Former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin recently confirmed in a recent interview rumors and reports that he recorded demo vocals for the band’s 1992 album, Dehumanizer. It was Black Sabbath’s first studio album in over a decade to feature vocalist Ronnie James Dio. I have heard this rumor for decades and it was not so much of a surprise to me but awesome to hear just what could’ve been with that album and Martin’s vocals and lyrics (even though Dio’s work on this album is Godlike it it’s own right.)
Tony Martin had this to say during his interview on the Almost Human podcast:
“They fired me (before the Dehumanizer recording sessions) which was a complete surprise. I didn’t see that coming at all. I was just so shocked by that; I didn’t know what to say, do or anything, but within weeks I was back. I got a call from Tony Iommi saying, ‘This isn’t going very well with Dio.’ I said, ‘Oh, really?’ and he said, ‘No, can you come back?’ And I said, ‘No. I can’t come back. I’ve already started doing my solo stuff and I’ve moved on.”
“A few months went by, and he called me again, and he said, ‘Are you sure you can’t come back? It’s really not working.’ So they invited me to go to the studio when they were recording the stuff, and I did try to get some melodies and stuff, but they were short of time, as usual. I did try; I just couldn’t get anything that was gonna sound better than what they’d done (with Dio), and I have to make it sound like Tony Martin. There’s no point in asking me to do it if you don’t want me to sound like me. So at that point I was kind of thinking, ‘I don’t really wanna just keep copying people’s stuff.’ I did try and I did put some demos down, but I doubt very much.”
Like pretty much everyone who is reading this, I would give anything to hear those demos but unfortunately, that more than likely will never happen.
“I’m 99%certain there’s nothing left of (the recordings),” said Martin. “I’ve got a couple of brief cassette copies of something I tried, but it’s really horrible quality. It just reminds me of the day. I did give it a go, but I don’t think I could do better than what they’d done.””
I can only imagine how awesome this album would’ve sounded but it would’ve been something completely different. Again, I absolutely LOVE the Dehumanizer that we all got with the “Mob Rules/Heaven and Hell” Lineup but I would love to hear the kind of vocals and lyrics Tony Martin would’ve had for songs like “I”, “After All (the Dead)”, and “Computer God.” It would be interesting to know what songs he recalls actually working on.
Enough of about Black Sabbath though. Tony Martin’s long awaited solo album Thorns will be released on January 14th, 2022. It is a juggernaut of an album so stay tuned for my review of the album coming very soon.
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