Black Sabbath – Born Again – 1983
Well, here we are. Another Purple Sabbath crossover. Ex-Deep Purple lead singer Ian Gillan joined Black Sabbath for their most reviled album of their career.
First off, from the beginning it sounds NOTHING like a Sabbath record. “Trashed”, the lead off song is some power speed metal with soaring vocals and a razor bald of a guitar solo. The tinniness of the production is so off putting that the entire record is impossible to penetrate (forget that cover, which should turn any human off), the marriage of Gillan and Sabbath is just a mess.
This, by the way, is the album that spawned the tour that begat the amazing “Stonehenge” segment of Spinal Tap. The story goes that the set Sabbath designed was too big to get into any arena. So, Tap went in the other direction, hilariously. The instrumental “Stonehenge” on this record is a trifle, a placeholder that leads into the shrieking caterwauling of “Disturbing the Priest”, a song I can only describe as Metal as imagined by The Residents. Just awful.
On the other hand “Zero the Hero” is a dark epic of political apathy. Gillan’s voice sounds like Vince Neil in a song that almost rescues the first side. And Side two opens with a screed against ex-Sabbath manager’s daughter and future Ozzy wife and tv reality star, Sharon Arden (Osbourne) and, save the trebly mastering, it’s a powerhouse of chukka-metal. The overly earnest slodge that is the title track calls to mind some z-rated horror film. Not quite Troll 2 but maybe Halloween 6. It wants so badly to be grandiose and epic. It fails on both counts. “Hot Line” while a pretty straight forward metal experience is perhaps the only song on the album to be correctly mixed.
If everybody involved with this had been paying attention to the mixing and mastering, I bet this record would be less reviled today. (well, it needs a new cover). As it is, it has to lose a few points for the terrible execution in post. Too bad. Everybody seems to be trying.
Grade: D+
ASide: Trashed, Digital Bitch
BlindSide: Zero the Hero (suck it, Allmusic, I dig this song)
DownSide: Disturbing the Priest, Born Again, Keep It Warm
