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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => All Other Eras => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on February 16, 2021, 08:37:13 AM
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This album makes great strides forward from Headless Cross. No longer are the songs lyrically cheesey and hell influenced, they are more adventurous but not unsabbathy (well, except for Feels Good To Me).
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The opener is Anno Mundi. Outside Ozzy/Dio releases this is my favourite album opener even better than Trashed. The gentle start opens up to a heavy main section with a nice mellower section in the middle to break thiings up. The riff is good and the vocals are among Martin's best. A nice all round effort from the band.
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The bass parts are much better here, thank you Neil Murray. Should note that the band is 40% former Whitesnake members in this lineup and the one for Forbidden. :smug:
Collectively, everyone seems to be working with the understanding that this *is* a proper metal song. That's good. I'll confess that Tyr is another album I didn't play often after getting it, so this will be interesting to see where it takes me. Overall, I'm happy with Anno Mundi. It's not a blazer, but it's not trying to be. It sets a mood, and I'm ready for what comes next - if it continues to go with that mood.
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I’ve turned around a bit on TYR over the years to what I originally thought of it. I use to think it was even worse than Headless Cross but I think it’s probably more the consistent album of the two. I do still think the best songs on HC are still better than the best on TYR though.
So onto the opener Anno Mundi and straight off we’re introduced with a softer Children of the Sea type guitar intro and a Queen like chant which I’ve never been completely sold on but at the same time I don’t hate it either. But where things really kick into gear is when the rest of the band joins in and Iommi switches to heavy mode.The song really drives along quite nicely from there with the strong rhythm section of Powell & Murray holding it together. Cozy’s drumming in particular is great on this song delivering some great fills throughout. I also like the build into the chorus but I still think Martin over does it a bit there and the cheesiness is still present. No real guitar solo to speak of but the song seems to work fine without one. Its far from the greatest Sabbath album opener but it’s not too bad either and it gets a tick from me.
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Law Maker is definitely fast and hard. Martin's delivery is reminiscent of Dio's from "Kill the King". So is Powell's drumming. Iommi does a Blackmore impersonation, so I'm not complaining at all. I had totally forgotten about this track, and now I'm finding that I have a taste for it. OK, that's a +1 for this album on my rating.
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The Lawmaker is challenging for my favourite song on the album. It's a fast rocker which reminds me a little of Neon Knights (not quite in that league but you know what I mean!). Great riff, great vocals... love it!
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Not really sure where The Lawmaker sits with me. Sounds like a fairly stock standard fast rocker with nothing unique or really standing out about it. I do get a little bit of a Maiden vibe about it but it just doesn’t really seem to get my juices flowing the way other past fast rockers from Sabbath do. It’s not a bad song at all, it’s just a very stock sounding uptempo rocker.
Another banger of a guitar solo from Iommi I must say though.
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Next up we have Jerusalem. It's not a bad song, probably the weakest on side 1 but it's a good side all told. I like it musically and the vocals are good but there's nothing outstanding about any of it.
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Musically Jerusalem is quite sold but when the singing kicks in its getting back to those AOR stylings again. The chorus has a nice lift in it, albeit it is a little cheesy. The song comes across as a very Christian Rock song, so much so I can almost picture being sung on a Jimmy Swaggart TV ministry show.
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Jerusalem gets stuck in my head every time I see mention of the city. Doesn't matter if it's a news report, historical game, religious discussion, I get "JERUSALEM! Ohh-ohh-ohhhh-woah-a-ohhh!"
Every. Damn. Time.
And I'm playing a lot of Crusader Kings 3, so... yeah... it's an annoying little earbug, that song.
Full version's not half bad, though. Not amazing or anything, but I've heard worse.
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BTW When we get to it, I'm thinking we do the Odin trilogy as one, unless we have any obejections!
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Sure. That feels good to me.
:smug:
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Was gonna suggest that myself. Makes sense to do the Viking trilogy as one.
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But to-day, we shall consider The Sabbath Stones...
I'm liking the track, very heavy especially at the ending which is kind of a combo of Black Sabbath and Heaven and Hell. Really works well for me and my opinion of this album is very much lifted with that track.
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The Sabbath Stones has the crappest title ever... but it's also vying to be the best track on the album. Starts slow and gentle with a hint of mennace, speeds up, gets really heavy, great track and I love it!
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“The Sabbath Stones” is very much a classic old school Sabbath sounding song in vibe and structure, intertwining heavy doom parts with softer mellow parts and and a fast finishing outro.The only thing I don’t like is the words and delivery in the intro. Fire and water, wind and rain etc seems a bit too cliche a bit too easy to come up with when you’re struggling for the right words. I can’t imagine Ronnie or Geezer would ever come up with those words in that part. Besides that, it’s a fantastic track, very memorable with great playing.
Can anyone help explain to me what the actual Sabbath Stones are though?
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The Sabbath Stones are, uh... um...
Um...
Are they something like Jenga, but with rocks?
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Or or like the Rings of Power from Lord of the Rings except it’s Stones and whoever holds them is the keeper of all things Sabbath and ruler of doom :D
In all seriousness, I did some research on it and the Sabbath Stones are “apparently“ the stone tablets given to Moses by God that were inscribed with the “The Ten Commandments” by Gods own finger.
Won’t go into any more of that fable but that’s the gist of it.
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Well, it's still a cool song.
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The trilogy of songs The Battle of Tyr / Odin's Court / Valhalla come next. A trilogy which feels like it should be much longer but is in fact only just over 8½ minutes!
The Battle of Tyr is pretty much a waste of time and doesn't even convey the emotion of a battle!
Odin's Court is a gentle ballad trying to capture the heroics of viking times. It's ok there's nothing outstanding about it, but I don't mind it, and it flows well into the next track...
Valhalla is a good uptempo rocker. It's got a nice riff, suitably heroic vocals although Martin's lyrics are a little cliched. I like it, but it's maybe dragged back by being coupled with the first two parts.
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I find The Battle Of Tyr/ Odin’s Court/ Valhalla trilogy a bit of a mixed bag. Starting with the instrumental intro. For me it just doesn’t sound epic or uplifting enough for its title. The keyboards don’t quite sound right and I think it would’ve served the song better if they took a back seat and Cozy’s floor toms took the front seat and were the dominant part in the song.
The transition into Odin’s Court works ok though which I think is quite a nice song. Martins vocals are beautiful and tender as is Tony’s acoustic playing and its just the right length to not become boring.
As for Valhalla, again it treads too much into AOR territory. The riffs and drumming in the verses are good though as is the outro but nothing much more about the song lifts me enough.
Summing up, I think as a trio of songs it’s fairly good, but as an epic Viking Trilogy, it falls short.
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Next up we have Feels Good To Me. For a long time I've felt this was the bastard brother of No Stranger to Love. I much prefer this song though, although in truth I'm not a huge fan of it, but I don't hate it either! A power ballad of sorts that was mis-placed from the 80s, but once it gets going it has a nice riff and a Lonely is the Word style solo that makes me want to put that song on! Martin's vocals are more than up to the task, and it's not a bad song, just not a very Sabbathy song.
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Yep “Feels Good To Me” is a power ballad from a time when power ballads were all the rage on MTV, except this is a dam good one...Perfect I would even say
Has nice ebbs & flows
Has a great lift and surge in the chorus
Brilliant emotive singing & guitar solo
It’s not schmaltzy or saccharine filled
I would go as far as saying this is the best power ballad from its time period and its a shame it wasn’t a huge hit for the band because it was so much better than all those others that were.
I even have the 12” single of this one
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/aa333/DAMAGEDsINCe85/E38B7C9B-893A-431C-83B7-62C14FC23902_zpsoi2xb7zq.jpg)
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The album closer is Heaven in Black, a fast rocker with a nice drum intro. I really like the song, a good riff, a nice solo, the vocals are good too. As a stand-alone song it is good, I just feel on the album it is in the wrong spot, it really feels more like an album opener with Anno Mundi perhaps being the closer or better still The Sabbath Stones. But that's a minor gripe. ;)
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My ranking of the songs is:
1. The Sabbath Stones
2. The Law Maker
3. Anno Mundi
4. Heaven in Black
5. The Viking Trilogy
6= Feels Good To Me
6= Jerusalem
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Coming in late, I like Valhalla and Heaven in Black. The rest of the side isn't necessary.
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I like “Heaven in Black” as well but agree with Kilo in that it doesn’t really fit as an album closer. I personally would’ve swapped it in the track sequencing with “The Sabbath Stones” but that doesn’t take away from the fact it’s still a good hard rockin song. I actually get a bit of a Rainbow vibe from this track with that fast simple alternate picking riff accompanied with those keyboards behind it and Cozy’s relentless drumming, love that opening drum roll.
It also has this rather neat Maiden -esque like celtic playing from Tony after the main solo which is quite different for him but compliments the song really well.
Martins delivery can be hit or miss for me but its spot on for this particular track, he doesn’t over do it or get too repetitive and the lyrics are really interesting in that they tell the story of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible who had architect that built him St Basils Cathedral’s eyes blinded in order to prevent him from building anything as magnificent again for anyone else. Excellent song all round.
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I'm not gonna mess this one up for you guys either but I will say that as a whole this is better than Headless Cross. The overall quality of the songs is much steadier...
Well part from Feels Good To Me which has to be the worst song since the Never Say Die album. Very commercial power ballad feel, extremely un Sabbath like....and Heaven In Black has a bit of a meh feel to it as well.
The rest however are very good...The Sabbath Stones, Anno Mundi, The Law Maker and especially the Valhalla trilogy are all suberb. Tony also showed that he can be very versatile with his lyrics...not everything has to be about the devil.
Overall rating for this one I'd say
* * * *
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So in summing up TYR I think it’s a more focused and cohesive album than Headless Cross as well as a more consistent listen all the way through. There’s no real clunkers like there are on HC. It’s still far from a great Sabbath album but still a decent listen all the same.
Album Rating 5.5/10
Song Ranking
1. The Sabbath Stones
2. Anno Mundi
3. Feels Good To Me
4. Heaven In Black
5. The Battle Of Tyr/ Odin’s Court/ Valhalla
6.The Lawmaker
7. Jerusalem
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I think we're all pretty much agreeing that it's a better set than Headless Cross. I'm wondering what was going on in my life when I first got the CD that I didn't warm to it more when I first got it.