Eternal Idol - Song By Song

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The closing track is the title track Eternal Idol. A slow burner of a song, gentle vocals which suddenly burst with energy. It builds up momentum and energy before returning to the slowness from the beginning for a nother verse and then the energy returns for the final section with the really good uptempo final verse.

I do like this song, with interesting speed change typical of earlier albums. I do think returning to the ultra slowness towards the end was unnecessary, but the final verse is possibly my favourite part of the album. Martin would return to that style of delivery again in later albums.

[Charger]

Eternal Idol is hands down the second best track on the album. It has that classic Sabbath feel with the slow intro that leads into a doomy guitar riff with the drums only to be followed by a slower part again with eery vocals.

The vocal melody is among the best ones too. All in all this is probably the most classic Sabbath sounding song on the entire album. And there is a strong ammount of Ronnie-like delivery in Tony's vocals...This is a song that I could easily see Ronnie singing as well.

But as with most of this album this too desperately needs a remix to add it some of that depth that the entire album is lacking.



With better production and allowing Tony to rework the vocal melodies and some of the lyrics this album could have been great. As it stands now it seems bit rushed and unfinished.

I'd rank the songs

1. The Shining
2. Eternal Idol
3. Born To Lose
4. Nightmare
5. Scarlet Pumpernickel
6. Lost Forever
7. Glory Ride
8. Hard Life To Love
9. Ancient Warrior

[Jack the Stripper]

The title track is a bit of a mixed bag for me. It does have a lot more of that classic Sabbath doomy feel to it which is welcome but it drags too much and just doesn’t bring you in and take you on the journey you expect or want it to. The song would’ve really benefited with a tempo change or even a long extended guitar solo to break it up. Gillen’s original vocal melody is fine for the song but neither him or Tony Martin are suited or sound authentic singing over doom. Unfortunately this was a constant for Tony Martin over the next couple of albums. Good song but with some tweaks it could’ve been a great song.


Have to say this is a pretty decent and entertaining album overall. Tony Iommi’s guitar work is solid as always and it does have a bit more of that Sabbathy familiarity to it than Seventh Star did but it’s not an album that keeps me wanting to come back to it time and time again like Sabbath’s previous albums do. Both Bob and Ray did a good job at handling the lyrics & vocal melodies respectively, much less cheesy and predictable to what Tony Martin would bring on the next 2 releases.  I’ll also add that I don’t have much an issue on the production side of things, it’s just a product of its time and unless it’s outright abysmal like Born Again or Forbidden would prefer it left alone. 

Overall Rating 6.5/10

Track Rankings
1. Nightmare
2. The Shining
3. Lost Forever
4. Eternal Idol
5. Glory Ride
6. Ancient Warrior
6. Hard Life to Love
6. Born to Lose
9. Scarlet Pimpernel

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

It's a solid album, no really bad tracks but also nothing truly great. My ranking is:

1. Born to Lose
2. Lost Forever
3= Nightmare
3= Eternal Idol
5. Scarlet Pimpernel
6= The Shining
6= Glory Ride
8= A Hard Life to Love
8= Ancient Warrior

[Zzzptm]

The last track is a bit slow for my liking, but I still love the album overall. Outside the Ozzy/Dio releases, this one is my favorite, and I certainly do prefer it to the lesser stars in those firmaments.