{"id":10133,"date":"2012-09-07T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=10133"},"modified":"2022-01-06T19:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T00:43:23","slug":"the-album-by-album-challenge-black-sabbath-the-dio-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=10133","title":{"rendered":"The Album by Album Challenge: Black Sabbath (The Dio Years)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And in some cases, face melting is still just good ol\u2019 face melting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This time around I\u2019m doing one of my most challenging Album by Album Challenges to date: The Black Sabbath catalog. That\u2019s right, I have made it a point to sit down and listen to every official studio release by Black Sabbath from the 1970 debut to 1995?s Forbidden. This was a really fun challenge for me. While doing this challenge I found many pleasant surprises and I also found some things that I wish I would\u2019ve never found. This challenge will be in a few different installments to cover the different singers of Black Sabbath.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This time around we are visiting the Dio era of Black Sabbath. Not only was there life after Ozzy but Sabbath proved that it was a pretty fucking awesome life at that. One can not even compare the two eras of Black Sabbath as they were like night and day (the Dio era being more like the “night”). Releasing only 3 albums and one under the moniker of Heaven and Hell, this era of the band left behind a legacy that could not be touched. As the years passed, this era would grow to be highly respected just as much as the Ozzy era and rightfully so. Ok, folks. Let’s get to this shall we?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Black Sabbath \u2013 Heaven and Hell<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: April 25, 1980
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Neon Knights, Children of the Sea, Heaven and Hell, Wishing Well, Die Young, Walk Away, Lonely is the Word
\nThe Bad<\/strong>: Lady Evil
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Black Sabbath obviously needed to re-invent themselves so they did just that by recruiting former Elf\/Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio. Gone were songs of cocaine, Satan, and pot only to be replaced by songs of dragons, kings, mysticism, and folklore. The result of this move was nothing short of jaw dropping as the band delivered an album that not only changed the face of Black Sabbath but pretty much changed the face of what heavy metal would come to be. I mean, I\u2019m sure they could\u2019ve played it safe and tried to forge forward with an Ozzy clone and capitalize on their earlier successful albums but instead took a gamble and came up with a full house. The opening track \u201cNeon Knights\u201d opens with a sonic blow to the dome with that signature, chunky Sabbath riff combined with Dio\u2019s larger than life vocals. \u201cChildren of the Sea\u201d featured yet another signature aspect of Sabbath: the beautiful intro leading into a face melting groove. No matter how much time passes, I still get goosebumps whenever I hear this song.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeaven and Hell\u201d still holds up as a classic piece of metal greatness but it was songs like \u201cWishing Well\u201d and \u201cLonely is the Word\u201d that I totally forgot about. For some reason, those songs just fell on deaf ears back in the day but now they ended up being two of the most stand out tracks for me. \u201cWishing Well\u201d is a bit of foreshadowing as to what we would hear with Dio\u2019s future solo work while \u201cLonely is the Word\u201d is one of the best Rainbow songs never written. For an album this fucking good, it even makes up for the stinker that is \u201cLady Evil.\u201d I\u2019m not quite sure what they were going for on that one but that one just really fell flat. All in all, Heaven and Hell<\/em> was a solid, awe inspiring debut from this era of Black Sabbath.<\/p>\n

=========================================================<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Black Sabbath \u2013 The Mob Rules<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: November 4, 1981
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Turn Up the Night, Voodoo, Sign of the Southern Cross, E5150, The Mob Rules, Country Girl, Falling Off the Edge of the World, Over and Over
\nThe Bad<\/strong>: Slipping Away
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It still amazes me that Sabbath got it so right with Heaven and Hell but it was Mob Rules<\/em> where I feel that this lineup stepped it up and really blew people\u2019s minds. I was too young to have known how this transition actually went down but I can only imagine that some minds were seriously blown when hearing \u201cSign of the Southern Cross\u201d for the first time. What a goddamn epic piece of classic metal. The album opens much like Heaven and Hell does with an upbeat, and even uplifting track with \u201cTurn Up the Night\u201d which is such a great song. I can imagine this song being played at top volume in many panel walled basement parties back in the day. The space intro \u201cE5150\u201d is something I would think was a waste but for some reason it totally works leading into probably the most epic of all Dio era Sabbath songs, \u201cThe Mob Rules.\u201d If anyone can hear this song and not have their face melted clean off I completely question their level of metalness. It\u2019s so hard to believe that such a monstrous voice was coming from such a tiny frame of a man. I mean, if I had to pick a signature song for this lineup, this would be it.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountry Girl\u201d is yet another great song combining that classic Sabbath sound with Dio\u2019s Rainbow era lyrics of mysticism and fantasy while \u201cFalling Off the Edge of the World\u201d has us seeing the band creating their own sound as a band. \u201cOver and Over\u201d is another song that I failed to notice back in the day but upon listening to it now I can see its sheer greatness. It\u2019s a shame that those two songs didn\u2019t get the attention that they deserved in the live setting. Listening to Mob Rules<\/em>, you can hear that Sabbath was really focused and settling into this new era. Sadly, this line up would split up and not make another album together for 11 years.<\/p>\n

=========================================================<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Black Sabbath \u2013 Dehumanizer<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: June 22, 1992
\nThe Good<\/strong>: Computer God, After All (The Dead), TV Crimes, Letters From Earth, Master of Insanity, Time Machine, Sins of the Father, Too Late, I, Buried Alive
\nThe Bad:<\/strong>
\n The Indifferent:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listening to this album you would never believe that it was 11 years since this lineup had worked together. For some reason, I remember liking but not loving this album but 20 years later I find myself in absolute love with this album. Dehumanizer<\/em> sounds just how I would\u2019ve imagined the follow up to Mob Rules sounding. It\u2019s confident, it\u2019s really well produced, and the songs are top notch. I\u2019m guessing that since Dio had about 11 years as a solo artist under his belt, this album sounds more like solo Dio mixed with classic Dio era Sabbath rather than having that Rainbow influence in there. \u201cComputer God\u201d is a killer opening track and, in my opinion, sets the pace for the most solid album from this lineup. After All (The Dead) is also a bit of foreshadowing as to what we would hear nearly 15 years later from the Heaven and Hell album The Devil You Know.<\/p>\n

Each song on this album is as good if not better than anything from the classic albums from this era of Sabbath. \u201cLetters From Earth\u201d is a song that I found myself loving way more than I did before and \u201cToo Late\u201d in some ways completes the sonic trilogy of \u201cChildren of the Sea\u201d and \u201cSign of the Southern Cross.\u201d While these songs aren\u2019t really connected lyrically, they all seem to be the bastard brothers of each other. \u201cI\u201d has to be the greatest song on this album. Much like with the song \u201cThe Mob Rules\u201d, the riff is just sonically crushing and Dio\u2019s voice is absolutely monstrous. It\u2019s really a shame that this album didn\u2019t (and still doesn\u2019t) get the attention that it deserves. I remember seeing them on this tour and it was like people just didn\u2019t catch on to it. I\u2019m glad I was one of those that did because that tour was monumental and had them playing some top notch shows. Dehumanizer<\/em> is every bit as classic as the previous two albums from this lineup and because of this challenge will be getting a lot more spins from yours truly.<\/p>\n

=========================================================<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Heaven and Hell \u2013 The Devil You Know<\/strong>
\n Release Date<\/strong>: April 28, 2009
\nThe Good:<\/strong> Atom & Evil, Fear, Bible Black, Double The Pain, Rock and Roll Angel, The Turn of the Screw, Eating The Cannibals, Follow The Tears, Neverwhere, Breaking Into Heaven
\n The Bad:<\/strong>
\nThe Indifferent:<\/p>\n

17 years after the release of Dehumanizer, Dio and his Black Sabbath once again reunited only to create a new chapter in metal history. Instead of reuniting as Black Sabbath and hitting the road with that moniker, they opted to once again reinvent themselves and call themselves Heaven and Hell. This time around, they would hit the road performing only Dio era Black Sabbath songs. Once again, it was a gamble that paid off far better than anyone could have expected. It was a strong standing testament to just how well this era of the band stood on its own. After 3 years of successful touring, Heaven and Hell released The Devil You Know<\/em> which proved to not only be a stellar album but yet another masterpiece it its own right.<\/p>\n

Once again, enough time had passed that you could hear a much darker toned style of songwriter and performing much like Dio\u2019s later solo era stuff. The opening track \u201cAtom and Evil\u201d was all it took for me to know that this album was going to be a force to be reckoned with. While possessing elements of the classic Dio era Sabbath, songs like \u201cFear\u201d, \u201cDouble The Pain\u201d and \u201cThe Bible Black\u201d boasted a fresh, modern, yet classic sound. These are the guys that pretty much invented this style of metal so to hear them doing it and doing so well was an amazing thing. Nothing about this album sounds dated or even remotely retro. This was a new chapter for the band and basically was a bunch of old dudes looking to the younger generation of metal bands saying, \u201cNope. THIS is how you do it. You\u2019re welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Dio would lose his battle with cancer in 2009 making this his swan song. Listening to this album it\u2019s pretty clear to see that Dio must be looking down and smiling knowing that he left behind such an amazing legacy of music only to be capped off by this masterpiece. It\u2019s an album that only gets better with each listen. I\u2019m sad that we will never get to see where they would\u2019ve gone from here but trust me, The Devil You Know<\/em> is as good as it gets and an honorable end of a legendary era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge.\u201d For those that are new here, the \u201cAlbum by Album Challenge\u201d is where I take a band\u2019s entire discography and listen to every album in order of release from front to back. With my unforgiving and well-aged ear, I call it how I hear it. In some cases, I find that what I once thought was good is actually pretty crappy and sometimes crap manages to age into something pretty kick ass. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,277],"tags":[51,179,359],"class_list":["post-10133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-by-album-challenge","category-music-news","tag-black-sabbath","tag-heaven-and-hell","tag-ronnie-james-dio"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19554,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10133\/revisions\/19554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}