning, or the "End of the Beginning", you can say that it is the same old Sabbath that we know and love, and the song is the closest to a classic that the album achieves. Its slow, heavy and riff centered approach remind me of the title track on their first album. The change close to 03:00 is a hail to songs like "Into The Void" and "War Pigs", and it's a welcome addition to the song, that doesn't feel like a copy, but only a sequence to these songs. The same type of sound can be found in "God Is Dead?" and "Damaged Soul", and it is done quite well, with the former being one of the highlights on the album, with its psychedelic feel and great performances from everyone in the band.
The album is structured almost like the band's first albums, with a ballad that mixes "Planet Caravan" with "Solitude"(ballads from their 2 best albums), a haunting song with a catchy-as-hell riff to open the album, and almost every song have a long instrumental part, that works in some parts, while in others it can bore the listener. That is a problem in the album: Almost every song is too damn long, and some of them could have been easily cut to half of the length they have, and that is visible in the second half of the album, which is weaker than the first half mainly because of this.
Tony Iommi's guitar still is that downtuned gargoyle that rips your face apart with that big, gothic riffs, but they aren't always as memorable and catchy as they were before, but he still is the best aspect of the album, just like he ever was in the band. Geezer Butler's bass don't suffer too much the inaudible bass problem that plagues most of the music these days, and his basslines gain some places to shine, like in "God Is Dead?". He writes the lyrics too, and even if there are some cheesy parts, it's just like we would expect from Sabbath, with themes like religion and the fall of man.
Now, the vocals. Ozzy Osbourne sounds better than you would expect, but if you isn't a fan of Black Sabbath, his vocals here can turn you off. He never was a great singer, but his voice fits with the dark sound and lyrics of the band here, even if it's worse than it was in the 70's(and better than his other recent works) .
Black Sabbath's 13 is a worthy comeback record that revisit their doomy roots without sounding like a copy. Even if it's derivative from the first albums, it attempts to be a welcome addition to their discography. The latest Children of the Sabbath kick ass just like it should.
Standout Tracks:
End of the Beginning
God Is Dead?
Damaged Soul
Loner
