Review Summary: A worthy, underrated follow-up to Heaven and Hell.
Heaven and Hell was the first Black Sabbath album without vocalist and founding member Ozzy Osbourne. Nevertheless, it served as a new chapter for the band, with a new style that was a much needed breath of fresh air after two sub-par albums. The record was a big success, being their highest charting for years and remains Sabbath's third best selling album behind Paranoid and Master of Reality respectively. Halfway through the tour for the album however, another original member, drummer Bill Ward (who claims to have no memory of the recording of H&H) left the band. Citing his need to get sober and the fact he couldn't stand being on stage without Ozzy. Vinny Appice was hired to complete the rest of the tour, before Sabbath went back into the studio eager to follow up on Heaven and Hell's success.
The new album was to be called Mob Rules, and it tends to get some criticism from people that just see it as "Heaven and Hell part 2". Its true that the two albums have a lot in common, and the way the tracks are ordered is probably the main reason for the comparison. For example both albums start off with a fast, energetic opener and finish with a slower, more emotional song as the closer. Sound-wise however, Mob Rules is more riff-based and that shows in songs like Voodoo and Country Girl. The formula may be relatively similar, but the album cant merely be passed off as a second rate Heaven and Hell, and it holds up more than well enough on its own.
As previously mentioned, the guitar work on this album is more prominent than Heaven and Hell, and this makes for a more rocking sound, with the title track blasting through the speakers after a very strange, eerie interlude in E5150. It almost seemed as though Tony was held back slightly on Heaven and Hell, as he really unleashes a vicious assault of riffs throughout the album. His solos do very much the same, although they still keep that flair which was present on Heaven and Hell, and thats most apparent on closing track Over and Over.
The rhythm section is also more in the forefront this time around, with new member Vinny doing a fine job of filling Bill's shoes and Geezer producing some great bass work, especially during the solo trade-off with Iommi on Slipping Away.
There are two big standout tracks on Mob Rules and both are epic in style. The Sign of the Southern Cross and Falling Off the Edge of the World. The former, starts off mellow and then features a great slow, plodding riff along with Dio's trademark epic vocals. It is a very dynamic track and comes close to Heaven and Hell's title track as the best Dio-era Sabbath song. The latter builds up to a great shredding solo from Tony, and is faster paced, but nonetheless just as epic. Both songs stand among the best the band wrote with Dio at the helm.
Despite not quite reaching the same level as Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules remains a worthy, and rather underrated follow-up, which isnt far off the quality of its predecessor. This would be the last album featuring Ronnie James Dio on vocals, until he briefly returned for 1992's Dehumanizer. Not only that, but this would herald the end of an era for Black Sabbath, as the band faded into obscurity for the rest of the decade, releasing a decent album here and there, but never matching what they did in the 70s and early 80s. Mob Rules is Sabbath's last truly essential album.
R.I.P Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010)
