Music Review – Black Sabbath: 13

                It’s actually fairly appropriate that Black Sabbath’s new album is titled 13, as 2013 is officially their year after this album’s release.  What could have been a colossal failure, one where expectations were placed way too high for a group of musicians in the twilight of their careers, turned into one of the best albums in Sabbath’s catalog and my current frontrunner for album of the year.   

                From the start, this album grabs you and doesn’t let you go.  It is one of the most complete albums of Sabbath’s career as well as one of the most complete albums I have heard in a long time from any artist.  The best part is that you can tell that the band mined their entire history to come up with the music for the album.  You can hear snippets of old Sabbath, Dio Sabbath and even Ozzy’s solo stuff within the music itself.  The band has done such a phenomenal job layering the music as well as the vocals that it’s hard to tell that Bill Ward isn’t present.  Yes, Sabbath didn’t need anything but a serviceable drummer because the rest of the band is the best at what they do, but Brad Wilk actually does a great job of filling the gargantuan shoes left by Bill Ward’s departure. 

                A quick word about Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.  These two musicians are up at the top of the list of greatness in their respective instruments.  The fact that they are still doing it this well at their age (and Tony had cancer while they were recording the album no less) is a testament to their ability and their resilience.  Seriously, if you haven’t, go listen to the album.  Does this sound like a band that is anything but firing on all cylinders?  Now realize that all of these guys are in their mid to late sixties.  I have no idea how that’s even possible. 

                I kind of expected the music to be great.  I saw Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath with Dio at the helm) a few years ago and Tony and Geezer were incredible then.  What took me by complete surprise was Ozzy.  This sounds like, for the first time in years, Ozzy is having fun while making an album.  Could that be a substance-induced fun?  Maybe.  I like to think that it has something to do with reuniting with his former bandmates though.  I haven’t heard Ozzy sound this good, and this invested in the album since No More Tears waaaaay back in 1994.  It sounds like a second life in terms of creativity was given to the band as a whole, but especially to Ozzy.  Almost like he created this record more for himself and not because Sharon said “Ozzy, it’s time to do another solo record” (which I have a feeling was the driving force behind the last two). 

                I really want to give you some kind of criticism of this record, to even out the review, but whether I’m just being swept off my feet by a band that I never thought I would hear new music from, or I just refuse to think anything bad about a band that I grew up playing way too loud on my parents’ stereo, I just can’t find anything wrong.  The album balances the bluesiness of the first album, with the slow plodding doom of songs like “War Pigs” or “Hand of Doom”.  This is an incredible album all around.  If you can get to a Best Buy, I would also suggest dropping a couple extra bucks to get the album with the exclusive second disc that contains four more tracks that don’t appear on the album proper.  The songs are shorter than those that made it on to the main album, but they are no less incredible.  This is by far my favorite album of the year, and one that will stay within my car stereo rotation for a long time to come.  If this is Sabbath’s swan song, which is probably the case, they are going out at the top of their game.

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Past Lives (2002)

Overview: 

                The album was put out as a publicity stunt when Ozzy’s popularity exploded with the release of his show “The Osbournes” on MTV.  It included Live at Last as well as extra tracks from early Sabbath performances.  For a blatant cash-grab, it was quite good.

Tracks you may know: 

                All of them.  Much like Reunion, all of the hits are here.  This album feels a bit rawer though as it was recorded back when the original Black Sabbath was still the original Black Sabbath.  Because of that, you can really feel the performance coming through, and it doesn’t hurt that this was recorded when everyone was young, and Ozzy was a bit more mobile (though that may be the drugs talking).

Tracks you should know:

                If you don’t know the band by now, this is a good introduction.  I have always preferred live albums as my default “greatest hits” collections.  They take everything about a greatest hits album and infuses the energy and spontaneity of a live performance.  If you don’t know Sabbath, Past Lives and Reunion are two great places to start.

Album rating: 

                It’s electric, like being transported back in time and standing in a cloud of pot smoke (secondhand of course) while the band goes crazy on stage.  If you didn’t get to see Sabbath in their heyday, for whatever reason, this is your redemption.

9/10

That's it! The reviews are complete.  Next Tuesday (6.11) 13 will be released.  I will have a review of that album the following Tuesday (6.18), with a review of the new Alice in Chains album The Devil Put the Dinosaurs Here coming next Tuesday.

In case you missed a review in this series, here are some handy links so you can take a look at the entire Sabbath discography:

Black Sabbath

Paranoid

Master of Reality

Vol. 4

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Sabotage

Technical Ecstasy

Never Say Die

Reunion

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Reunion (1998)

Overview: 

                Finally, the original four were back together!  This album was recorded over the course of a two nights in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England.  The best part about the album is the fact that all of those heavy Sabbath songs were finally able to be played using the technology that made them really hit you.  At the time of their genesis, Sabbath was the heaviest thing on vinyl, but as technology advanced, their sound began to dull.  By recording their hits on this live album, Sabbath was able to show that they were still heavier than everyone else.  The fans were also treated to two new studio tracks, “Psycho Man” and “Selling my Soul” which were incredible songs in their own right, but coupled with the what they meant (the return to form of the heaviest band ever) they were incredibly important to heavy metal culture as well. 

Tracks you may know: 

All of them, basically.  If you know Sabbath at all, the hits are all here.  Plus it has today’s technology coupled with the creativity of yesteryear.  One of the best Sabbath albums, period.

Tracks you should know:

“Psycho Man”:  Traditional Sabbath with a heavier, modern sound.  This is the kind of song that makes you sad that the band wasn’t able to do more together until recently.  A definite modern masterpiece that proved Sabbath was not dead yet.

Album rating: 

                It has the heft of an album from 1998 but all of the classics of the original Black Sabbath lineup.  Everyone is present and on top of their game.  What might have been had they actually got back together back then. 

10/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Never Say Die (1978)

Overview: 

                The wheels had finally come off the bus.  Between Ozzy quitting the band before recording the album (only to rejoin days before the recording process started, only to throw out all of the songs recorded with fill in vocalist Dave Walker) and rampant substance abuse that rendered the band ineffective for days on end, it’s a surprise that Never Say Die was actually created at all. 

Tracks you may know: 

“Never Say Die”:  The bass line is phenomenal, and the general musicianship is still as good as ever, but it’s in the same pop-infused mold that Technical Ecstasy adopted.  Iommi doesn’t sound as interested as he has in the past either, almost like he can see the writing on the wall and doesn’t want to put his best stuff in a sinking ship. 

Tracks you should know:

There are no tracks here that I would recommend.  I would be supremely disappointed if I was waiting at the record store in 1978 to buy this album and this is what I received.  

My personal favorite:

“Never Say Die”: And that’s only by virtue of a “best of the worst” kind of scoring system.

Album rating: 

                At this point, Ozzy leaving the band was the best for all parties involved as Dio came in to Black Sabbath and reenergized them, while Ozzy’s partnership with Randy Rhoades had the same effect.  This is not the best album in Sabbath’s catalog by a long shot.  Hell, it’s not even that good.  It does show where the band was at the time though, and how important it was for all parties involved to split up and try something different. 

2/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Technical Ecstasy (1976)

Overview: 

                According to pretty much everyone, Sabotage was the last “great” Black Sabbath album, as tension within the band and substance abuse had a hand in derailing one of the most successful bands of the era.  The entire album is much lighter in nature, not nearly as gloomy as past albums were.  Hell, it even included a piano-led song that would sound more appropriate on a Beatles record than a Sabbath one.  The band still show they are experts on their respective instruments, but the cohesion as a band is not as evident as it used to be, with many of the songs almost feeling like they are going through the motions and not be nearly as mentally involved as they were in the past.

Tracks you may know: 

“It’s Alright”:  I like the song, just not as a Sabbath song.  It would make a great Beatles tune and you can see their influence here.  Bill Ward does a great job both on the drums and singing here, but it just feels like the least Black Sabbath in an album full of non-Black Sabbath tracks. 

“Dirty Women”:  A staple of the live set, this track is one of the most “Sabbathy” sounding ones on the record (probably why it has passed the test of time.

Tracks you should know:

“All Moving Parts (Stand Still)”:  It has a nice, bass-led groove to it and Ozzy doesn’t oversell the vocals.  This is a good song, and might be a highlight on anyone else’s album. 

“She’s Gone”:  It honestly feels more like Ozzy’s solo stuff (especially his stuff from Blizzard of Oz) than it does a Sabbath track.  It’s sad and gloomy, just not with the same weight that you would find in an earlier Sabbath release.

My personal favorite:

“Dirty Women”:  This is the only song that really feels like it could be transplanted onto any of Sabbath’s later records (anything post Master of Reality).  It has the right tempo, not upbeat or poppy like “Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor” or straight up out of character like “It’s Alright”, to be a classic Sabbath song. 

Album rating: 

                It’s not the worst album I have ever heard, but it’s not up to the high bar Sabbath set for itself in the earlier stages.  I don’t think it’s entirely the fault of drugs or band in-fighting for the poor musical direction that this album took.  As other bands were popping up that were going heavier as a result of Sabbath’s influence, they mellowed out considerably.  Unfortunately Technical Ecstasy is more filler than hit.

4/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Sabotage (1975)

Overview: 

                Regardless of the critical acclaim that came with the experimentation involved in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath decided to go back to their roots and make a rock record.  That is exactly what they got, filling the record with some of the heaviest tracks of their career.  This was the first Sabbath album I owned on my own (primarily because no one else I knew had it so I couldn’t listen to it any other way).  Between this and my mother’s copy of Paranoid, I was completely hooked.

Tracks you may know: 

“Symptom of the Universe”:  This song has crunchy, grunge-like guitars before anyone knew what grunge was.  Again, Bill Ward excels on the drums.  The way the song gallops along, you can almost hear where Iron Maiden (who formed the year Sabotage was released) would get their sound from.

“Hole in the Sky”:  The opening track on the album hits you hard right away.  This is not going to be another Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.  One of the most straightforward rockers in Sabbath’s catalog.

Tracks you should know:

“Thrill of it All”:  The opening guitar lick is worth the price of admission, but the entire song is a hidden gem.  It does sound like the guitar was cranked way up on the track though, as the drum and bass guitar parts are not as easy to hear as in other Sabbath songs.  

“The Writ”:  Ozzy stretches a bit on the vocals, but the way he uses the guitar as a backdrop and sings over it is a departure for Ozzy as a musician, and makes for a more interesting song as a whole.

My personal favorite:

“Hole in the Sky”:  There’s something to be said for hitting the audience with your best stuff from the get-go and Sabbath does just that with this track.  It’s heavy, it’s loud, and it does the job of washing the taste of synthesizers out of your mouth.

Album rating: 

                Going back to basics was not a hindrance at all as Sabbath again received critical acclaim for Sabotage.  The instrumental tracks on this album are not nearly as good as the ones in the past, but the high points are just as high, if not higher than their past releases.  This is not to the overall caliber of the first three albums, but it is definitely more consistent than Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. 

7/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)

Overview: 

                This album was a bit more “complicated” than its predecessors.  By that, I mean that where the other albums were straightforward metal, Sabbath introduced synthesizers and string arrangements here that altered their sound a bit.  This is not the same Black Sabbath that you were used to hearing on the previous albums.  This was a more ambitious record, one that was actually well received by music critics (a first for Sabbath back then!) and was not as “doom and gloom” as the first four records.

Tracks you may know: 

“Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”:  That opening guitar lick, followed by Ozzy’s wail.  Good lord.  This is probably the closest that the entire album gets to its predecessors, and is the purest “Sabbath-Sound” on the record. 

“Sabbra Cadabra”:  Opens with great, fast, kind of bluesy riffing, just faster than you would expect.  This is Sabbath at its best.  Between the slow, methodical title track and the speedier “Sabbra Cadabra” it runs the gamut of Sabbath’s past.  The synthesizer break isn’t anything write home about, and the inclusion of the keyboard is not entirely necessary, but when it rocks, it rocks hard and fast, as it should.

Tracks you should know:

“Spiral Architect”:  This is a song that utilizes more than just the traditional bass-drums-guitar formula of previous Sabbath songs, and does so in a grand way.  It’s an epic song and feels like one of the most genuinely uplifting tracks of the entire Sabbath catalog.  It’s a departure from the band’s tradition and may not be for everyone, but it is an interesting bit of experimentation. 

My personal favorite:

“Sabbra Cadabra”:  It’s light and fun while also being fast and heavy.  Each musician is on top of their game on this track (even Ozzy doesn’t sound like he’s reaching too far beyond his vocal comfort zone like he does on much of the album) and it just creates a great track.

Album rating: 

                This is not as complete of an album of the first three as a couple of the songs fall into more of a “filler” category.  It is a generally enjoyable album though and yields an instant classic in “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”.

6/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Vol. 4 (1972)

Overview: 

                I’ll let you in on a little secret…I didn’t actually own Vol. 4 until a couple weeks ago.  I had heard it back when I was in high school, and it was always on my “to do” list in terms of albums to get, but I just hadn’t, and honestly if it wasn’t for this series, I may have gone longer without it.  This would have been a huge mistake though, as Vol. 4 is the last truly great Black Sabbath album, and is quickly becoming one of my favorites in the catalog. 

Tracks you may know: 

“Snowblind”:  This is the track that you always hear live or that many people associate with this album and the band because cocaine was pretty prevalent in their lives around the time this was written.  This is a great song and fits in really well with the rest of the album in terms of the overall tempo and the way it has sped everything up while staying gloomy.

“Changes”:  Ozzy and a piano, who knew?  This is a well known track probably more because of its break from the norm than anything else.  It’s “Mama I’m Coming Home” before Sharon was around to write for.  Regardless of the fact that it’s not a track you commonly associate with Sabbath, it’s one of their best.

Tracks you should know:

“Wheels of Confusion-The Straighteneer”:  The opening track to the album is like visiting an old friend.  It’s a speedy little song that is prototypical Sabbath.  It’s a quality tune and sets the stage for an album that serves as a great follow-up to Master of Reality.

“Laguna Sunrise”: No vocals, no problem!  This is just an exercise in the master guitar player that Tony Iommi is.  It’s soothing and actually quite interesting.  It feels like the kind of song you would put on in your convertible while driving around Southern California in 1972.

My personal favorite:

“Supernaut”:  There are so many to choose from on this album, but “Supernaut” is just a prototypical Sabbath tune that is hard to find any fault with.  A killer riff combined with a guitar solo (and a mid-song drum solo) that make this one of the standouts of the album.

Album rating: 

Not too much filler here (except for maybe “FX”).  Sabbath is still at their creative peak and it shows.  Unfortunately that peak doesn’t last too much longer.

8/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Master of Reality (1971)

Overview: 

Master of Reality combines the pace of Black Sabbath, with the heaviness of Paranoid.  It is absolutely the best of both worlds and is a fine ending to the first “act” of Sabbath’s career.  These first three albums were recorded in rapid succession, with Master of Reality coming out only about six months after Paranoid in the United States.  Sabbath took a bit of a break after this album to recharge their batteries as the extensive tour-record-tour regimen was starting to take its toll on them.

Tracks you may know: 

“Sweet Leaf”:  Starting out with Ozzy coughing into the microphone, “Sweet Leaf” takes a heavy, plodding approach, much like Black Sabbath or War Pigs before it. 

“Children of the Grave”:  A staple of the live set, this is one of Sabbath’s heaviest tracks, taking on war and politics and providing a galloping beat under Ozzy’s haunting lyrics.  Bill Ward’s drums here are exceptional as they follow and then build off the original beat.  Then, of course, we get Tony Iommi’s guitar solo followed by a crescendo that is perfect to close out a concert 

Tracks you should know:

“Lord of This World”:  Exceptional drumming from Bill Ward (are you seeing a pattern yet?) combined with a bluesy beat make this one of the standout tracks that you may be unaware of.  The way that Geezer Butler weaves his bass guitar around and through Iommi’s guitar is incredible.  There is never a plain, boring bass line (and this is even more evident when you see Sabbath live) as Geezer makes sure that his instrument is not lost in the shuffle.

“After Forever”:  Yet another reason for Christians to be pissed at the boys from Birmingham.  This was definitely a song that provided a different point of view in terms of organized religion (especially Christianity) and obviously failed to make the band any friends in the religious sector (which was a lot bigger back then than it seems to be now).  Kids ate this stuff up though as it was an anti-establishment, anti-authority song that asked you to question your beliefs and why you believe.

My personal favorite:

“Children of the Grave”:  See above; just as heavy and powerful when I first heard it in the late nineties as it was back in 1971. 

Album rating: 

This is a fitting finale to Sabbath’s first act.  Each album feels like there is growth and development from its predecessor.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that each of these albums is a “10” as they, in my opinion, are the pinnacle of Sabbath’s career. 

10/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1971)

Overview: 

This is probably the most well-known Sabbath record, with probably the most widely recognized songs.  Those that just listen to the singles as well as the diehard Black Sabbath fans can agree that this is one of the better Sabbath records out there.  A good portion of the tracks are staples of both the Black Sabbath and the Ozzy Osbourne live show and the record holds up incredibly well to the rigors of time.  Where Black Sabbath was blues with a good dose of heavy metal, Paranoid is where the band really starts to take their music even further into the heavy metal territory that so many later bands tried to emulate.  The fact that the title track (and Sabbath’s most popular still) was written in under a half hour just proves how creative this band was at the peak of their power.  Unfortunately the success of Paranoid gave them the kind of money where they could indulge (and overindulge) in bad habits. 

Tracks you may know: 

“Paranoid”:  Their most recognizable and popular song is still as good now when I re-listen to it as it was on that scratchy record in my parents’ living room.

“Faeries Wear Boots”:  It starts off with the instrumental “Jack the Stripper” (another staple from the first album) and turns into a song that, for lack of a better term, gallops along at a brisk pace, before changing tempo (at around the 3:40) mark for a bit.  Where “War Pigs” plods along, “Faeries Wear Boots” is much faster paced and shows that the band can do more than just different takes on “Black Sabbath”. 

“War Pigs”:  The opening track of the album starts out where Black Sabbath left off but gets heavier (and more political) before breaking into some of Iommi’s finest guitar work.

“Iron Man”:  This track harkens back to the slow plodding of “Black Sabbath” but was a tad lighter than the legitimately creepy title track from the first album.

Tracks you should know:

 “Hand of Doom”:  It goes from quiet to loud, to quiet to loud, to a damn near completely different song, and that’s in the first two and a half minutes.  This is definitely one of the better unknown tracks in the entire Sabbath catalog.

“Rat Salad”:  An instrumental that is similar to “Faeries Wear Boots” in terms of its tempo.  One of the shortest (if not the shortest) tracks on the album, it features a small drum solo by Bill Ward in the middle of it

.

My personal favorite:

“Hand of Doom”:  I could pick almost any song off of this album for my favorite, the whole thing is great, but the ebb and flow of this song makes it one of the most interesting, and one of the best uses of Ozzy’s voice on this or any album. 

Album rating: 

                There’s a reason that this album catapulted Sabbath to worldwide fame and glory.  This album was not a critical darling, just like its predecessor, but it holds up as one of the more important, if not the most important metal albums of all time.

10/10

Album Review: Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)

As promised, the month-long Black Sabbath catalog review starts today.  This is my personal opinion of each album in Sabbath's discography.  If your opinion differs, by all means voice it.  Let's debate which song was better, which album had more impact, let your voice be heard.

Overview:

                I’m not going to get into the backstory of Black Sabbath, that’s what Wikipedia is for.  I will say that the fact that they started out as a blues band (with six members, one had a saxophone) shines through in much of their work, especially their earlier stuff.  This was a time before “heavy metal” was “heavy metal”.  Sabbath was creating a genre from their blues roots by playing heavier and louder than everyone else.  What could have been a gimmick turned into a genre, and this album is where it started. 

This album is the time period personified.  The songs were long, each “side” of the album only containing a few tracks each, but within each song there are a multitude of little parts that makes each one epic in nature.  This is obviously the case for the “combined” songs like “A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village”, but it is also true for songs like “Black Sabbath” or “Wicked World” that are complete songs in their own right, but contain different pieces and parts to make up the whole.  They start out one way and morph into something else along the way, changing tempo and style mid-song.  It’s pretty easy to do this when you have musicians that were as good at their individual instruments as Sabbath had in the Butler/Ward/Iommi trio. 

Tracks you may know: 

“Black Sabbath”:  I mean, come on.  From the moment you hear the opening sequence of rain, to that guitar lick, this is a song that transports you back in time, whether it is to when it debuted in 1970 or whenever you first heard it (for me it was the mid to late 90’s).  I was never a huge fan of this track growing up because I couldn’t stand the plodding nature of the opening half.  As I got older though, the more I listen to it the more I love it.  I realize that that opening half is just a vehicle to get you to Tony Iommi’s guitar work at the end.   

“NIB”:  For a song supposedly about Bill Ward’s “nib” of a beard, the thing that many people focus on is the phrase “my name is Lucifer, please take my hand” when discounting Sabbath as Satanist devil-worshippers.  Just listen to the song, listen to the music in the song, and try not to dance along, it’s catchy as all hell.

Tracks you should know:

“A bit of finger/Sleeping village”:  I love the unsung heroes of this album, the tracks that were either too long to shave down for the radio, or just a little too complicated.  This is one of those tracks that is just a bit too long and too weird.  It keeps with the creepy vibe established with “Black Sabbath” but makes a nice break into a showcase for Tony Iommi’s guitar work (bit of finger) before slinking back into the meat of the song (sleeping village).  It has a great bluesy feel to it, a lot more than any other track on the album, and is a nice way to close things out.

My personal favorite:

“The Wizard”:  While all of the above qualify, I would have to go with “The Wizard”.  It’s the shortest track on the album and the opening harmonica part is another one of those sounds (like the rain in “Black Sabbath” or the bells in AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”) that just gets you in the mood for the song.  Bill Ward’s drum part on this song is exceptional as well (but the fact that Bill Ward was awesome isn’t really news). 

Album rating: 

The fact that this was so lowly regarded upon its release is a mystery to me.  Sometimes we can look back on a band’s debut album and realize that it really wasn’t as good as where they wound up.  With Black Sabbath Black Sabbath is at the top of their game from the get-go.  The combination of traditional blues coupled with a slower, heavier pace, punctuated by Iommi’s bursts of guitar makes for an instantly recognizable and deeply influential sound.

10/10

The mother@#*&% of all album reviews!

                When I was young, there were four records (and I mean actual vinyl) that shaped my musical taste forever.  My parents had just received a stereo from my grandmother for Christmas (or some other present-giving holiday), complete with a record player.  This meant that all of the records that they had sitting in boxes in a closet were no longer useless.  Ergo, my listening experience was transformed from “whatever was on the radio” to full recordings, including all of the “album filler” that you never get to hear, all in their original form.  Those four, life altering  albums in no particular order were Led Zeppelin IV, Aerosmith’s Rocks, Alice Cooper’s School’s Out and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. 

                I told you that to tell you this:  June 11, Black Sabbath makes their triumphant return with an all new studio album.  This is big news for a number of reasons. 

1.       It’s been rumored since they first got back together at Ozzfest way back in 1997.

2.       It’s the first new music as the original Black Sabbath since two tracks on the Reunion concert album (1998), and their first full album since 1978’s Never Say Die.

3.       It gets the band back together (almost).  Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne are back together with Bill Ward the only original member that did not take part. 

4.       After a few sub-standard solo albums from Ozzy, hopefully we can get some good music!

5.       It’s new Black Sabbath!

So, in honor of this momentous occasion, I will be dipping back into the vault and doing small reviews of Black Sabbath’s discography for the next five weeks.  Here is the schedule and the guidelines:

Guidelines:

                Because the new release is the original Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath, those are the only albums I will be reviewing.  I have nothing against the Dio years of Black Sabbath, in fact I love those three albums (plus the latest release when they changed their name to Heaven and Hell) and I may review them in the future, but this is a singular mission to pay tribute to one of the most influential bands of all time and its original iteration.

                I will not be reviewing “Greatest Hits” collections, only regular albums and two live albums (see list below). 

                All of this will be followed by a review of the new album 13 upon its release.

Schedule:

May 7, 2013 – Black Sabbath     

May 9, 2013 – Paranoid

May 14, 2013 – Master of Reality

            May 16, 2013 – Volume 4

May 21, 2013 – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

            May 23, 2013 – Sabotage

            May 28, 2013 – Technical Ecstasy

May 30, 2013 – Never Say Die

June 4, 2013 – Reunion (Live)

            June 6, 2013 – Past Lives (Live)

June 18, 2013 – 13

                I hope you join me on this look back and I would greatly appreciate any feedback or comments on your own Black Sabbath experience (either live or in album form).