Review Summary: Iommi and company are not done proving Black Sabbath officialy failed to exist past 1982.
Black Sabbath followed up one of their worst records,
Headless Cross with
Tyr, already their fifteenth album. Apart from bass player Laurence Cottle having been replaced by Neil Murray (
Whitesnake), the line-up of the previous album remained intact, including vocalist Tony Martin who makes his third consecutive appereance with the group.
Tyr is somewhat conceptual and, as can be derived from the title, focuses on Norse mythology (Tyr is the Norse god of combat). Nice as that all may be, it is not even barely an improvement from the rather terrible
Headless Cross. This album shares a great deal of the problems that its predecessor has, and is was effect equally ineffective in reviving Black Sabbath's career, even if it was just a little. As if
Headless Cross wasn't already power metal-influenced (the bad sort) enough because of Martin's unnessecarily dramatic performance, this record takes things up a notch. Increased use of cheesy keyboards? Check. Meaningless interludes? Check. Lyrics about fantastical subjects? Check. Generic shredding solos? Check. The list goes on.
Tyr turns Black Sabbath entirely into the power metal band it was never meant to be, and in fact, it can safely be said that anyone who doesn't
know this is a Black Sabbath record prior to listening is not going to tell it is. The songs are still boring and fail to stand out in any good sense, making the album another big failure. Sabbath has strayed far from their glory days.
If nothing else,
Tyr is more proof that Black Sabbath simply doesn't exist after
Mob Rules. If they had quit after that album, their legacy would have remained untouched. Records such as this one,
Born Again,
Headless Cross and their last abomination
Forbidden put a big stain on it, but at least not many groups can claim to have laid the blueprints for heavy metal and created three of it's finest records. Please. Stay away from this.
Tyr's Black Sabbath was:
- Frank Anthony 'Tony' Iommi ~ Lead Guitar
- Anthony Martin Harford ~ Vocals
- Philip Neil Murray ~ Bass Guitar
- Geoff Nichols ~ Keyboards
- Colin 'Cozy Powell' Flooks ~ Drums
TO BE CONTINUED…
