BLACK SABBATH in 1971: Master of Reality and the end of innocence.

Written by Andreas Andreou

SATAN, COCAINE, GOLDEN RECORDS, USA: 1971 ON THE ROAD.

During 1970, Black Sabbath released two albums (Black Sabbath, Paranoid) and from small clubs they went on to tour in the United States while their albums met a huge commercial success despite the negativity of critics and the press that couldn't see at that moment what was happening. Reviews of the albums at the time were savage. The key to commercial success though, always had to do with the USA too; if a band managed to tour in the USA and enter the charts, success was in sight.

The United States of America was a completely different world than Europe and England half a century ago, and the 22-year old fellas from Birmingham got to learn about it and even changed their perspective of the world. When you travelled in the USA in 1971, you could see headlines about Ku Klux Klan bombing school buses, a bomb on a plane, a bomb here and there, the Attica Prison riot, and of course the Vietnam War was still raging. But 50 years ago, there were more things that nowadays sound like they don't matter or they're just "old news" and a "stupid thing". In 1971 in the USA, you had the sentence of Charles Manson after the "trial of the century", and you could also see the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, in the cover of the famous Look magazine. "It's a satanic world", Geezer Butler told Rolling Stone magazine that year, and Satanism was a "thing" back then in the USA. "Satan" was a word mentioned with fear in the society half a century ago. Things were different.

In that world (the USA), Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward met all kinds of weirdos and people who invited them to Satanic ceremonies and black magic gatherings since they had the fame of devil-worshippers. They got praise from followers of Charles Manson, even Anton LaVey himself, who (according to Tony and Ozzy) arranged a black magic parade in San Francisco honoring the band with a "Welcome Black Sabbath" banner. They never really understood it but that was America; A different world. And keep in mind that we're talking about something different: That was the context of the world half a century ago.

Years later, the Church of Satan said that the black magic parade was a myth, but in this world, Black Sabbath was often related with black magic and Satan even if they had just a handful of songs about Old Nick and they always denied every connection with that - they even made fun of it. They had a dark vibe, a presence of an invisible fifth member and the Devil's interval, the tritone, and THE RIFF, but that's all; it just gave birth to Heavy Metal.

However, when Ozzy parted ways with the rest and everyone entered the '80s, things changed, heavy metal music became something different and both parties (Ozzy in his solo career and what Iommi did with the Black Sabbath moniker) embraced the dark image and all those myths. Ozzy became the bat-biting Prince of Darkness and sung songs about Aleister Crowley and Manson's murders, while Tony Iommi wrote riffs about the hill of the headless cross and Satan, even added a red devil baby in the cover of a Sabbath album. Well, they kept wearing crosses, just like those Ozzy's father made for the original 4 in the early days that were supposed to keep them safe from evil eyes and evil possessors but things really changed in the '80s. According to the "image", Tony Iommi made most of the people that entered the Sabbath timeline in the '80s wearing crosses, just like those Ozzy's father brought. That was the '80s, the second decade of cocaine that became the devil's daughter for both Ozzy and Tony who were seduced by her, but let' go back to 1971...

Black Sabbath started writing the first new songs on the road, while touring in the UK (with a short visit in Australia for the Myponga Pop Festival) but they stopped since the management and labels asked them to visit again the USA for touring since Paranoid got its US release by Warner Bros. Records a few months later than the Vertigo UK & European release. The band played in the USA until April, and a few shows followed back in Europe with the last one at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, on April 26th of 1971. The show in Royal Albert Hall was supposed to be during the January British tour but the band was banned because of their image, their lyrics and their music. Promoters were afraid.

 

In just a few months, both Black Sabbath and Paranoid achieved gold status and a third tour in North America was booked starting in July 1971. Black Sabbath had just a few weeks until May to finish their third album and continue touring, in a schedule that nowadays looks unreal and impossible.

 

Before even releasing Master of Reality, Black Sabbath had already performed more than 200 shows (sometimes performing two shows at the same day) let alone all those shows during 1968 and the first half of 1969 before changing name to Black Sabbath. While the first US tour was something like a successful experiment, the following ones and the shows they performed, made them one of the biggest bands of the planet. The audience went mad when Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill were on stage and even if that was just the beginning, they were already old dogs but they never stopped learning new tricks. Black Sabbath continued in North America until late-October 1971. When 1971 came to an end, Black Sabbath had already performed an estimated number of 300 shows. Think about it for a while. And it was not just that. They continued touring supporting Master of Reality in the United Kingdom during January and February of 1972 while in late-February they returned to the USA for more shows until April 1972, adding an estimated number of 50 more shows!

We've said the USA changed the band's perspective of the world. They were already introduced to marijuana and different kinds of pills but in the world of America the hard-line drug-dust came in front of them just like pizza and all those groupies, weirdos and freaks, among the thousands of fans. Tony Iommi must have been the first one who did cocaine while Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne shortly followed during some LA nights. Ozzy was introduced to cocaine by Leslie West of Mountain, a guitarist that was a huge influence for another important person in Ozzy's timeline: Randy Rhoads.

Master of Reality was certified gold from advance sales before it was even released. In a period of two years, from late-1969 to late-1971, Black Sabbath shaped different heavy genres of music, inspired countless people, released three albums and went from small clubs in England to headline shows of thousands in the USA. That was the end of innocence and the beginning of a new era. "I feel the band is getting very influenced by the American trip", Ozzy said to Melody Maker in 1972, when they were somehow relocated in the United States, and influence for every new song was coming from the world. It was just a different new world, so that's what the music was about: the daily life and social chaos, drugs, pollution, war and evil, supernatural and the afterlife. Still though, there were also moments of happiness and love within those songs.

 Black Sabbath at Central Park, NYC. August 15, 1971 (photo by Bob Gruen)

 

WHEN WAS "MASTER OF REALITY" ACTUALLY RECORDED?

The most confusing thing is the period the album was actually recorded. According to various sources, Master of Reality was recorded during February-April 1971 in Island Studio in London, while Tony Iommi wrote in his biography Iron Man (First Da Capo Press paperback edition, 2012, page 94) that the album was recorded in February and March of 1971, and he's also mentioning they had two weeks to record Master of Reality. In the kind of life of people like Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, exact dates are not something that's really certain when they're asked about it.

For sure, the album was recorded in London with producer Rodger Bain for the third and final time, and Tom Allom engineering. But it wasn't recorded during March, since by mid-February until early-April, Black Sabbath were touring in North America. Then, they returned to Europe for a few more European dates in Scandinavian countries with the last one in London, England, on April 26th of 1971. So, the album is either recorded after that date in May or June of 1971, or before February 1971, or just those few days during early April after the North America tour and before the few European dates.

So, when was Master of Reality recorded? Maybe they worked on a few basic tracks after Christmas of 1970 up to early January 1971 but surely entered the studio early-February for a few days. The final recordings were probably in a week during early April and/or completed in May 1971.

The album was released in both the UK and the USA on July 21, when they were already back in the United States for another major tour.

THE ALBUM. THE SONGS. THE LEGACY.

Recorded with producer Rodger Bain, the album is the perfect follow-up to Black Sabbath and Paranoid. Primal and gloomy, heavy and honest, Master of Reality is the end of innocence for the band members before they will move on to more ambitious and experimental albums as established rock stars, without any specific few-days recording limitation from record companies and management, or producers like Bain claiming part of their glory.

Down, down, down-tuned, Master of Reality was the heaviest album on earth upon its release. The heaviest thing the world witnessed up to that moment. It was the year where the term "heavy metal" also started appearing in magazines more often and found its true meaning in describing that specific genre-defining album that became the blueprint for all-things heavy, different sub-genres and music styles that followed years (even decades) later. Master of Reality was the heavy metal music of its time.

However, a few people and writers are often confused and believe that Tony Iommi down-tuned his guitar for the album but that's not really correct. Iommi did it in just three songs: "Children of the Grave", "Lord of This World" and "Into the Void". "They were played with guitars detuned three semitones to sharp C", an expert - musician would say, and I guess that's the exact musical term for what Iommi did. But why did he do it? After countless live shows and days on stage, the pain in his chopped fingertips was constant. The sound was already heavy but with the down-tuning he reduced the string tension and that was easier for him to perform the mammoth riffs. Then, Geezer Butler also down-tuned his bass to match the Riff Master and Ozzy started singing higher to balance everything.

Today, there are many audio engineers and people in the music industry, and when something (very) heavy and sludgy appears, sometimes, someone will say "it's not properly recorded", while others are lost in overproduced albums that you can't really listen to all the instruments and music elements properly. Labels didn't change Black Sabbath's music, and "social media experts" of the modern age was something that didn't exist, but it would be fun to have them back then speaking about "a bad production", "average vocals" and "sloppy playing". Thankfully, 50 years ago nobody affected Sabbath's sound and the history of music changed. With all its "faults", the "you can't do that!", and "maths" that are not right; because simply, music is not just maths and it can be something more. Frank Zappa once explained it better. In the end, Black Sabbath really did everything their way. With weird riffs for the time, different changes, sounds and tempos "that's not going to work!" even within the same track. They made it work. Thankfully.

 

There wasn't any single prior to the release of Master of Reality. "Paranoid" (the song), a last-minute track requested by the label for the previous album, was a huge hit, but Black Sabbath had a different perspective and they never repeated it or looked for it in the '70s; the "hit", a label wanted. They even talked to the press about those pop "screaming kids" you could see in mainstream acts. "We don't need those fans. And we're not changing our act just to please kids who bought the single", Sabbath's comment was in the Disc and Music Echo magazine.

Inspired by the "It's the sweetest leaf" slogan of Sweet Afton cigarettes from Ireland, "Sweet Leaf" begins with Tony Iommi's echo-coughing after a big joint offer by Ozzy and taped in the studio. The blueprint song for the '90s heavy and stoner rock music is a love song but it doesn't involve people, just the love for marijuana ("I love you sweet leaf"). Just like "Sweet Leaf", "After Forever" was also a song raising controversy with lines like "would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope - do you think he's a fool?" but the song is not against Christ and God, it is just a song criticizing the Catholic Church and the "people like you that crucified Christ". Geezer Butler, a raised Catholic, writes "they should realize before they criticize, that God is the only way to love" giving also one of the first lyrical contents to '80s bands like Trouble but also white (or Christian) metal.

"Embryo" just serves as the intro to "Children of the Grave", "a little classical thing to give it all a little space and create some light and shade" as Tony Iommi writes in his autobiography. Of course, while Sabbath was all the time on the road and with all previous song ideas used in the first two albums, they have limited time writing new songs, so those small instrumental parts, besides sharing a similar purpose, the out-of-the-box light in darkness and gloomy vibe, were bits that extended the album's tracks. And then, you have one of the most iconic Sabbath (and heavy metal in general) tracks, "Children of the Grave". Arriving from a working-class life at the height of the Vietnam War, Black Sabbath echo the world of late-60s and early-70s from the eyes of the youth. In the first verse, Ozzy sings about children who start to march against the world in which they have to live, and in the last verse, he talks to them: "Show the world that love is still alive, you must be brave, or you children of today are children of the grave". It's a warning to the children of that era, the kind of song that the youth of the early-70s was connected with, felt and loved, despite the criticism of the media against Black Sabbath. Having a Hammer Horror vibe, this song is a work of genius, from Iommi's galloping riff that influenced almost everything in heavy, epic and power metal in the '80s, to Bill Ward's overdubbed timbales and Ozzy's desperate "yeah!" at the end of each verse. "Children of the Grave" was revolutionary and besides its music, it was lyrically a huge influence for what followed the next years.

"Orchid" is another Iommi acoustic piece, adding light and colour within the shade and darkness, following the revolution of children of the grave before the devil song; one of the few actually Sabbath wrote in the '70s about Old Nick, Satan, the evil possessor that becomes your confessor. "Lord of This World" was a sinister song for the context of 1971. The riff and the change after a few seconds but mainly Ozzy's performance gave that threatening element, adding also the trademark "yeah" in the end of the first verses. It's one of those Sabbath tracks that Ozzy's voice becomes the soul of the song, playing the role of Satan himself, and after the final verse, Iommi and Butler lead the song to glorious heights proving that the chemistry of the original Sab-4 was perfect and was never reached again in such a continuation.

There was a debate for years about who's really singing on "Solitude". Of course it is Ozzy and that was Sabbath's first true love song including flute and piano by Iommi. Ozzy's pessimistic and eerie performance on lines like "the world is a lonely place, you're on your own" is another shivering moment that gives to Sabbath's gloomy vibe a new dimension adding also an ambient element. That's what made Ozzy the voice of Black Sabbath and no one sang the '70s song better. It doesn't matter who has the better voice because Oz is the character for those specific cuts. His voice became the emotion and the feeling of those songs. He became insanity, the drug, the loss and the depression, the anger, the possessed. You can't control those feelings, therefore you must be them in order to be convincing, and Ozzy was all of them.

And finally, you have the end of the world. "Into the Void", the apocalyptic horror with pollution killing the air, hate and fear bringing mankind to the final suicide, leaving the earth to Satan and his slaves. Just a few freedom fighters escaped the brainwashed minds and those could be the warned children of the world that escaped the grave. Lyrically, this is another song - warning, while musically, it is one of the greatest moments of Black Sabbath with incredible work by Iommi, and Butler matching the riff behind him.

The Sabbath influence and inspiration was instantly spread all over the world and this is recorded and documented. This is one of the very rare cases in the history of music; Black Sabbath was a revolution. When they toured Europe in 1969, people (fans and other bands) already started talking about "those" songs, without even having an album out and when the debut album was released, everything changed. Instantly.

The Flower Travellin' Band from Japan (!) released their debut album Anywhere just a few months after Sabbath's debut in 1970 and they covered "Black Sabbath" (the track) already, while Ronnie James Dio was already covering live "War Pigs" with The Elves. The Sabbath sound-factor was everywhere already. In 1971, when Master of Reality was released and became the heaviest album in the world, they were already an established and influential band, and the Black Sabbath albums were released everywhere. There are pressings of the first three albums, even in territories like New Zealand, Israel, South Africa, Lebanon, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Taiwan and Philippines, released there already until 1971.

 

THE "HIDDEN" SONGS.

The known track list of Master of Reality when it was released from Vertigo is: 1. Sweet Leaf, 2. After Forever, 3. Embryo, 4. Children of the Grave, 5. Orchid, 6. Lord of This World, 7. Solitude, 8. Into the Void. However, in the first US pressings of Warner Bros, the Master of Reality tracklist appears as: 1. Sweet Leaf, 2. After Forever (including The Elegy), 3. Embryo, 4. Children of the Grave, 5. The Haunting, 6. Orchid, 7. Step Up, 8. Lord of This World, 9. Solitude, 10. Deathmask, 11. Into the Void. While there are countless pressings of the Black Sabbath albums, sometimes those "secret" and "hidden" songs look like separate tracks but what they really are?

Nothing new. Those are actually "ghost" titles. Mostly appearing in North America pressings, Warner Bros. Records wanted more songs because of their publishing deal, so Black Sabbath needed to have a minimum of 10 songs/titles per album in order to reach the publishing agreement. Those "extra" titles were never part of the original recordings and were added afterwards. "The Elegy" is the intro - first section of "After Forever" that also reprises within the song, that's why it is mentioned as "including the Elegy". "The Haunting" are the last seconds of "Children of the Grave" with the whispering echo voice of Ozzy, "Step Up" is the intro riff of "Lord of This World" and "Deathmask" is the first part-segment of "Into the Void".

The most interesting part is that those "secret" songs were mostly added on the vinyl labels and not on the albums' sleeves while they somehow disappeared from later US pressings. Back in the day, those "extra" and "secret" songs reached a mythical status confusing most of the people for a while but reality was something different.

 

THE MISTAKES.

When the album was released, the instrumental tracks ("Embryo", "Orchid") and "After Forever" were credited to Tony Iommi alone for the first time, while the rest five tracks were credited to all of them (Iommi/Butler/Osbourne/Ward) just like before. However, everyone knows that Iommi never wrote lyrics, nor did one tell Ozzy how to sing the vocal melodies, even if during the Sabbath years, many times he sung upon the riff. It is known that the lyrics of "After Forever" were written by Geezer Butler but we don't know why this song was credited to Iommi alone in the beginning. That's what most people say, right?

Well, the credit to Iommi-only could be a mistake of Vertigo Records that handled the UK and European pressings, since in the US pressings of Warner Bros. the credit is correct and includes all names. In different pressings of the album in recent years, the credit has changed to all of them.

A few first pressings had the title on labels like Masters of Reality and that was corrected in future pressings. Among the first pressings with mistaken labels were US, Canadian and German versions, while in German early pressings, they also forgot to add "Embryo" on the labels.

The "hidden" songs also added a mistake that kept going for decades, especially on vinyl pressings. While "Into the Void" was split in two in the early pressings ("Deathmask" and "Into the Void") in the subsequent pressings, the time duration of "Deathmask" (the first part of "Into the Void") was added in the time duration of "Solitude", so the ballad appeared as an 8-minute song. That mistake kept going to many different vinyl pressings even until 2011. Of course, when the vinyl records or compact discs were playing, the time separation between the tracks was correct and the mistake was only mentioned on labels.

The mistakes on names and artists is very common, so there are many early pressings with wrongly written names.

US Warner Bros. Records' first pressings with wrong title (Masters of Reality), "ghost titles" included and "After Forever" correctly credited to all (Iommi mentioned as "Ioomi")

 

 Early German pressings with wrong title (Masters of Reality), missing title ("Embryo") and "After Forever" credited to Iommi.

 

 

 US Warner Bros. Records' early pressings with corrected title, no "ghost titles" (except "The Elegy" that remained), "After Forever" correctly credited to all, and wrong running time for "Solitude".

 

THE MANY FACES OF THE ALBUM.

There are already around 400 different versions of Master of Reality since July 1971 all over the world, making it one of the most-times released Sabbath albums. The most known cover versions have the purple band logo and the album title in black letters, or black letters with white border, or black letters with purple border. But there are more. Much more than you can imagine and probably we will never see them all.

First vinyl pressing had the Vertigo swirl label on side A and tracklist on side B. Vinyl was in a Vertigo poly-lined inner sleeve and there was also a poster. Instead of a regular cover sleeve, there was a laminated sleeve in the form of a box-envelope opening from the top and bottom. Band logo and album title were embossed on the front cover, while on the back there were printed lyrics and credits. That was also the first time that Black Sabbath lyrics were printed in an album since the previous pressings of Black Sabbath and Paranoid didn't include the lyrics.

 

EPILOGUE: KILLING THE HIPPY DREAM - A NEW ERA RISES.

The original Sab-4 (©) were raised in the urban and industrial area of Birmingham and when they released the first two albums in 1970, they presented what is considered the beginning of heavy metal. With the third album, Master of Reality, they became the inventors of Heavy Metal and the world of music changed. It was the music, the name, the aura, the lyrics. They had them all, but most important, they also had the RIFF. In those first 6 albums, they played all the riffs that built heavy music offering inspiration for thousands of variations of their riffs that shaped heavy and metal music with all their sub-genres in the '80s, the '90s, the '00s and beyond.

In 1971, when Master of Reality was released and Black Sabbath presented heavy metal in a full primal form, society started changing and Black Sabbath were there to get and return that vibe, the soundtrack of war, nuclear destruction, social struggle and evil. The era of flowers and innocence was gone and critics hated Black Sabbath for "killing the hippy dream". The Woodstock generation and the dream of a better society failed within society itself.

Jimi Henrdix died in 1970, The Beatles broke-up in 1970, a new era started and it's not just "love and flowers". Before Black Sabbath, there was soul, pop, psychedelic rock and the flower pop movement; things the magazines presented. Then, Black Sabbath came and presented something new in its full form. That wasn't just a random heavy riff, one song in one album, just a cover or an image; they had a continuation. And since it wasn't just one element or just a few "heavy" moments or just a song, critics and magazines didn't know how to handle them. There wasn't anything alike before, so this new, heavy music, was considered a "mistake". Critics mocked Black Sabbath but this "mistake" was something really new and revolutionary that youth loved and was taking over everything the critics previously adored.

A new era began and half a century later Master of Reality is among the most important cornerstones of everything that followed in hard, heavy and metal music. Decades later, there are still countless musicians, bands and producers, who’re trying to reproduce the music, the feeling, the performance and the sound of Master of Reality and what the original Sab-4 did in the ‘70s. You can’t beat that.

 

 

Black Sabbath - Headless Cross: The story of the album.

Prologue.

Sometime in 1988, Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath were left without a record label after working for years with Warner Bros and Vertigo. Shortly, Iommi signed with I.R.S. Records after the label's owner, Miles Copeland, told him: "You know how to write albums, you know what people want. You do it and I'm fine with it." Later, Iommi asked drummer Cozy Powell to join him and they considered calling Ronnie James Dio but Tony Martin was finally the singer of Black Sabbath. There was a possibility for Geezer Butler to work again with Sabbath, but Geezer prefered to join Ozzy Osbourne's band since he was more successful than Sabbath at that time. Laurence Cottle played bass in Headless Cross, but mostly as a session musician since Neil Murray was brought as a full-time member for the upcoming tour. The song "When Death Calls" has a guest guitar solo by Brian May of Queen, and the titles of two tracks of Headless Cross were changed because Ozzy Osbourne's No Rest for the Wicked album that was released a few months earlier had the same ones; "Call of the Wild" was originally titled "Hero" and "Devil & Daughter" was originally titled "Devil's Daughter". Everyone also knows the story of Tony Iommi, that when Sabbath had the first record out with I.R.S., Cozy Powell and himself went into record stores in Toronto, Canada, and no one carried the album...

All of the above is the kind of information you can find in Wikipedia and all those articles that just copy and share these (known) details from Wiki, so let's dive deeper and try to elaborate more in one of the most underrated albums of the late '80s, the way it deserves it and not by just writing "one more article".

written by Andreas Andreou


Chapter I: Cut the crucifix half to the ground - Before the album.

After the release of Born Again (1983) and the supporting tour for the most disturbing Sabbath album, the band was falling apart and Tony Iommi was left alone, so he had the idea to record a solo album. The result was Seventh Star and you can read about it at Metal Nerdism Vol. 3: Five cases of albums that were not meant to be under that BAND name. "It was supposed to be a solo album. I certainly didn't want to release it as a Black Sabbath album, because I hadn't written it as a Black Sabbath album", Tony Iommi wrote in his biography and Seventh Star was finally released in January 1986 under the name Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi, with Tony alone on the cover sleeve; exactly as a solo project. The recording line-up besides Tony Iommi, was singer Glenn Hughes, bassist Dave Spitz, drummer Eric Singer, keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, and Jeff Glixman was the producer. The supporting tour was a commercial failure and just after a few shows, Glenn Hughes was replaced by Ray Gillen. Tony Iommi couldn't do anything else, so he continued using the name "Black Sabbath" and started working on his next album under the title The Eternal Idol, with Jeff Glixman once again producing. That album was very difficult to be completed with Iommi working like a solo project once again.

Bob Daisley was brought by producer Glixman to help with bass duties and even if the name of Dave Spitz also appears in the credits, Daisley had said that he played all the parts of the album. Daisley also wrote many of the lyrics since Iommi doesn't write lyrics and most of Gillen's parts were reworked because no matter how great his voice was, he was never a songwriter. It is said that Geoff Nicholls also contributed a few ideas but in the credits "all tracks written by Tony Iommi".

Back to the recordings though, they were started with Jeff Glixman and then he was replaced by producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, after Iommi's request because Glixman was very possessive with the project. Ray Gillen recorded his parts and then left the band (we will analyze it when an article for The Eternal Idol will be written). Bob Daisley was never an official member and just helped with recordings, but when he returned to Gary Moore's band, drummer Eric Singer also followed him... So at the end, Iommi was left with a nearly finished album but without a band. At the final stages, producer Chris Tsangaridis was brought to complete recordings and mixing, but most important, to lay down the new singer's performance because there was no chance for Tony Iommi to release an album and then go on tour without the singer of the album... And the new singer was Tony Martin.

Albert Chapman, a lifelong friend and old manager of Tony Iommi, suggested him Tony Martin of The Alliance, a band he was manager of [Read the story of Tony Martin & The Alliance]. Tony Martin recorded the vocals for the songs that were already written note by note in a few days and The Eternal Idol was ready for release. A difficult album, with many changes, a different touring line-up and another supporting tour that was a commercial failure, with just a few dates. Tony Martin's first live show with Black Sabbath was in Athens, Greece, on 21st of July 1987. In a few of the rest shows, Virgin Steele was the opening act.

Chapter II: To the hill of the Headless Cross - The album.

Once the few tour dates were completed, Tony Iommi entered 1988 with a huge uncertainty and without a record deal since Warner Bros dropped Black Sabbath. When he decided to ink a deal with I.R.S. Records, that was a huge step down but only with a smaller record label he could keep doing what he wanted. On the other hand, it was difficult to sign a deal with one of the major labels like Warner Bros because they would definitely want something that would be closer to real Black Sabbath and not something that was closer to a "solo project using the Black Sabbath banner". If Iommi wanted to continue releasing music under the Black Sabbath banner with a major label, he needed to have another major name also with him, something like Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio or David Coverdale.

Both Seventh Star and The Eternal Idol were great albums and had a few positive reviews despite the fact that had much less press coverage than the past when Ozzy and Dio were fronting. The poor sales, in contrast to the time it took them to be completed, the money spent for them and the tours that followed, didn't help at all. No one could actually consider them as a "real band" after 1984, since Seventh Star was supposed to be a solo album of Tony Iommi, The Eternal Idol was a record that had a different line-up started the recordings, a different line-up competed the recordings and another line-up completed the supporting tour...

Later in August 1988, legendary drummer Cozy Powell joined as an equal member with Tony Iommi and started working together on a new album. They even discussed getting another (most known) singer, considering Ronnie James Dio and David Coverdale, but Tony Martin was finally chosen for Black Sabbath; a wise final decision that was probably taken mostly thanks to Cozy Powell. David Coverdale was just a name they had in mind (mostly Powell) but he was never officially asked, probably for the better, because there was no way for Coverdale to let aside his successful career at that moment with Whitesnake, especially just one year after releasing the same-titled 1987 album, that sold more than all the latest Sabbath albums combined.



It was Powell also, who brought bassist Laurence Cottle to the project in order to record a few tracks, but in the end he recorded all of the album, since original Sabbath bass player Geezer Butler didn't finally join the Sabs again because he ended with Ozzy's solo band that was slightly more Sabbath-esque in 1988-'89, mainly during the live shows. Cottle was a jazz bass player and he was playing in a jazz club in London, so he completed his parts in just a few days overdubbing mostly. However, he was never meant to be a touring band member, even if he appears in the video clip of "Headless Cross" and is mentioned as a regular band member in the album credits.

The recording line-up of Headless Cross was Tony Martin (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitars), Laurence Cottle (bass), Cozy Powell (drums) and Geoff Nicholls (keyboards), while the album was produced by Tony Iommi and Cozy Powell who had the complete control of the project. The album was recorded in the United Kingdom with pre-production at Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham, while recordings started when Iommi met Powell in August '88 and completed until November '88 in different studios: The Soundmill, Woodcray and Amazon Studios.

For Headless Cross, Tony Martin wrote the lyrics using a few Satanic themes in contrast to the older '70s lyrics of Geezer Butler that were more focused in the fear of Satan, society, anti-war themes and the dark future of the world. However, despite the general idea, Martin worked a lot in the lyrics, finding the most suitable words and phrasing that could perfectly fit with his vocal lines. According to what Martin has stated, the album's title was actually inspired by a village close to Birmingham, where it was hit hard by the Black Plague centuries ago. This time, writing credits are mentioned as "all songs by Black Sabbath".

Music wise, Black Sabbath brought many elements of the past, adding also a few new ones and presented a different album in their catalogue, even if The Riff is still there. The same-titled track has a strong Dio aura, even in the way Martin sings "Look through the people and on through the mist..." or "on a night such as this". What you can also clearly listen from the beginning (not "The Gates of Hell" intro...), is the fact that the album is very Powell-driven and also we need to add that Nicholls' keyboards create a perfect atmosphere. "When Death Calls" (with a guest solo of Queen's Brian May, Iommi's close friend) is one of those great epics of the Martin-era Sabbath with a great vocal performance, something that worked perfectly in the studio; so perfect that the expectations were set sky high and weren't easily reached in the live shows. Even "Devil & Daughter" is a very difficult song to perform live... and Tony Martin knows that very well!

The album also had a few more melodic moments that bring to mind even the AOR and melodic metal side of the late '80s, something that you could listen to during the verses of "Kill in the Spirit World". Even another Powell-driven cut like "Call of the Wind" has a melodic aura, something that a few Sabbath tracks had during the Martin-era. This is probably something that needs to be credited to Martin himself since he was also a part of the songwriting process, adding also the fact that he released a melodic solo album himself in 1992 (Back Where I Belong). "Black Moon" is a song that was written during The Eternal Idol sessions when producer Chris Tsangaridis was brought to complete the album. It was recorded as a single b-side and ended on "The Shining" single, just to be re-recorded and added again for Headless Cross. As for "Nightwing", this is the essence of an underrated track that, by the way, was remixed in a different session. "Cloak & Dagger" is another song that was recorded during the Headless Cross sessions and was finally used as a single b-side and bonus track.

Headless Cross was released on April 24th of 1989.

Chapter III: Where all witches meet - After the album.

It seemed that Sabbath were still waiting for the possibility of Geezer Butler joining them for the upcoming tour but in the end, bassist Neil Murray (former member of Whitesnake, Gary Moore and Vow Wow, among others), joined them. It is said that at some point after the release of The Eternal Idol, he was asked to join Sabbath but the first time he said "no". This is also something that should be credited to Cozy Powell since he introduced him to Tony Iommi.



The Headless Cross Tour in the United States started on May 31st of 1989 with Kingdom Come and Silent Rage supporting, but ticket sales and attendance were very low, so after just a handful of shows up to mid-June, all of the rest shows until mid-July were cancelled. Black Sabbath returned defeated in Europe and continued a European Tour (mainly in September, with Axxis supporting) with most dates in the UK and Germany. In October, Sabbath visited Japan for a few shows and later in November and December they went to Russia for more shows, where they played for around 20 dates with Girlschool supporting. It is said that Black Sabbath performed twice for a few days but the correct information is that they performed twice only during weekends, meaning just 4 or 5 days, where the first show in evening was around 60 to 70 minutes, and the next one later at night, was around 1 hour and 45 minutes. There is a rumour that these shows "burnt" Tony Martin's voice but this can't be considered as a fact. After all, it was just 5 dates maximum with a total of performance of 2 hours and 45 minutes for those 5 days. This sounds mostly as an "excuse" for future Sabbath performances where Tony Martin didn't reach the expected performance, according to a few people. Still though, the second longest serving frontman of Sabbath after Ozzy, never missed a show, even if he was sick.

Headless Cross had a better acceptance than The Eternal Idol but Tony Iommi wasn't really satisfied with the I.R.S. Records' distribution in North America (actually the album was released by the I.R.S. Metal sub-label). There is a story of Tony Iommi, who said that when Sabbath had the first record out with I.R.S., Cozy Powell and himself went into record stores in Toronto, Canada, and no one carried the album. However, Headless Cross charted higher than The Eternal Idol, even if none of them entered the Billboard 100 in the United States. And keep in mind, that The Eternal Idol was released by a bigger label but it wasn't easy for Iommi to blame a major label like Warner Bros or Vertigo, a label that even made him release a solo album under the Black Sabbath name. Most likely, I.R.S. was used as a scapegoat for the low ticket sales of the first shows and the cancellation of the rest of the Headless Cross North American tour.


Epilogue.

Headless Cross is a great album, even if it lacks originality. It is one of those perfect '80s heavy metal albums that you're never tired of listening to. For a few people, it is the "best" Black Sabbath album and for a few more among their Sabbath Top-5 albums. Subjectively, anyone can say that this is the "best" (correct word is "favourite") album but objectively it can't be the best Sabbath album, probably not even in the Top-5 Sabs albums, if you have a wider view of what BLACK SABBATH actually is. If the album will disappear from Sabbath's discography, a favourite album of many people will disappear from their lives and memories but the history of metal music won't change. You can't say the same for albums like Black Sabbath, Master of Reality or Heaven and Hell where many things will change in the lineage of heavy music in general.

Along with Tyr, this is probably the best album of the Tony Martin-era and Headless Cross nowadays, seems to be more related with the name of Tony Martin than Black Sabbath (the band) and that's a huge credit for Tony Martin; the man, the voice, the artist.

Metal Nerdism Vol. 3: Five cases of albums that were not meant to be under that BAND name.

"I don't want it" - "You will do it" Vs "I will do it because I can!"

Oh... that name...

written by Andreas Andreou

Part I
Artists: "I don't want it.''
Record label, managers, executives: "You will do it."

BLACK SABBATH - Seventh Star (1986)

To be more specific, the complete "band" name is Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi and that's what you also see on the actual album. That alone is enough to separate it from the rest of the Sabbath catalogue until that point, so let's just see what happened in the mid '80s and the stormy life of Tony Iommi.

After the release of Born Again and the supporting tour for the most disturbing Sabbath album, the band was falling off the edge of the world. Ozzy Osbourne's fame (and sales) were already much higher and in the summer of 1985, the original 4 got back together for a one-off performance at Live Aid Festival in Philadelphia, USA. Black Sabbath performed 3 songs ("Children of the Grave", "Iron Man", "Paranoid") in a day with 100.000 attendants, including also names like Judas Priest, Bryan Adams, Simple Minds, Santana, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Madonna, Led Zeppelin and more... And that's it. Nothing more happened, nothing would happen. After that point, Iommi was left alone without a band and he had the idea to record a solo album with different singers including Rob Halford, David Coverdale, Robert Plant and Glenn Hughes, but there were contractual issues and it couldn't happen, so Iommi started working with singer Jeff Fenholt but after few demo recordings that project also fell apart. However, there were few great ideas and songs written, so Iommi was joined by singer Glenn Hughes, bassist Dave Spitz, drummer Eric Singer, keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, and with producer Jeff Glixman, an album was recorded.

"It was supposed to be a solo album. I certainly didn't want to release it as a Black Sabbath album, because I hadn't written it as a Black Sabbath album", Tony Iommi wrote in his biography, but we already knew it, as mentioned many, many times over the years. Glenn Hughes was also uncomfortable with the idea to sing in a Black Sabbath album. But during an era were record companies were more powerful than you can imagine nowadays, it was said to Tony Iommi, that according to his contract, he owes to the record company another one Black Sabbath album and they wanted this one. And so it happened. Record label executives and managers wanted to name it "Black Sabbath", no matter how it was recorded and who performed. Seventh Star was released in January 1986 under the name Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi, with Tony alone on the cover sleeve; exactly as a solo project.

During the mid '80s, both Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes were on drugs but that wasn't affecting the live presence of Iommi. On the other side, there were times when Glenn was unable to perform, so after just a week of touring as Black Sabbath, supporting the release of Seventh Star, Glenn Hughes was replaced by Ray Gillen and the tour was a commercial failure while many shows were even cancelled. Tony Iommi couldn't do something else, so he continued using the name "Black Sabbath" and the next album (The Eternal Idol, 1987) was the step to something different. Still with great albums, but something different.

Acceptance: The press considered Seventh Star as a Black Sabbath album and Tony Iommi couldn't do something else, so he supported the album that way, since he needed to go on tour. The audience was confused, press details and promotion weren't clear and confusion continued when singer Ray Gillen replaced Glenn Hughes, where many fans were expecting to see on stage (Ian) Gillan and they saw (Ray) Gillen. Many people didn't even know that Hughes performed live with Black Sabbath.

Nowadays, you can see "Seventh Star" in the official discography of Black Sabbath. There are many fans that don't really consider it as a Black Sabbath album.

Highlights: "Seventh Star", "Danger Zone", "Angry Heart".

CANDLEMASS - Dactylis Glomerata (1998)

After the release of the album Chapter VI (1992) Candlemass entered a period of uncertainty and took them a while until the moment where they were really accepted as the Masters of Doom Metal. Candlemass broke up in 1994, so their founder, songwriter and bassist Leif Edling, formed Abstrakt Algebra with an extraordinary line-up including Mats Levén on vocals, Mike Wead and Simon Johansson on guitars, Jejo Perković on drums and Carl Westholm helping with keyboards. The same titled debut album of Abstrakt Algebra was released in 1995 and it is something really different; something you could label as a progressive power doom metal release. Two years later, Leif Edling wrote the second Abstrakt Algebra album and started recordings with Mats Levén, Jejo Perković and Carl Westholm, while guitar duties were handled by Patrik Instedt. That second album took a long time to be completed and the band had problems with the studio and the producer. Lot of money was spent and no album was completed, so at one point, Edling was contacted by a record label and he was told that they will finance the album and help him, only if he will release it under the Candlemass moniker instead of Abstrakt Algebra... So Edling got in the studio again and reworked the songs with Jejo Perković and Carl Westholm, added by Björn Flodkvist on vocals and Mike Amott on guitars, plus few guests. And another Candlemass album is released.

Acceptance: The press considered Dactylis Glomerata as a Candlemass album and so did the audience, but a few years later, when Messiah Marcolin, Lasse Johansson, Mappe Björkman and Jan Linh got together again with the Doomfather, this was presented as a reunion, and the late '90s years was something like a break time, despite the fact that two albums were released under the Candlemass moniker.

Nowadays, you can see Dactylis Glomerata in the official discography of Candlemass. There are many fans that don't really consider it as a Candlemass album. The band doesn't perform live songs from that period.

Highlights: "I Still See the Black", "Dustflow", "Abstrakt Sun".

MANILLA ROAD - The Circus Maximus (1992)

 
After the release of the album The Courts of Chaos (1990) and the poor reception and distribution at the time, Mark Shelton decided to disband Manilla Road and started working on a new band under the name The Circus Maximus, a new collective effort with Aaron Brown (drums, vocals) and Andrew Coss (bass, vocals, keyboards). When their debut album was completed, The Circus Maximus tried to shop a record deal but in the end, the project ended again with Black Dragon Records, the label of Manilla Road. But Black Dragon Records, pressed and released the album as "Manilla Road" without asking the band and that led to confusion and mess, since the band was performing live as The Circus Maximus at that time...

Acceptance: The press considered The Circus Maximus as a Manilla Road album but the promotion and the reception was very poor, while the band known as "Manilla Road" wasn't even active at that time since Mark Shelton and his new bandmates were performing locally as The Circus Maximus. Many fans at the time, didn't even know about the release of that album.

Nowadays, you can see The Circus Maximus in the official discography of Manilla Road. There are many fans that don't really consider it as a Manilla Road album. Mark Shelton also never considered it as a Manilla Road album and he only allowed to be re-released keeping the Manilla Road moniker in order to avoid further confusion.

Highlights: "Throne of Blood", "Spider", "No Sign from Above"


Part II
Artists: "I will do it because I can!"

QUEENSRYCHE - Frequency Unknown (2013)

The previous Queensrÿche album Dedicated to Chaos (2011) is the strongest candidate for The Worst Album ever released by a major act. Up to that point and over the last few years after the departure of guitarist and songwriter Chris DeGarmo in 1998, Queensrÿche seemed to "evolve" as a Geoff Tate Band until that day in April 2012 before a show in São Paulo, Brazil.

Jason Slater who produced Frequency Unknown, also produced the 'rÿche albums Operation: Mindcrime II (2006), American Soldier (2009), Dedicated to Chaos (2011) and was one of the main songwriters of the band during that period, where many of the ideas of other 'rÿche members were rejected or changed. The other members looked like "session musicians" to Tate, the management (Tate's wife, Susan) and the producer, who were using the Queensrÿche name for years.

In a band meeting during April 2012, while Geoff Tate wasn't there, the other members decided to fire the manager (Susan, Geoff's wife) and the person who was running the Queensrÿche official fan club (Miranda, Geoff's stepdaughter). Tate was angry with them when he learned about it and before a show in São Paulo, Brazil, on April 14 of 2012, he had a strong argument with few of the rest members where Tate assault and spit them, even on stage during that night's show. Geoff Tate was off the band and both parties used the "Queensrÿche" brand. The rest of the members were supposed to start the project Rising West where they could play live shows based on older material of Queensrÿche, so eventually, with the addition of ex-Crimson Glory live singer Todd La Torre, they continued performing as Queensrÿche and in 2013, they even released the Queensrÿche album with new material.

Guitarist and producer Kelly Gray, and producer Jason Slater, who also had writing credits in various 'rÿche songs that period, continued working with Geoff Tate and just two years after the events of April 2012, a settlement was reached on April 2014, where the brand name "Queensrÿche" would belong to Micheal Wilton, Scott Rockenfield and Eddie Jackson, who along with Todd La Torre and Parker Lundgren will be the touring and recording Queensrÿche band, while Geoff Tate solely has the right to perform both Operation: Mindcrime and Operation: Mindcrime II in their entirety.

Queensrÿche continued releasing more albums and performing tours supporting them, focusing on them and the early material of the band, while Geoff Tate released his second solo album Kings & Thieves (that was recorded around the events of April 2012), the albums The Key (2015), Resurrection (2016), The New Reality (2017) under the band name Operation: Mindcrime, and also performed selected shows with Queensrÿche material and albums like Operation: Mindcrime with success, while the last years he looks in great shape, living a happy life.

Acceptance: The press and fans lightly approached Frequency Unknown as a Queensrÿche album in 2013 since it served as a normal continuation to what the band was releasing back then, but the Queensrÿche album that was released by the rest few months later, was held higher. However, many 'rÿche fans stopped following the band and the latest albums, many of them also pushed the events of 2012 back in their head in order to forget them... Frequency Unknown was a better album than the previous two Queensrÿche albums and Tate gathered a team of great musicians surrounding him during the recordings, including guitarists Brad Gillis, KK Downing, Dave Meniketti, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummers Paul Bostaph and Simon Wright, among others.

Nowadays, you can't see Frequency Unknown in the official discography of Queensrÿche and it is considered as a "side release" or a Geoff Tate solo project, while it is nearly forgotten and the albums that followed by Queensrÿche are considered much better.

Highlights: "Cold", "In the Hands of God"

TANK - War Machine (2010)

War Machine is a great album. I was writing for Rockway zine when I got the promo of that album and couldn't believe that this is actually a Tank album. It was a completely different band but still great. The dirty NWOBHM sound of the previous albums was absent but now you had something different reminding later Saxon, even Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath, including also the great vocals of Doogie White. I remember presenting the album to a few friends that didn't like the older Tank material but loved War Machine. The "original" Tank disbanded in 1989 and there was a reunion in late '90s, followed by the studio album Still at War in 2002. War Machine was the first Tank album not including singer/bassist Algy Ward, where he also return with his "Tank version" in 2013, as a one-man band, performing all instruments in the album Breath of the Pit following the style of older Tank.

Acceptance: Upon its release the press considered War Machine as a Tank album; no question about it. And that band was considered as "Tank" for a few more years until the studio return of Algy Ward using also the Tank name but with a very poor acceptance from media and fans. Fans were confused and you have two "Tank" versions releasing albums.

Nowadays, a few people separate Algy Ward's Tank and Tucker/Evans's Tank from the old "original" Tank, while both parties claim the continuation of the classic NWOBHM act. A few fans accept only one version over the other but Tucker/Evans's Tank have a more reliable presence with more albums since War Machine and live shows, even if none of Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans was "there" in 1982 when Tank released the first studio recordings. Tucker/Evans's Tank include singers ZP Theart (Dragonforce, Skid Row) and David Readman (Pink Cream 69, Adagio) in the latest studio albums, so vocally, the connection to the past keeps the distance.

Highlights: "Judgement Day", "Phoenix Rising"



So what?

So, what's more important or valid? When a label releases an album using a specific band name of a main member despite the will of that member-composer, or when a member of a band is using the brand name despite the will of other members he was working with?

According to "history" and the cases above, most of the times, the choice of the labels is what is taken for granted in the future. If a NAME is printed on the cover, it stays there forever. Sometimes it is wrong, sometimes it is correct, sometimes it is connected to the past with a band member or a continuation of the music, sometimes there isn't any connection, or just a small link.

Music industry has always had its own rules and decisions. Decisions that many times were above the will of the artists. But the music industry is also changing and the "names" are irrelevant nowadays: READ MORE

Tony Iommi & Glenn Hughes: The 1996 DEP Sessions

The 1996 Legendary Recording Sessions! Unseen. Unheard. Unearthed. That's how the album was presented upon its release in 2004, but let's remember the story of those sessions...

by Andreas Andreou

After the commercial (and artistic?) failure of Black Sabbath's Forbidden, the deal with I.R.S. record label was expired and the band was on hold. Meanwhile, in the background, there were people working on the original Black Sabbath line-up reunion...

In the second half of 1996, Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes joined forces for first time since 1986 and the recordings of Black Sabbath's Seventh Star, which originally was intended to be released as Tony Iommi's first solo album. Actually, there was an idea to have different singers in the album, including also Rob Halford, David Coverdale and Robert Plant, besides Glenn Hughes, but there were contractual issues and it couldn't happen. Glenn Hughes has mentioned in an interview during mid ‘00s, that Seventh Star was supposed to be a project including three singers, himself, Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio, but probably he was mistaken, especially regarding Dio during that period, in 1986.

Tony Iommi was annoyed that Seventh Star was finally released under the moniker of Black Sabbath. If it would be written as a Black Sabbath album, it would be different, but the original idea, was a Tony Iommi solo album. Glenn Hughes was also uncomfortable with the idea to sing in a Black Sabbath album. But during an era were record companies were more powerful than you can imagine nowadays, it was said to Tony Iommi, that according to his contract, he owes to the record company another one Black Sabbath album and they wanted this one. And so it happened.

During the '80s, both Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes were on drugs but that wasn't affecting the live presence of Iommi. On the other side, there were times when Glenn was unable to perform, so after just a week of touring as Black Sabbath, supporting the release of Seventh Star, Glenn Hughes was replaced by Ray Gillen and the tour was a commercial failure while many shows were even cancelled.

Forward again ten years later, where Iommi found out that Glenn Hughes was coming to England. Glenn Hughes was already clean and sober, had already worked with John Norum on Face the Truth album (1992) and recently recorded the solo albums From Now On… (1994), Feel (1995) and Addiction (1996). For about two weeks, Tony Iommi and Glenn Hughes were writing the songs in Iommi's home studio. When recordings started, Glenn Hughes also played bass guitar, while drums were recorded by Dave Holland (Trapeze, Judas Priest). There was also Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple) playing most of the keyboards and also Geoff Nicholls (Black Sabbath) contributed, while sound engineer Mike Exeter also played few parts.

The album was produced by Tony Iommi and was recorded at Cabin Studios, Coventry and DEP Studios, Birmingham. Mike Exeter and Kit Woolven were the sound engineers at DEP Studios, while Paul Samson was the sound engineer at Cabin Studios.

Tony Iommi said that when he started writing songs with Hughes, those weren't intended to be released and just needed to work on something, but later, the Black Sabbath reunion of the original line-up happened and those sessions were forgotten.

 Photo by Maria Sjoholm

However, after the Black Sabbath reunion shows, Iommi recorded and released another - actually his first officially released - solo album, simply called Iommi (2000). That album included many guest vocalists, like Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl, Philip Anselmo, Serj Tankian, Peter Steele and Ozzy Osbourne, plus the precious help of producer Bob Marlette. If you want my humble opinion, Iommi is much inferior to the Glenn Hughes' 1996 recordings.

Those 1996 recordings ended up as a bootleg with the title Eighth Star and several years ago, after the suggestion of his guitar tech Mike Clement (who found those recordings), Tony Iommi decided to complete and finally release them. However, another issue came up, the accusations and the conviction of drummer Dave Holland who was found guilty of attempted rape and several indecent assaults against an underage male with learning difficulties, to whom he had been giving drum lessons. Tony Iommi didn't want a convicted sex offender appearing on his album, so the drum parts were re-recorded by Jimmy Copley, a well-known session drummer that had worked with Killing Joke, Tears for Fears, Paul Rodgers and many more.

The album was finally mixed by Mike Exeter (an important person in the recent history of Tony Iommi) and mastered by Dick Beetham. It was released in September 28th of 2004 in the United States and October the 4th in United Kingdom and Europe, as Iommi, under the title The 1996 DEP Sessions.


Tracklist:
1. Gone
2. From Another World
3. Don't You Tell Me
4. Don't Drag the River
5. Fine
6. Time Is the Healer
7. I'm Not the Same Man
8. It Falls Through Me


The 1996 DEP Sessions is one of those albums that will always remain in the shadow of classic releases. Most of the times, it is also forgotten. It is not a classic album, neither it can stand next to the Black Sabbath milestones, but don't forget that this is not a Black Sabbath album - actually not even Seventh Star is, but history has written Black Sabbath on it.

The 1996 DEP Sessions is a soulful release, created out of pure passion for music, from two of the most important and iconic names in the history of heavy music; one of those two, is probably the greatest...

Read more about the Greatest One, HERE