Black Sabbath - your favourite 2 albums.

[Trev]

That Tony Martin album just doesn't get the love it deserves. Or any of his albums.

Yeah there's some absolutely brilliant stuff in there. I'm hoping next year is when they'll finally get the reissues out for the Martin era

[Bürggermeister]

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is the peak for me, just love the variety. I've a soft spot for Technical Ecstacy and Never Say Die, too. They're good, just not as good as what went before. Master of Reality is probably #2 from the Ozzy era. Dehumanizer is my favourite Dio effort, though I acknowledge Heaven and Hell is probably better overall. The Eternal Idol deserves a lot more credit than it gets, too. The title track is as good as anything Iommi ever put his stumpy fingers to. The only ones I'd ever say I couldn't be arsed listening to again are Forbidden, Cross Purposes and 13.

[Cosmic_Equilibrium]

I genuinely think Heaven & Hell is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. My initial reaction was actual laughter, it's AOR pap.



Iommi, Butler, Osbourne & Ward - that's Sabbath, they all brought something to the table that couldn't be replicated by any of their 'replacements', and the magic simply wasn't there with any other line up. Anything after the first eight is an Iommi solo album.

You simply cannot describe H&H as 'AOR pap'. That's just wrong.

I agree that the original line up had a vibe/magic to them that was never replicated since, but it's only Seventh Star and the Martin albums (apart from maybe Cross Purposes, since Geezer is on that one) which can be classified as Iommi solo records.

Iommi and Butler and the sound they make when playing together are the core of the band, the engine room and energetic life force driving everything. Any record with both of them on qualifies as a Sabbath album IMO.

Best two albums? Sabotage is one - cocaine psychosis on record, an album made by a band with their backs to the wall and middle fingers in the air. A wild ride that even now sounds groundbreaking, fantastic production job too. Definitely their career peak.

Master of Reality is the next best one, but I agree that Vol. 4 is a good choice and I think that would be my other favourite. Great range of songs and moods on there, some of the the heaviest riffs in their discography.

Dehumanizer is the wild card of their career - really really underrated album, blows away anything else post Mob Rules, just savagely heavy and brutal.

A lot of folk like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath but I have to admit that it's never been a favourite of mine. Some classic songs there but a couple of them lose the awesome riffs halfway through and go into 70s bar room rock jams and the whole album has a weird vibe to it that one really has to be in the mood for.

[CorkonianHunger]

Mob Rules and Headless Cross.

Sabotage and Sababth Bloody Sabbath close behind.

[Thorn]

Mob Rules and Headless Cross will do for me too. Never was a big Ozzy fan.

[londonleatherboy]

Master of Reality and anything after that pending on what mood I'm in..although saying that the older I'm getting the more Dios vocals on anything after Rainbow grate on me to the point I find it unlistenable

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Yeah, listening back to the albums isn't at all helping narrow this down haha

It's okay though, a prick mate just messaged me "Best intro to a song?" so now I'm agonizing over that instead   

[open face surgery]

Hell Awaits is the first that comes to mind.

[leatherface]

I'm picking:

Headless Cross

The Eternal Idol


Love the Ozzy material but the aforementioned are my current favorites.

[astfgyl]

Yeah, listening back to the albums isn't at all helping narrow this down haha

It's okay though, a prick mate just messaged me "Best intro to a song?" so now I'm agonizing over that instead   

Man I was going to start a thread here called Best Kick Ins before I got the random metal thoughts out instead

[Ducky]

Yeah, listening back to the albums isn't at all helping narrow this down haha

It's okay though, a prick mate just messaged me "Best intro to a song?" so now I'm agonizing over that instead   

"Monarch of the Sleeping Marches" by Disincarnate is my go-to for this 

[LLR]

Headless Cross and Sabotage

[astfgyl]

Not exactly on topic, but I heard the Stuck Mojo cover of Sweet Leaf earlier and it's almost certainly the worst version possible of anything, at least until someone does one of those breathy tinkling ad versions of it anyway.

Anyone else had the misfortune?

[Trev]

Not exactly on topic, but I heard the Stuck Mojo cover of Sweet Leaf earlier and it's almost certainly the worst version possible of anything, at least until someone does one of those breathy tinkling ad versions of it anyway.

Anyone else had the misfortune?

Haven't heard that one, but I can't imagine it being worse than Machine Head covering Hole in the Sky

[astfgyl]

Not exactly on topic, but I heard the Stuck Mojo cover of Sweet Leaf earlier and it's almost certainly the worst version possible of anything, at least until someone does one of those breathy tinkling ad versions of it anyway.

Anyone else had the misfortune?

Haven't heard that one, but I can't imagine it being worse than Machine Head covering Hole in the Sky

It's worse than that by a mile it really is