Vertigo Records
2013
1. End Of The Beginning
2. God Is Dead?
3. Loner
4. Zeitgeist
5. Age Of Reason
6. Live Forever
7. Damaged Soul
8. Dear Father
After all this time, it has happened. Black Sabbath have gotten back together with Ozzy to give it another go. If this news had come sooner, I'm sure I would have been excited, but at this point I can't muster much enthusiasm going in. I mean, we're talking about a singer Way past his prime here and after hearing how Dio could Still deliver with Heaven & Hell this just seemed like an inevitable let down. I've heard Ozzy and also Black Sabbath live a bunch of times and his voice wasn't very good in like 2002. Also, Ozzy hasn't made a good album since 1995 IMO and some fans wouldn't even give em that much. Personally, I liked most of Ozzmosis. Just didn't see much of a way this could live up to the past Ozzy fronted albums considering the old, gibbering Ozzy of today. Still, it's hard to ignore a new Black Sabbath album so of course I had to give it a shot.
Listening to 13 it definitely sounds like Sabbath. I mean Iommi's signature style is there in the creeping riffs and the music is about what one would expect of Sabbath with Ozzy at the front. I really did not find this album particularly surprising in any way and maybe that is the problem. Everything here just sounds so predictable... so much like past Ozzy Sabbath songs... but with absolutely no fire. Ozzy seems to speak his way through the album and none of the songs really sound like new songs. There's just nothing to really set the material apart as anything past "Well, it sounds like Sabbath". Simply put, this does not sound like a creative effort or someone's art. This sounds like a bunch of old guys trying to sound like they used to because they're not really sure what else to do and afraid to take even the slightest chance.
I can understand the pressure to make this sound like the classics, but the problem is there just doesn't seem to be any song deeper in thought than "this has to sound like the past". Almost like they're so scared to make something to tarnish the legacy that this album just had to work off old cliches. With no real new songwriting ideas everything just kinda plods past me, generating little more than a sigh here and there. This doesn't sound like people excited about crafting new, exciting music. This sounds like Ozzy reading from a script to a bunch of leftover Sabbath riffs. There was a time when Sabbath was a groundbreaking creative force and their songs on the same album could sound wildly different. Nothing here however has any identity of it's own and Ozzy's vocals are about as free of passion as a vocal performance could possibly be.
I wish I could even summon the energy to write more about this, but I don't think I can. I could never summon the energy to write about this track by track because there's little to write. I kinda feel like I imagine Iommi must have going back to Ozzy. I feel like I have to make this review, not like I want to. This isn't incredibly good or bad... 13 just comes across like a half hearted effort someone would put in at a really shitty job they have to do to just to get a paycheck. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't feel the need to pick this apart because I don't care. 13 seems like some big label's idea of what a new Sabbath album fronted by that guy from the Osbournes, the prince of darkness, had to sound like.
There was a time when Sabbath was hugely influential to a genre, but past glories don't make an album. If someone like Sabbath can't make an album to rival the many doom bands (and others) whom they've inspired than a new Sabbath album has little place in the genre. This is pretty much for people who just need some Sabbath nostalgia in this reviewer's opinion. Myself... I could do without it. I don't hate it, but that's not exactly enough to make me run out and buy an album. Heaven & Hell felt like a passionate, powerful release. The fire and intensity drove the release to real heaviness and power. This sounds like the audio equivalent of an easily digested idea from an advertising firm meant not to offend anyone and sell a brand name. That frankly is not what metal is about to me. I'm more an Ozzy Sabbath fan than a Dio Sabbath fan in terms of the old albums, but at least Dio had a legitimate passion for the music and was in touch with the metal scene. I imagine Ozzy literally propped up in the studio while recording this. Meanwhile, Iommi sitting there wondering when his check arrives and why he couldn't escape the pressure of doing another Sabbath album with Ozzy as the vocalist. I think there's a very good reason why this took so long to happen. Iommi didn't really want to do this and it shows. Ozzy's not the same guy who sung those albums back when and that shows even more. If I had to sum this album up in one word it would be Meh.
Highlights: Live Forever, God Is Dead
Rating - 2.5/5
2. God Is Dead?
3. Loner
4. Zeitgeist
5. Age Of Reason
6. Live Forever
7. Damaged Soul
8. Dear Father
After all this time, it has happened. Black Sabbath have gotten back together with Ozzy to give it another go. If this news had come sooner, I'm sure I would have been excited, but at this point I can't muster much enthusiasm going in. I mean, we're talking about a singer Way past his prime here and after hearing how Dio could Still deliver with Heaven & Hell this just seemed like an inevitable let down. I've heard Ozzy and also Black Sabbath live a bunch of times and his voice wasn't very good in like 2002. Also, Ozzy hasn't made a good album since 1995 IMO and some fans wouldn't even give em that much. Personally, I liked most of Ozzmosis. Just didn't see much of a way this could live up to the past Ozzy fronted albums considering the old, gibbering Ozzy of today. Still, it's hard to ignore a new Black Sabbath album so of course I had to give it a shot.
Listening to 13 it definitely sounds like Sabbath. I mean Iommi's signature style is there in the creeping riffs and the music is about what one would expect of Sabbath with Ozzy at the front. I really did not find this album particularly surprising in any way and maybe that is the problem. Everything here just sounds so predictable... so much like past Ozzy Sabbath songs... but with absolutely no fire. Ozzy seems to speak his way through the album and none of the songs really sound like new songs. There's just nothing to really set the material apart as anything past "Well, it sounds like Sabbath". Simply put, this does not sound like a creative effort or someone's art. This sounds like a bunch of old guys trying to sound like they used to because they're not really sure what else to do and afraid to take even the slightest chance.
I can understand the pressure to make this sound like the classics, but the problem is there just doesn't seem to be any song deeper in thought than "this has to sound like the past". Almost like they're so scared to make something to tarnish the legacy that this album just had to work off old cliches. With no real new songwriting ideas everything just kinda plods past me, generating little more than a sigh here and there. This doesn't sound like people excited about crafting new, exciting music. This sounds like Ozzy reading from a script to a bunch of leftover Sabbath riffs. There was a time when Sabbath was a groundbreaking creative force and their songs on the same album could sound wildly different. Nothing here however has any identity of it's own and Ozzy's vocals are about as free of passion as a vocal performance could possibly be.
I wish I could even summon the energy to write more about this, but I don't think I can. I could never summon the energy to write about this track by track because there's little to write. I kinda feel like I imagine Iommi must have going back to Ozzy. I feel like I have to make this review, not like I want to. This isn't incredibly good or bad... 13 just comes across like a half hearted effort someone would put in at a really shitty job they have to do to just to get a paycheck. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't feel the need to pick this apart because I don't care. 13 seems like some big label's idea of what a new Sabbath album fronted by that guy from the Osbournes, the prince of darkness, had to sound like.
There was a time when Sabbath was hugely influential to a genre, but past glories don't make an album. If someone like Sabbath can't make an album to rival the many doom bands (and others) whom they've inspired than a new Sabbath album has little place in the genre. This is pretty much for people who just need some Sabbath nostalgia in this reviewer's opinion. Myself... I could do without it. I don't hate it, but that's not exactly enough to make me run out and buy an album. Heaven & Hell felt like a passionate, powerful release. The fire and intensity drove the release to real heaviness and power. This sounds like the audio equivalent of an easily digested idea from an advertising firm meant not to offend anyone and sell a brand name. That frankly is not what metal is about to me. I'm more an Ozzy Sabbath fan than a Dio Sabbath fan in terms of the old albums, but at least Dio had a legitimate passion for the music and was in touch with the metal scene. I imagine Ozzy literally propped up in the studio while recording this. Meanwhile, Iommi sitting there wondering when his check arrives and why he couldn't escape the pressure of doing another Sabbath album with Ozzy as the vocalist. I think there's a very good reason why this took so long to happen. Iommi didn't really want to do this and it shows. Ozzy's not the same guy who sung those albums back when and that shows even more. If I had to sum this album up in one word it would be Meh.
Highlights: Live Forever, God Is Dead
Rating - 2.5/5
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