Average Rating: 3.25 Rating Variance: 1.31 Objectivity Score: 87% (Well Balanced)
Sort by: Rating | Release Date | Rating Date | Name4.5 superbBlack Mountain In the FutureEclectic and accessable. It's great to hear a band that does not fit any genre. This Vancouver-based band will satisfy most who enjoy expressive, soulful, grinding, beautiful music that doesn't take itself too seriously. Dark, brooding, and hopeful --- full of contradictions - After you're done listening you really feel that you've experienced something wonderful and organic. They've been compared to Black Sabbath, which is not really accurate. They just will occasionally break down into a killer, heavy riff as a transition to the next musical idea --- just listen. It really is worth it and Black Mountain's "In The Future" holds up to repeated listenings very well. (their first eponymous album is also great, although not as good as this one) --- spread the word ...... these guys deserve to have a greater audience.3.0 goodBlack Sabbath The Eternal IdolTo be honest, I had avoided the non-Dio eighties Sabbath until recently. I had heard 1989's "Headless Cross" years ago and thought Tony Martin looked like a 38 Special member and wrote pure "I want to be like Dio" cheesey lyrics (although it somehow works for Dio). Suffice it to say that "Headless Cross", being as awful as it was, turned me off of any Sab album from the late 80's. I gotta tell you though, Eternal Idol is pretty good. It's Iommi's take on 80's metal, but it's still unmistakably Black Sabbath. It holds up well even to this day. Martin manages to sound smooth at times, rough at times, and on "Nightmare" very much like Ronnie James Dio. For this type of sound (a little less low-end and slicker production) it's done really well. I think that mid-tempo Sabbath style on "Hard Life to Love" and "Nightmare" hits a nice groove - "The Shining" has an awesome chorus without sounding like pop metal, and the title track are a truly great album opener and closer. "Ancient Warrior" and "Glory Ride" are the least unique tunes here, but are good enough and by no means filler or failed experiments (of the ilk that appear on the last couple of Ozzy albums) Overall - a good album. It showed that they were going in the right direction and were relevant heading into the 90's.1.5 very poorBlack Sabbath Headless CrossThis album is kinda the joke of all the sabbath albums. They're just trying way too hard to be EVIL. It's really almost embarassing to listen to. There's the occasional riff that you can get into, but the song structure and cheeseball lyrics are too distracting. It also is a major step backwards, considering Tony Martin's debut on Eternal Idol was a promising start to a new era for Iommi and the Sabbath brandname. On some of the more maligned albums (Born Again, Technical Ecstacy) at least there's a level of experimentation that makes those albums a good listen. I just had to review this one because its rating was an incredibly high 3.7 !!!!!!!!! C'mon reviewers, let's have some level of quality to our subjectivity.
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