Dehumanizer: A Close Third

[Zzzptm]

In our recent polling, we pretty much placed Dehumanizer in third place among the Dio-era albums. TDYK went out very quickly and when it came to choosing between this album, H&H, and MR, the choice seemed to be pretty easy for all of us here to make.

So what is missing from Dehumanizer that would make it more competitive with the other two Dio-era albums?

For me, it needs more of the epicness of "I" and less of "Sins of the Father." It may be that in order to make a full CD, the band put too much on the record. I might want to go back later and see what else I'd cut or rearrange to make a tighter, better mix that could go toe-to-toe longer with H&H and MR.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Nope, nothing missing from Dehumanizer, to me it is the best of the Dio albums and the 3rd best of any Sabbath album. MR and H&H are tremendous too. But given I've recently decided that Master of Insanity is actually really rather good it could go even higher!

[Zzzptm]

Yes. "Master of Insanity" is an amazing song, very strong, with Iommi's riffing driving that thing forward like a Sherman tank.

[Charger]

As most of you know Dehumanizer was my first Black Sabbath album and infact my first connection to heavy metal so it holds a very special place in my heart.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the album...in fact for the longest period of time it was criminally underrated...I think it got a new lease on life so to speak during the Reunion and lots of people went back to that album and found out that "hey this is pretty fuckin' great album why had I overlooked it in the past"....that's even true to some big Sabbath fans too.

I always found this album to be suberb and loved the heavier side of Sabbath and Ronnie's insane vocal preformance. You can just feel the emotion pouring out of every single line he sings on that album...it's mind blowing really.

I think if there is one thing that this album lacks in relation to the Heaven And Hell and The Mob Rules is that it doesn't have that one BIG song...although Computer God, After All and I are all quite epical eventhough they aren't that long...

[Zzzptm]

If "After All" and "I" had been lengthened to allow for dropping of a weaker tune, that would be fine with me. Fact is, though, there *is* filler on it. While I liked the idea of getting up to 70 minutes o' music on a CD as a youthful bargain-loving music buyer, I'm older and have more money, so overall quality matters to me more. With digital music now, artists have much more flexibility on song choices, so they can make their offerings as long or short as they want and then price accordingly.

With that in mind, I'm sure that if Dehumanizer had been a digital release, some of those tracks would have been left out, perhaps for inclusion on the 20th anniversary Remaster Deluxe Bonus Edition or something.

[Charger]

Fact is, though, there *is* filler on it.

That's no fact, that's just like uh... your opinion man....

[Zzzptm]

Well played, Mr. Charger. Well played.

[Charger]

Well played, Mr. Charger. Well played.

 

[Zzzptm]

OK, so challenge accepted, it's time for me to play this album, front to back... 56 minutes.

"Computer God" - Really slow start, relative to the other two preceding Dio-era albums, then it heads into the face-ripper section that I think truly kicks off the album. I'd have preferred the lurching first part to have been cut off and the face-ripper part to be extended. Could save 4:17 if we jettison the slow bit, although we'd need back 2 minutes to get a proper start for the fast song.

"After All" - good choice for song number 2 and could actually have been a better opener than the previous song. The intro is just more solid and convincing. Even though it's slow, it's got some great doomy power in it. Very much a keeper.

"TV Crimes" - Man, I love this track. I had to grow in appreciation of "After All", I loved this one from the start. Keep it all.

"Letters From Earth" - sounds like "Lonely is the Word" gone darker. Not a bad thing, in and of itself. The guitar effects in that one part seemed unnecessary, but the bridge and the solo more than make up for that. Sounds very much like a Martin-era tune, that bridge. But, in the end, I can't really see this as a strong song, as good as the others I like. Drop this and get 4:17 in time back.

"Master of Insanity" - Classic Iommi riff driving a tune to greatness, even if there's a secondary riff during the verses that borrows from Led Zeppelin's "The Wanton Song".

"Time Machine" - Darker than the Wayne's World version, I like it. Little slower tempo, but it still is a monster track.

"Sins of the Father" - When I first heard this, I wondered why BS had to take a trip to Seattle with this song... and then the song can't make up its mind and goes all doomy. It's variety without context. The last two minutes make better sense and I think they'd be better to front the good part from "Computer God", so that's a savings of 4:47 in this song. Add in LfE and part of the opener, and that's 11 minutes shaved so far.

"Too Late" - Intro from "Die Young" makes a guest appearance, then a Martin-era acoustic part. Dio's got a lovely lyric on top of this and the texture for the chorus really makes it work. Song keeps building and really knows which way it's going.

"I" - This one is king of the hill, best track on the album. Awesome lyrics and everyone is at the top of their abilities on this track. In truth, it is also very straightforward musically. Does only a few things, but does them very well. Very *very* well. I think it should have been the closer, actually.

"Buried Alive" - Really heavy tune, man. But the solo belongs to a different song, I think. I'm not entirely happy with the way this song comes together. I could leave this off the vinyl version of the album and be just fine. And, at almost 5 minutes, that gives us 16 minutes shaved away, total, leaving 40 minutes and eight tracks for the LP, a pretty decent set. If you want to keep the songs as is and add one from the three I didn't like, I'd add in "Copmuter God", but slip it into the middle of the deck and lead off with "After All" or "Time Machine".

Wayne's World version "Time Machine" is a bonus 45, not on the album itself.

But, yeah, this album could definitely be tightened up, proving once again that sometimes less is more.