Dehumanizer - Song By Song

[Charger]

TV Crimes is my absolute favourite. What a killer rocker with fantastic lyrics about the scum of the earth that pass themselves as men of "god". Probably one of my favourite lyrics of all of Sabbath.

Ronnie's vocals are again absolutely top notch. You can feel just how he gets more and more pissed off as the song goes along. Great emotion once again, something that only he could do.

The whole band works seamlessly together on this one.

It's a real shame this wasn't played live more as it is one of the best fast songs Sabbath has ever done, but I suppose also not an easy song to sing night after night. But luckily they did play it handful of times during the beginning of the Dehumanizer tour so we atleast have live version of it to listen to!

[Zzzptm]

Leeeetters from EARTH, alllll RIGHT! DUH-DUH DUH-DUH da na na nee naa naa DUH-DUH DUH-DUH...

This is a textbook dissertation on how to do a doom song. "Not my fave, but I like it." - I think that sentiment of KDC's goes for a lot of fans, and for good reason. This is a solid track and I'm glad it's Dio singing it instead of Ozzy - as much as I wish a lot of 13 material was done by Dio instead of Ozzy... But when I look around at the doom-flavored scene of the last 20+ years, all the roads lead to Dehumanizer. They'll tag earlier Sabbath tracks, no question about that, but Dehumanizer is a single album that is wall-to-wall doom. This album is the one that gives a roadmap on how it all comes together. This album is a blueprint to follow if you're a young and hungry doom metal band, looking for a way to go in this biz.

Letters from Earth captures that roadmap/blueprint element. This isn't a greatest hits collection, so this is one of the tracks that's a dimmer light than the others on the album. But it still carries its own weight and keeps things going. It does not drag on the album, it underlines what's been going on and what's going to continue to happen.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Master of Insanity is a strange track for me, it was my least favourite when it was released, it just didn't do anything for me and I would often skip it. But about 10-12 years ago it kinda clicked all of a sudden and I really like it now. I guess it was ahead of its time!

[Zzzptm]

Master of Insanity - unlike KDC, I loved it from the start, especially the monster chorus. This song goes all kinds of places, every one of 'em dark and doomy.

[Charger]

I fell one behind so I'll do two today then...

Letter From Earth is another great track in an album full of great tracks. It also isn't among my favourites on the album but it's still such a killer track though. This is probably the most "ozzy" sounding Ronnie has ever been...both in vocal style and in vocal melody. Good catchy tune yet filled with good old school doom magic.


Master Of Insanity was a Geezer song...something he wrote for a potential solo project that never happened. Ronnie wrote some new lyrics and the band did some new music but the core of the song was pretty much the same. The bass intro alone is rather brilliant. But this song does drag on a bit...it is doomy as hell though and the chorus is indeed where the song comes alive.
Another testament on just how heavy the band was at the time...

[Typhon]

Master Of Insanity always reminds me of Led Zeppelin's The Wanton Song because of the stop and go sections.  Oddly enough, the main thing that annoys me with this tune is Ronnie's singing.  It seems out of place here, and if I could remove him from the song, then I might actually like it.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Side two kicks off with Time Machine. A catchy, uptempo yet still heavy song, a nice rumbling bass through out and good but short solo from Tony. Another really good song from this most excellent of album!

[Typhon]

Master Of Insanity always reminds me of Led Zeppelin's The Wanton Song because of the stop and go sections.  Oddly enough, the main thing that annoys me with this tune is Ronnie's singing.  It seems out of place here, and if I could remove him from the song, then I might actually like it.

That would be insane who else would you get to sing the song?

Nobody, the musicianship is good enough.

[Charger]

^^^^
There's a thing called "Modify" on the right corner of the post...use that instead of posting multiple posts after another please.



Time Machine is another stellar track. One would imagine doing a song for a movie they'd go all commercial...but oh no...not this band...never this band. Instead they come up with a monsterfully heavy fast rocker that has so much power and doom it could melt faces off from average movie goers.

Ronnie vocals are the absolute highlight here again...he soars away like no one else ever could. There's anger, there's power, there's presense...just pure brilliance.

Tony's monster riffing, great little solo and Geezer's pounding on that bass like nobody's business and Vinny's a master of the heavy drums.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Side two kicks off with Time Machine. A catchy, uptempo yet still heavy song, a nice rumbling bass through out and good but short solo from Tony. Another really good song from this most excellent of album!

Which version, the standard or Wayne’s World?

Standard version. We're going through the album song by song, the Wayne's World version was a bonus track on the Deluxe edition (I think!), but at the end of the day it is still essentially the same song.

[Zzzptm]

Re. Typhon and "The Wanton Song" in Master of Insanity: Yes, I hear it there as well. Glad to know I'm not the only one that got that vibe.

And yes, standard version with "bloody lies" goes here. It's the dark chocolate version of the movie single which was the "bonus track" on the end of the US release. No idea why a band wouldn't just call it a regular track and leave it at that. It's a friggin' CD! Fill it up! A bonus is a *second* CD that's full of good stuff. Anyway...


Where was I? Oh yeah, dark chocolate. Very heavy, fast, and doomy with lots more bottom to it than the single version. I remember hearing the single on the radio (this was back when Z Rock was a thing in the USA, long live Z Rock...) and going, "yeah! New Sabbath with Dio! I'm in!" I hit the record store soon afterward, nabbed the CD and was really surprised at how much darker this version was than what I heard on the radio. Kind of the opposite of the album version of The Mob Rules and the HM movie version - movie was heavier in that case - this time the album version had more stopping power.

But I love them fast songs, yes I do.

[Typhon]

T.V. Crimes is a little more ear pleasing.  Decent fast rocker.  It doesn't get my feet tapping or inspire me enough to sing along, but passable.

Ditto for Time Machine.

[Charger]

T.V. Crimes is a little more ear pleasing.  Decent fast rocker.  It doesn't get my feet tapping or inspire me enough to sing along, but passable.

Ditto for Time Machine.

You really hate Ronnie.

He doesn't. Check out the Heaven and Hell thread.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^ I hadn't thought about it, but it does have the same line-up, so maybe!

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The next song is Sins of the Father, an early favourite, it's dropped down the order of the best tracks on this album, not because I like it less but because other tracks have grown on me. I find it doesn't really flow as well as other tracks, frankly it's a bit messy even. But I do still like the song, Ronnies vocals are good.

[Zzzptm]

Sins of the Father is another slow burn that keeps the album's vibe going forward.