HAPPY 30th HEADLESS CROSS!!!!

[Charger]

Headless Cross was released 30 years ago today and I thought I'd write a little anniversary review and here it is:


For 30 years now witches have been gathering at the hill of the Headless Cross!

Black Sabbath was at an all time low during the mid 80s with the release of the ill-fated Seventh Star album, which was ofcourse originally supposed to be a Tony Iommi solo album but because of the pressure from record company had to be released under the Black Sabbath moniker just with the added “Featuring Tony Iommi” tag. The line-up changes carried on for two more years as members came and went and they released Eternal Idol which also had some serious line-up changes even during the recording process most notably the departure of singer Ray Gillen and the introduction of the fantastic vocal talents of mr. Tony Martin.

After the very short tour the line-up once again disbanded with only Tony Iommi, keyboardist Geoff Nicholls and singer extraordinaire Tony Martin remaining. After getting the drummer legend Cozy Powell into the fold they started working on a new album and the recording line up was completed by Lawrence Cottle on bass. Cottle however did not want to tour so another legendary musician Neil Murray was brought into the fold and the band had finally found a stable line-up who was able to produce music fully worthy of the Black Sabbath name once again.

Headless Cross was a great return to form with trademark Sabbath sounds of heavy riffs, powerful bass, innovative drumming and exceptional vocals. Tony Martin had already proven on Eternal Idol that he had pipes that could handle pretty much everything but truthfully he only sang over Ray Gillen’s vocals, but now here he had full control of not only the melodies but lyrics as well.
Especially the title track and the epical When Death Calls proved once and for all that Tony could write lyrics just as good as Geezer Butler and nearly as good and Ronnie James Dio.

The first side of the album is pure gold with the aforementioned tracks been completed by the fast heavy rocker Devil And Daughter which saw Tony Martin reaching a whole new heights with his vocals.
Headless Cross and When Death Calls are both suberb tracks that can take on any other Black Sabbath track from any era and give them a run for their money.
When Death Calls is also worth mentioning because it features a fellow guitar legend Brian May on lead guitar, which marks the first ever time a guest musician has appeared on a Black Sabbath album.

The second side however is bit more uneven. Black Moon has one of Tony’s grooviest riffs of all time and should be recognized as an underrated gem. But Kill In The Spirit World and Call Of The Wild (which actually was originally called Hero but the band decided to change the name due to the fact that Ozzy Osbourne had released a song by that name on his 1988 album No Rest For The Wicked) both are bit on the softer side and don’t really get the momentum...Also both due suffer a bit from sounding “overly” 80s, as far as Black Sabbath in concerned anyways. Kill In The Spirit World however does feature a great (but short) guitar solo from Tony.
The closing track Nighwing showcases again how well Tony Iommi can combine soft acoustic work to heavy metal riffing. The song balances quite nicely between a near ballad and a fast rocker only in the way Black Sabbath can.

Headless Cross remains the best known Sabbath album outside the Ozzy- and Ronnie-eras and it does so with a good reason. It was a great comeback album from the band that created heavy metal.
But it also is very much a product of it’s time. The production sounds bit thin compared to most other Sabbath albums (not counting the horrendous Never Say Die ofcourse) and it is perhaps the most keyboard heavy of all Sabbath albums.
Songs like the title track, When Death Calls, Devil & Daughter and Black Moon have stood the test of time extremely well but the others perhaps not quite so much.
Headless Cross is not the best album to come out of the Tony Martin era but it is perhaps the most legendary and deserves to be listened and respected even after 30 years.

* * * ½

[AnnoMundi]

Great review Charger! (Except for the NSD! put down.) That long ago already? My how time passes us by.

The title track is one of my favorite Martin/Sabbath songs.

Happy Anniversary Headless Cross.

[Charger]

Oh NSD deserves all the putting down it can get!

[AnnoMundi]

Come on Charger, NSD! is one of Sabbath’s best.

[Jack the Stripper]

Especially the title track and the epical When Death Calls proved once and for all that Tony could write lyrics just as good as Geezer Butler and nearly as good and Ronnie James Dio.

 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

@Elves
You're wasting your breath if you think you can change Chargers mind on NSD, he's long established it as one of his least favourite Sabbath albums.

Personally, I really like it.

@Charger
I think you like HC slightly more than I do, but we differ on which tracks we like and dislike. We do agree on When Death Calls and Black Moon as great songs, but Headless Cross / Devil and Daughter and Nightwing are pretty poor IMO. Kill in the Spirit World is great too, and in recent years Call of the Wild has grown on me.

It is still one of my 5 least favourite Sabbath albums overall, but it is all subjective and I think it is an ok effort really. 3/5

[AnnoMundi]

I didn’t know that Kilo, NSD! especially the title track is a great song, even the Bill Ward song ain’t that bad.

[Charger]

@Charger
I think you like HC slightly more than I do, but we differ on which tracks we like and dislike. We do agree on When Death Calls and Black Moon as great songs, but Headless Cross / Devil and Daughter and Nightwing are pretty poor IMO. Kill in the Spirit World is great too, and in recent years Call of the Wild has grown on me.

It is still one of my 5 least favourite Sabbath albums overall, but it is all subjective and I think it is an ok effort really. 3/5

That's cool. I've just found those two songs to sound maybe bit too soft for Sabbath standards. I'm surprised a bit to hear you say that about the title track though. I've always found it to be great.

Devil & Daughter is one of those songs that splits people though.

I am not entirely sure where to rank HC overall but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that TE NSD & Seventh Star are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse that it.

[Charger]

@ Jack

Yeah yeah...Ozzy rocks everybody else sucks...move along...nothing to see here...no soup for you...NEXT!

[Jack the Stripper]

C'mon Charger. Comparing Tony Martin as the equal of Geezer Butler is just absurd! No one should escape that statement.

And can you do a Sabbath review without mentioning how much NSD sucks?

Repetition for the sake of emphasis is it?

[Charger]

Absurd...no it's not. Geezer wasn't the greatest lyricist in the world not by a long shot. But he wasn't the worst either and neither is Tony.

And if I want to mention NSD in my reviews I'll fuckin mention NSD in my reviews...it is MY review after all I can mention what ever the fuck I want!

I know you loathe Tony Martin...everyone knows that...but most of us here actually like him. You don't really need to come to my review thread to simply piss on it (and on me) for the sake of it.

[Jack the Stripper]

Didn't even mention Headless Cross. Had my opinion on that enough just like we've heard your opinion/review of it at countless times and read how much you hate NSD, TE and SS in every other post. If people want to post a review or bring up a subject surely others are entitled to chime in with a response whether negative, positive, mixed or in my case light-hearted are they not? But yet again you have gone over the top and taken extreme offence to something that most everyone else on here would be water off a ducks back.

I mean, this is a discussion forum is it not?

[Zzzptm]

* Zzzptm thinks Eternal Idol was the best Martin-era album...

 

[Zzzptm]

@Charger and Jack... all right you two, ease up there.

If you want a really REALLY bad record review, I have one right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4GNC7C0fsg

[Charger]

Fair enough.

I won't post any more reviews of any kind here ever again.

This topic is now done and is subject for deletion.