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May 17, 2012 |
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BLACK SABBATH - The Dio Years
Rhino (2007) |
8/10 |
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01. Neon Knights
02. Lady Evil
03. Heaven And Hell
04. Die Young
05. Lonely Is The Word
06. The Mob Rules
07. Turn Up The Night
08. Voodoo
09. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
10. After All (The Dead)
11. TV Crimes
12. I
13. Children Of The Sea (Live)
14. The Devil Cried
15. Shadow Of The Wind
16. Ear In The Wall
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Who was the best BLACK SABBATH front man between Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio? Sabbath and Metal fans all around the world have been arguing for years over that matter and will probably continue to do so until the end of time. One thing no one argues, however, is that both era delivered great classics during their respective time. From Albums like "Paranoid" (1970), "Master Of Reality" (1971) to "Heaven And Hell" (1980) and "The Mob Rules" (1981), those gems stood the test of time and sounds just as powerful today as they did when they were first released.
When Ozzy reunited with Tony Iommi (guitars), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) in the mid-nineties, to reform the original SABBATH line up, fans were praying for an album of new material to come out. But, since then, the band released two live albums, "Reunion" (1998) and "Past Lives" (2002), "Black Box" (2004), a boxed set containing all the "Ozzy era" albums and a few greatest hits. While it was great to see the original four back together, the only new material we received from them, in almost ten years, was two songs which were featured on "Reunion". Now, as Ozzy is getting ready to release his first album in about seven years, BLACK SABBATH are back with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and a new compilation album; "The Dio Years". That's right; Another greatest hits.
But, that is not all bad news as the songs chosen for this release were taken from all four Sabbath albums that featured Dio. That is somewhat of a welcomed change from the "Ozzy era" songs. We get to hear great classics such as "Neon Knights"and "Die Young" as well as lesser known songs like "Lonely Is The Word" and "Voodoo". Also, the songs have been re-mastered for a much better sound quality. To top it off, included are three new songs that were written by Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio. There is "The Devil Cried", a nice mid-tempo song that was used as their first single, followed by a slower track called "Shadow Of The Wind" and the album concludes with a fast one entitled "Ear In The Wall". All three songs are pretty much what you'd expect coming from BLACK SABBATH, which is a good thing.
The bad side of this release is that we only get three song worth of new material. If we stop and think about it, the last studio album from BLACK SABBATH was "Forbidden" with Tony Martin on vocals way back in 1995. While it's nice to hear great classics that helped define what Metal is today, to only get five new songs in ten years can only be viewed as a disappointment for any fans.
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