Black Sabbath - Headless Cross

Black Sabbath is one of the few still standing legends of metal and the band has gone through more changes in its thirty-plus year history than even Ritchie 'bored' Blackmore and his rotating stable of musicians and projects, and that's saying quite alot. Starting out in the very late 60s as one of the bringers of doom, putting a halt to the flower child happy music revolution of the period, shattering smiley faces and painting dark hued depressed visions of war with Satan overtones just to keep the rabid religious militias guessing, the band roared up the popularity charts and soon became a smash before the discowave overtook them. Their lead singer who carried the band more with his outstandingly memorable personality than actual singing talents, Ozzy Osbourne, jumped overboard and left the Sabbath ship to flounder in the stormy waters of an uncertain future. That's when the mighty dwarf, Ronnie James Dio took over the wheel and steered them to greener pastures with a new sound, a doomier mutation of the medieval magic that Dio had previously been conjuring to great success in Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. After a few years of that and two albums, he set out on his own adventures in the music industry, leaving Sab leader Tony Iommi to rotate vocalists several times for a couple of albums before settling on....

Tony Martin.

Tony Martin is by far the outstanding personality musically on this cd, simply because his voice is so commanding. When he sings, you listen, easy as that. This was recorded at a time when Tony's career seemed quite rosy, being in the lead singer spotlight for a band that was (and still is) considered a classic and innovator of their time. Yet in the future he would find himself screwed over more times than a cheap whore in the city of Babylon, as Iommi and crew cut him time again from the band, only to be hired back when their dinosaur singer flavour of the month was fed up and fled. He took over for Dio, regained the throne from Ozzy and was still kicked out again. But for those that are fresh out of the new school of power metal and haven't experienced the pipes of the vastly underrated Tony Martin, then you are in for a treat. Martin has the epic power backing of Ronnie James Dio, the bluesy touch of Joe Lynn Turner and a slight rasp a'la Robin McAuley that livens up the album tenfold. He lifts his voice to lofty heights with the swaggering confidence level of evil, then dives suddenly like a dagger to the heart swiftly moving in with a deadly sharp vocal inflection that twists into the flesh slicing with accuracy to bleed the lyrical situation for all its worth. The rhythm section is of course perfection, with the late but certainly great powerhouse Cozy Powell at the helm on drums. He pounds the skin with the kind of passion he was known for in his certain style and also in the manner that he lived his life - fast and furious. No dissection of the Black Sabbath lineup would be complete without mentioning guitarist Tony Iommi who for the second time in a row consecutively chooses to resurrect the early 80s Sabbath Dio-era in basic song structure and polished power. The reason this disc is often so overlooked and criticized is because he coupled this Dio-esque dark medieval fury with a desperate appeal to the mainstream audience in the stylishly bouncing choruses seeped in melody. The old Sabbath fans weaned on the doomy dankness of the now moldy 70s Ozzy era cried it was blasphemy and that Sab 'sold out'. Simply put though, Iommi had gained some wisdom and realized this form of the band would be better suited to take on the masses and produce some kick ass pure heavy metal music at the same time. It would have been a crime to waste talent of the likes of Martin and Powell on the kind of simplistic heavy handed drivel that peppered the records from the first incarnations of the band. But those that couldn't release the images of the far past (despite the fact the band had changed genre allegiances some ten years before "Headless Cross") and refused to embrace the future, sunk the Sabbath ship, and this fantastic slice of metallic goodness was quickly swept from the store shelves into the Clearance/Discount bins to collect dust with Yanni's Greatest Hits.

1.] "The Gates of Hell" - Let em open! Forboding with a gargly voiced creature rasping barely audible gibberish lurking as an afterthought in the background, just as its supposed to be (well maybe not the critter, most likely demonic in origin, but....) since its the opening ditty to...

2.] "The Headless Cross" - The catchiest riff of the disc is whisked right into the light from the very opening...check out the crunching rhythm that gets ahold and doesn't let go! BS has never been known for their cheery subject matter, and the thunderously epic "Headless Cross" is no exception to the rule. If you are looking for misty mornings on the bunny populated glade, then turn to your fluff metal, for the only thing you will find here is death and the wrath of the devil. This one is supposedly about the occupants of a village in ye olde medieval times during the epidemic of the bubonic plague. Desperate for divine intervention, the town folk erected a stone cross at the edge of their village, hoping that the Lord would take notice and put a halt to the reign of terror that had swept the land. Alas their efforts were fruitless as a storm boiled, releasing a bolt of lightning than literally struck the cross in two. The plague's grip intensified, eventually snuffing out every last human in the village. It would be eerie as fiction, but in fact, this is a true story which makes it even more frightening, especially being turned into this sing-along anthem of sorts. Martin's voice wails with a gritty conviction, soaring heart-stoppingly for the over powering chorus and Iommi's riffs burn holes in the rhythm background like droplets of acid rain. "They come face to face, eye to eye, soul to soul, with an angel that fell from the sky... borne on the air, are the screams and the wails of the masses appointed to die." I never thought I'd enjoy hearing someone sing the word 'torture' as much as I adore listening to Martin sing it...

3.] "Devil and Daughter" - One of Tony's (Martin not Iommi) most notable talents is the ability to sing the same lines repeatedly, but give each run-through a fresh approach. This is excerised time and again on this fast paced track that is a quick dose of pure hard rock infected fun, despite its rather dark lyrical overtones. Listen to Martin lift these rather cliched lyrics into a new light, shaking certain notes with a rock-solid vibrato reminiscent of Mark Boals' work on Yngwie's "Trilogy". Powell's performance is as steady as a drum machine, hitting the skins with a precise accuracy and a chilling warmth that suits the layers of the song. Rejoice in the manner he whips out the word "ready" putting a world of emotion and hidden implications all within a single five letter word! The devil's daughter sounds like one lady of death to be reckoned with! "But Satan never listens, to the words that they send, drenching the soil with blood, when will it end?"

4.] "When Death Calls" - Slow and carressing like the cold touch of the reaper himself, "Death" outlines... the call of death and the taking of a soul down to the hot lakes of hell. Unwinding in a careful manner with a ballad-esque air and hopeless atmosphere devoid of sorrow...it stays not for long... as the center of this song is classic Dio, as soon as "Don't look..." is spoken, prepare for a wild ride that allows you to touch the fringes of heaven before careening into the black abyss hurdling toward Satan's realm again. "Can't die until Satan says, you die. The devil takes your soul." Also of note is the winding guitar solo that is done by none other than ex-Queen axeslinger Brian May.

5.] "Kill in the Spirit World" - Hell yes! Fists in the air! Bring it on! So this is my favorite, so let's go on with the gooey love gushing shall we? Martin is the centerpiece of the song.. without him this would be nothing. Just imagine Ozzy attempting to sound this majestic and commanding, or as slinky and seductive like the devil trying to deal with you one on one...personally... The transition from the swiftly moving ultra addictive hard rock sections, like riding the air with the spirits themselves on a fast fleeted trek through their world into the doomy well measured poundings that crushes out the life to announce the fact there has been a kill.. a murder... is smoother than silk and executed effortlessly, giving the song a very 'natural' sound despite the exaggerated differences between the two. Tony offers up one of the best delivered lines in the whole album: "The seal is broken, the eastern sky is beginning to silver."

6.] "Call of the Wild" - Considering the number of times the word "Hero" crops up in this song, it will probably come as no surprise that "Hero" was actually the original title of this track until Black Sabbath discovered that Ozzy had tagged a song with that name for his own album so to outmaneuver comparisions to Osbourne's latest effort before they even began, the band decided to bend and change the name of their song to "Call of the Wild". As for the quality of this particular title, well its more of the same. Although fervently performed its a little light in content on the lyrical side (but by no means light in subject), but is saved by the dark energetic vibes that radiate strongly from the core of this sizzling but repetitive smash track and of course the uplifting chorus that is purely inspirational. "You got the fear of the devil, burning your soul.. its the call of the wild!"

7.] "Black Moon" - Twist the dagger a little more, make it bleed! The blood that drops... wipe it away... reveal... a Sab track given a kick in the ass by a Deep Purple-ish bluesy twist. Martin's blues drenched wails fit like a velvet glove over the writhing thick rhythm riffing background and demonic whispering keys by Geoff Nicholls. Cozy's loose skin pounding is right at home, slipping in a few tricks brilliantly at the perfect times. An anguished cry of mere man who turns his back upon the light and embraces the wickedness of the ways of the fallen angel, only to find that being in league with the devil destroys any hope for love. "I'm standing on the dark side of time reaching for the power of her hand, she's weaving an unholy light and calls from lucifers land."

8.] "Nightwing" - The only song from "Headless Cross" that actually recieves its fair share of complimentary comments.. "Nightwing" is a great moody track and even the 80s Sab detractors know it. The sinister acoustic flavoured areas spiral sharply down into a haunted sludgy darkened atmosphere that conveys the theme of the song perfectly. Iommi's acoustic is crisp with almost a Spanish feel during the solo, and trades out for a sizzling electric that allows him to sparkle for his moment in the axeslinger spotlight. Martin never lets up, full throttle until the last note fades away while Powell rips it up on the drumset relelentlessly even as the final sounds are fading into the void of silence. "Life ain't for giving and forgiving ain't free, no soul will rest while the hunted run free."

"Headless Cross" is truly a brilliant album that suffers only from light production values that make it sound like crap compared to the crystal audiophile adoring discs being released in the present day. However, the actual content of the disc is fantastic from the opening of the gates til the wings of the night sweep it to its grand finale closure. Martin is nearly unparalleled as a vocalist, he truly fits the structures of the music breathtakingly perfect and sounds as if he was born to belong in Sabbath. Cozy Powell's drumming is top notch, there will never be another like him. The lyrics are for the most part, a double edged sword. They can be taken as a wallow in the tainted minds of evil or the best pro-Christian songs ever written. Those partaking in power metal that haven't mined up the gems of the 80s must look into this fine release. I know the 70s Sabbath fans are already condeming me to hell by this point, but really, this smokes the Ozzy stuff by a mile, leaving it coughing in the cobwebs of the past.

9.0
Songs: 9.4, Lyrics: 7.7, Performance: 9.5, Production: 7.5
Hot Spots: "Kill in the Spirit World", "Devil & Daughter", "Headless Cross"
Bottom Line: Grade A heavy metal with those oh-so-sweet medieval overtones borrowed from the Dio-era

Review by Alanna Evans

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