Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
Born Again (1983)
1. Trashed - Immediately the first thing I'm thinking is, what the hell happened to the production? Martin Birch is sorely missing here. The noise is raucous and sounds like it was recorded by amateurs. The guitar is muffled by the bass, the drums are unpolished, and the keyboards only muddle the mix more. Before my brain can even process all that, Ian Gillan is screaming at the top of his lungs and then regaling you about how he got wasted and crashed Bill Ward's car. Oh hey, Bill Ward is back! Cool. IAN. IAN. CHILL, MAN! CHILL! I wouldn't be surprised if he was trashed when he recorded this song, the way he slurs some lines. The "Oh Mr. Miracle" section is interesting. I don't hate this song but it's a bit messier than I like and the beat is pretty choppy, with Ian riding the melody/rhythm pretty hard. I guess it's kinda... average? 5/10
2. Stonehenge - Transports you to a whole other world. Spinal Tap or not, it's one of Sabbath's coolest filler tracks and I wish that the album had more of this vibe throughout. Alas. 8/10
3. Disturbing the Priest - Ancient runes shatter as Ian starts howling at the top of his lungs again. Iommi's guitar squeals in a very evil, claustrophobic kinda way. This song starts out with some good ideas. The melodies of the chorus sections are pretty solid and there's a cool darkness eating up the atmosphere. But the longer the song goes on, the less enthralled I become. Ian is almost rapping some sections, which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't also have this nasally sneer going on. His screams don't feel all that integrated into the rest of the song, more like he's desperately trying to show off while clearly struggling with the material. The verses are also just really really boring, like "Gypsy" all over again. Again, the production sucks. Ward's cymbals sound like a toolbox hitting the ground. It's a shame because I could see this song being a killer if it were drastically remade, but as it is it gets old fast. 4/10
4. The Dark - This is literally just the intro to "Zero the Hero". Not every fragment needs its own track, Tony!!! na/10
5. Zero the Hero - This song emerges stomping and heavy and at first I'm actually thinking we're going to really get somewhere! The riff is actually solid although utterly neutered by the production. Once Ian opens his mouth though all my anticipation goes and fucks itself. Did this man give a fucking shit while they were recording this album? Or was he actively taking a fucking shit? I can't tell. He carelessly half-raps the verses ranting about some punk kid and then repeats the chorus like he's asleep. "Impissibolity" lmao get a fucking job. This song is eight minutes long and feels like it goes on forever. Iommi has a fun solo, that's cool I guess. I remember hearing this song a couple times years ago and hating it, and it's nice to see the old me vindicated. Good ideas once again pissed away. 3/10
6. Digital Bitch - This song wants so desperately to be "Highway Star" but it exists solely within a pothole. The guitar sound is dogshit, Ian's vocal delivery reminds me of that Purple classic but he just keeps singing on and on about how awful he thinks some rich woman is. I cannot take this song seriously. The lyrics are some of the worst I've ever heard. How many times do you have to call her a bitch, brother? And what do you mean "she needs a loving and dominant master"?? He sounds like a fucking incel and I really want to slap the shit out of him. Iommi masturbates with his guitar in the background. That's right, you ain't off the hook, Tony. I know what you did to Lita Ford. 2/10
7. Born Again - The title track is a queasy ballad that sounds like what I might expect from a band in their dark years. Some experimentation and not everything sticks to the walls, but hey it's worth a shot, right? I might be able to get into it if Ian didn't somehow turn in an even worse performance here than we heard on the previous tracks. What the fuck. He's all over the place on this song and the final "chorus" is cringe-inducing. I don't hate the track but it's just wallowing in a muck of its own making. Iommi gets a cool outro solo, there's a plus. 3/10
8. Hot Line - Leave it to a filler track being better than most of the other material. "Hot Line" isn't interesting, but at least it has a decent hook and lets itself rock just enough to bring things up from the previous three duds. Even if Ian sounds like a retching warbler on these high notes and I do not trust him around wine. Great Iommi solo! 4/10
9. Keep It Warm - This song is basically one long, slow, painful, wet fart. Iommi has a cool solo and that's the only good thing I can say about this. Mere seconds after it starts I'm already thinking, good god why do I have to sit through five and a half minutes of this. And then Ian steps up with a smile and proceeds to melt all my brain cells. 1/10
OVERALL
Born Again is not an album without ideas, but it is an album with piss-poor execution at almost every single turn. It's embarrassing how a band went from two powerful records with incredible production and an incredible vocalist and then shat this record out. The production is truly awful, and Ian Gillan just does not give a flying fuck here, whether it's his cringey lyrics that sound like they come from someone's abusive drunkard father/husband to his delivery, in which he sounds as trashed as he was when he crashed that car in the title track.
I mean, the one positive thing is that it'll only get better from here, right? Deep Sabbath was a painful experiment that is better off left to the past. I know it's an album with some major fans (Bruce Dickinson, even), but put me on the side with the haters. Would've been better off aborted.
Total: 35%*
*Average of score with vs. without "Stonehenge", as it's too short to fully weight the total.
