The Dissident
Ancient Mariner
352/365
13 - Black Sabbath
Format: CD/Digital
A dark thundering bass and guitar riff introduces the final album from Black Sabbath, The End Of The Beginning opens up the bands 18th album, the opening lines are spoken from a questioning standpoint and then Ozzy reveals a more appropriate title for the song being the Beginning of the End. Tony's guitar sounds sinister and smashes away, the song lyrically pertains to the perceived over-advancement of technology in some areas, such as cloning and even hologram lead concerts, which seems to be a bit of a stab at the coming Dio hologram if you ask me. Musically pretty strong but as a whole the song isn't absolutely amazing, not bad for a band that hadn't released new music in over 10 years. Tony sounds pretty great. God Is Dead? comes up next, continuing on the dark approach as only Sabbath can truly do to this level, Ozzy sounds pretty good despite myself not being the biggest fan of his vocals overall, the track does back off for a little while it comes back in and Ozzy sings in a pondering manner as if he really searching for the answer to the question that the title is, there are some pretty strong moments in the track but I find it goes on a little too long. Loner comes in, a shorter track which Ozzy begins to sound more similar to the band's earlier work on from the start, the groove established by Tony and Geezer is quite strong, I could see it being a pretty good live track, not too fast to feel unnatural among Sabbaths doom laden setlists. Zeitgeist opens with the sounds of laughter before some acoustic guitar comes in, Ozzy is very distorted off the start, the track is really mellow and feels like an odd trip of sorts, not the greatest addition to the album, and the placement seems weird, having just gone through 3 strong mid-paced tracks to shift into a slow and stripped back track just doesn't make a ton of sense. Age Of Reason soon establishes that the previous track's style won't be staying, another lengthier track. A step back into the right direction, there is an ominous choir like sound in the background and the song is benefited from it, roughly halfway through the song it picks up a little more in terms of pacing and the song gets heavier with this increased pace. Live Forever features a similar introduction to The End Of The Beginning dark and doom laden, before picking up the pace a little bit making this the fastest track thus far on the album, the track takes a fairly typical Sabbath approach to it, and Ozzy sounds pretty strong on the track, his vocals as a whole don't sound like he has aged that much since the 70s although he isn't singing as high, his voice remains clear and powerful, I think the vocals here are most similar to Fairies Wear Boots. Damaged Soul is the penultimate track, Ozzy sings about a graveyard. The song isn't the most engaging and does go on for some time. Dear Father closes off the album, a fitting end to the album, not amazing but a decent listen. Not the greatest but definitely a fine way to end a career.
The End Of The Beginning -8.5/10
God Is Dead? - 8/10
Loner - 8.5/10
Zeitgeist - 6.5/10
Age Of Reason - 8/10
Live Forever - 8.5/10
Damaged Soul - 7/10
Dear Father -7.5/10
Overall 78%
And with that 13 albums remain
![Black_Sabbath_13.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Black_Sabbath_13.jpg)
13 - Black Sabbath
Format: CD/Digital
A dark thundering bass and guitar riff introduces the final album from Black Sabbath, The End Of The Beginning opens up the bands 18th album, the opening lines are spoken from a questioning standpoint and then Ozzy reveals a more appropriate title for the song being the Beginning of the End. Tony's guitar sounds sinister and smashes away, the song lyrically pertains to the perceived over-advancement of technology in some areas, such as cloning and even hologram lead concerts, which seems to be a bit of a stab at the coming Dio hologram if you ask me. Musically pretty strong but as a whole the song isn't absolutely amazing, not bad for a band that hadn't released new music in over 10 years. Tony sounds pretty great. God Is Dead? comes up next, continuing on the dark approach as only Sabbath can truly do to this level, Ozzy sounds pretty good despite myself not being the biggest fan of his vocals overall, the track does back off for a little while it comes back in and Ozzy sings in a pondering manner as if he really searching for the answer to the question that the title is, there are some pretty strong moments in the track but I find it goes on a little too long. Loner comes in, a shorter track which Ozzy begins to sound more similar to the band's earlier work on from the start, the groove established by Tony and Geezer is quite strong, I could see it being a pretty good live track, not too fast to feel unnatural among Sabbaths doom laden setlists. Zeitgeist opens with the sounds of laughter before some acoustic guitar comes in, Ozzy is very distorted off the start, the track is really mellow and feels like an odd trip of sorts, not the greatest addition to the album, and the placement seems weird, having just gone through 3 strong mid-paced tracks to shift into a slow and stripped back track just doesn't make a ton of sense. Age Of Reason soon establishes that the previous track's style won't be staying, another lengthier track. A step back into the right direction, there is an ominous choir like sound in the background and the song is benefited from it, roughly halfway through the song it picks up a little more in terms of pacing and the song gets heavier with this increased pace. Live Forever features a similar introduction to The End Of The Beginning dark and doom laden, before picking up the pace a little bit making this the fastest track thus far on the album, the track takes a fairly typical Sabbath approach to it, and Ozzy sounds pretty strong on the track, his vocals as a whole don't sound like he has aged that much since the 70s although he isn't singing as high, his voice remains clear and powerful, I think the vocals here are most similar to Fairies Wear Boots. Damaged Soul is the penultimate track, Ozzy sings about a graveyard. The song isn't the most engaging and does go on for some time. Dear Father closes off the album, a fitting end to the album, not amazing but a decent listen. Not the greatest but definitely a fine way to end a career.
The End Of The Beginning -8.5/10
God Is Dead? - 8/10
Loner - 8.5/10
Zeitgeist - 6.5/10
Age Of Reason - 8/10
Live Forever - 8.5/10
Damaged Soul - 7/10
Dear Father -7.5/10
Overall 78%
And with that 13 albums remain