Ozzy kicked out of the band and replaced with the legendary Ronnie James Dio, Black Sabbath released Heaven and Hell in 1980. The cover is iconic showing a couple of angels playing cards and having a smoke. Not the kind of activity one would expect from angels, but hey, it's suppose to be Heaven right, were all our magical fantasies come true (hahaha). As much as I love the concept of this album cover, and recognize it's iconic status, when I look at it closely and long enough, I can't help but wish the angels were drawn a tad bit hottier. Oh well, it's a vast improvement over the last several Sabbath albums so we won't criticize to hard. Hmmm...those are cigarettes those angles are smoking right?
One year later and we're on album two with Ronnie. This cover is awesome, it's dirty, menacing, and different from anything else the band has done. I don't know if these well bundled dudes are for or against Black Sabbath (I'm going for based on the graffiti on the wall) but they look like they mean business. Maybe while the angels were taking their smoke brake, the whole fucking world went to shit, and is now run by this roaming gang of wooly ass kickers. The lead (I keep wanting to call them Jawas) in brandishing a whip, so you know he means buisness, and I have no idea what the fuck that wooden door thing is in the center; though it's funny to me a rosary is hanging off of it. Great cover boys, the Ronnie years are thus far rocking my shit.
Hip hip hooray, it's live album time. That's right Ozzy your not the only one that can release live music. This 1982 live album, has Ronnie James Dio tackling tracks from both Ozzy's and his own time with Sabbath. The album cover....sucks. I'm not gonnna beat around the bush about it, this album really looks like shit. Little wonder Ozzy's live album of Sabbath covers purposely released right before this sold better. It looks like the cover to some horribly cheap role playing game from the 80s or shitty computer game from the 90s. We got a strange cast of individuals on a stormy beach, perhaps trying to symbolize Sabbath's repatriate of songs. A knight (?), a stupid looking devil (lots of songs about satan/devils), a woman in a strait jacket (paranoid?), an Indian shaman (i don't fucking know), an angel (Heaven and Hell) a pig looking soldier (WTF is that suppose to represent War Pigs, OMG that is fucking stupid), and a dude wrapped in full body towel (maybe a real life version of the Mobsters on The Mob Rules, if so I was horribly wrong about them being cool). Ronnie, Ronnie, Roinnie, you were leading the boys so well, what the fuck happened?
So after only three years as front man, Dio is out of the band, but the Sabbath train keeps on rolling with Tony and the boys drafting former Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan and releasing Born Again in 1983. The title is an obvious choice, the band is literally born again this being their third incarnation thus far. Most people fucking hate this album, including everyone in Sabbath except for Tony Iommi (Gillan reportedly threw up after first viewing the album), but I kinda like it. That's one fucking scary looking baby, imagine seeing that thing crawl out of some woman's vagina. That little bastard looks like he's ready to kill somebody, and no doctor wanting to live is spanking his ass. The main problem I have with the album is the blue background, it would have looked way more bad-ass with black. Sabbath gave birth to an evil, demon baby, are we really that surprised.
After one album and one tour Gillan quits, so in 1986 guitar god Tony Iommi decides to release a solo album, but wait the money grubbing record executives decided the album would sell better listed as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi; fuckheads. Why would a Black Sabbath album featuring Tony Iommi, he's the fucking arthicet behind their sound and the only member to appear on every fucking album. Tony Iommi fucking is Black Sabbath. On the cover, Tony appears to be wandering out in the badlands or New Mexico or something, rocking a sweet leather jacket, and making sue not to smile or make eye contact with the photographer; like a fucking rock star.
Take a good hard look at this album cover. If you're a parent would you allow your child to purchase this. The band's called Black Sabbath, strike one, the album is called The Eternal Idol, possible strike two, and the cover has a naked man pushing himself on the bare boob of a naked female, you're fucking out. The funny thing about this album cover was that it was originally suppose to feature a sculpture by Auguste Rodin (dude sculpted The Thinker) but when the band couldn't secure the rights they just painted two models and had them reinact it. Sigh, Tony why couldn't you have gotten a woman with bigger breasts? I really don't know how I feel about this album. Does it fit Black Sabbath's sound and image? Lol, they're straddling a fucking rock. Oh....and this album came out in 1987, originally with Ray Gillen as the lead singer, but he quit during production and was replaced by Tony Martin.
In 1989, at the close of the 80s, Sabbath again with Tony Martin released Headless Cross. The album really looks like what you would expect from a Black Sabbath album; doom and gloom with some religious references. God almighty that's a big fucking cross, look how huge it is compared to the town below. Perhaps a statement on how religion absolutely dominates the lives and minds of these small town dwellers? Maybe. So I got no complaints about this album, it's not fucking amazing or awesome, but it's good and certainly fits the fill. What I was wondering though, what the fuck is a headless cross? This one seems fully intact. Luckily wikipedia holds the answer I'll cut and paste it here for you ""Headless Cross" is about a part of a town south of Sabbath's native Birmingham, Headless Cross in Redditch, and is reportedly named after all the church crosses were defaced during the plague that struck the town's inhabitants centuries earlier." Neat, god life would suck without wiki.
Sabbath have found stability with Tony Martin as lead singer (though the other band members keep changing), and released TYR in 1990. TYR is the Norse god of single combat and heroic glory, portrayed as a one-handed man (thanks again wiki). It's nice to see Sabbath taking a break from Satan and Christianity to explore other stupid (though cool) religions. While it might have been cool to actually have some bad-ass picture of TYR on the cover, this one actually works pretty good. It looks like the cover of some ancient text, ready to take our listeners head first into the realm of Asgard. Rock on boys.
He's back, Ronnie James Dio rejoins the band and reunites the Mob Rules-era Black Sabbath to release Dehumanizer in 1992. I really like the title of this record, emphasising how technology may be making man less human. The cover...well.. it's pretty cool. Some cyborg grim reaper character, electrocuting some kid and turning him into a robot, or computer or something. Hold the phone, this looks like a rip off from Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Robbed Emperor shooting force lightning from his hands at a tortured blond Luke Skywalker, wanting to turn him to the dark side. Ah ha, apparently the dark side is computers. Even the background seems like something out of Star Wars, I know it wasn't released yet (and I fucking hate this movie) but reminds me of the where Obi-Wan and Darth Maul battle in Episode 1. Anywho, nice to have you back Dio, and the album is pretty cool though undeniably dated.
He's back, after Dio quit the band refusing to open for Ozzy (that a boy Ronnie) Tony Martin is back in the band for 1994's Cross Purposes. Now this is a fucking Black Sabbath album. It's dark, sexy, biblical, and brooding. Definitely dig the hot (I'm assuming blonde) angel get her wings on fire. She's a bad girl, and likes to play with fire and demonic forces; listening to Sabbath can obviously corrupt even the most innocent of creatures. One of, if not, the best Sabbath album cover.Shit, the live album from a year latter looks pretty bad ass too. You just can't go wrong with burning hot angels.
In 1995, Black Sabbath released their 18th and final (thus far) studio album. Tony Martin is again on vocals, and rapper Ice T from Body Count and latter the tv show Law & Order: SVU guest spots. Sounds weird huh, yay, and the cover is pretty weird too. Actually I take that back, this album isn't weird at all, it's just really shitty. It looks like the cover to some children's Halloween book. I mean it's the right conceptual material for a Sabbath album, but why the fuck is it draw like this and why the fuck is the grim reaper just stupidly sitting on a rock. He is contemplating why the fuck he's there, on an album that should be dark and fucking metal? It's really disturbing, who green lighted this shit. Cross Purposes looked so so good and than you give us this shit, for shame.
Following Forbidden, the original Sabbath reunited with Ozzy again on vocals for several summer runs of Ozzfest and a world tour. In 1998 they released reunion, a live cd that additionally contained two new Sabbath studio tracks. They did a great job here on the cover, showcasing the both the legacy and the dark mythology associated with Sabbath. It's not hard, it's not complicated, just two winged goat children holding up the powerful name Black Sabbath. Nice to see the originals guys finally putting out a cover that isn't fucking stupid, remember the last couple Ozzy Sabbath albums? Fucking retarded.
Although this is a compilation album, 2007's The Dio Years, must be included because it marked the return of Ronnie James Dio to Sabbath and three new studio tracks with him on vocals. The cover is simple and elegant, nothing out of place or stupid here (thank Lemmy). At this point Sabbath were basking in their legacy and long career in metal (with and without Ozzy). Following it's release, the Mob Rules Sabbath lineup decided to form a new band, Heaven and Hell, named after the first Sabbath album with Dio.
Well that does it for the Sabbath discography, how does it compare to Ozzy's? Well, not as consitant, but definately has more memorable covers, and the good ones make up for the shitty ones.
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