Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Lately I was spinning all Black Sabbath albums with Tony Martin. Such good material. Really, I hardly know any singer delivering the goods so well on such good albums, besides Dickinson, Halford and Dio. Later on, Martin had more difficulties with the higher notes but his voice was still damn good.
With Martin in the band Sabbath’s music was very melodic, atmospherical and with nice keyboard patterns by Geoff Nichols. Legendary drummer Cozy Powell (R.I.P.) played on three out of five Martin albums (Headless Cross, Tyr & Forbidden) and good old Geezer Butler on one: Cross Purposes.
Since many people keep raving about Dio and about Sabbath with Ozzy, I really would like to enlighten the often ignored Martin-period with the help of album covers and music clips and a few words. I hope I can rouse some interest for some who haven't heard the following albums yet.
His arrival was on “The Eternal Idol” from 1987.
Interesting album with at times a bit of an evil atmosphere. The drums sound a bit messy, but there’s some fantastic instrumental parts on there. Glory Ride contains a very cool guitar solo part. Other memorable tracks are The Shining, the arabic flavored Ancient Warrior and the doomy Eternal Idol.
“Headless Cross” from 1989 is a highly acclaimed gem in the history of metal.
Spellbinding stuff, the title track has some great vocal lines, but all the songs are pretty good. Some favourites of mine: The most famous Sabbath track of this whole era, Headless Cross, the threatening When Death Calls, and the outstanding Nightwing (what a vocals and solos!)
“Tyr” from 1990.
This one could be seen as the same level as the previous, some even like it better. The album opens with Anno Mundi, a very powerful and epic track with some great rhythm guitars. There’s a few nice intervals, one of them being The Battle of Tyr. I also like Jerusalem a lot, especially because of the beautiful solo.
“Cross Purposes” (1994)
After the rough and less melodic (and imo less good) Dehumanizer with Dio, Martin returned to the band with Cross Purposes. A very fine piece of work. This album is very atmospheric, and I will post the links of my three favourite tracks.
Cross Of Thorns (haunting stuff!) (live footage and introduction and ending but the audio is from the studio version)
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (great rocker with good chorus)
Dying For Love (I am not a big fan of ballads, but this is one of the best ever)
"Forbidden" (1995)
This album might be the worst, but it’s still pretty good. Some songs have more repetition compared with older albums, and the whole thing seems to be more riff orientated instead of based on melodies. My favourite tracks are on the first half of the album but it closes again pretty strong with the last two: The title track and Kiss Of Death. Also, check out Shaking of the Chains, with one of the most Maidenish riffs heard on a Sabbath album.
With Martin in the band Sabbath’s music was very melodic, atmospherical and with nice keyboard patterns by Geoff Nichols. Legendary drummer Cozy Powell (R.I.P.) played on three out of five Martin albums (Headless Cross, Tyr & Forbidden) and good old Geezer Butler on one: Cross Purposes.
Since many people keep raving about Dio and about Sabbath with Ozzy, I really would like to enlighten the often ignored Martin-period with the help of album covers and music clips and a few words. I hope I can rouse some interest for some who haven't heard the following albums yet.
His arrival was on “The Eternal Idol” from 1987.
Interesting album with at times a bit of an evil atmosphere. The drums sound a bit messy, but there’s some fantastic instrumental parts on there. Glory Ride contains a very cool guitar solo part. Other memorable tracks are The Shining, the arabic flavored Ancient Warrior and the doomy Eternal Idol.
“Headless Cross” from 1989 is a highly acclaimed gem in the history of metal.
“Tyr” from 1990.
“Cross Purposes” (1994)
Cross Of Thorns (haunting stuff!) (live footage and introduction and ending but the audio is from the studio version)
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (great rocker with good chorus)
Dying For Love (I am not a big fan of ballads, but this is one of the best ever)
"Forbidden" (1995)
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That's the best song Priest ever did!
