Post Ozzy Sabbath Poll

C'mon people, show Heaven & Hell some love!

I was being flippant

I'm surprised Born Again has 5 votes. I think Gillan was a terrible fit with Sabbath, and the songs weren't too hot either. Zero the Hero is a real nice tune, but it's not really an album worthy of Black Sabbath.

Dehumanizer for me.

Albums meeting the Tony Iommi & Geezer Butler criteria:  

1. Heaven and Hell
2. Mob Rules
3. Born Again
4. The Devil You Know
5. Dehumanizer
6. Cross Purposes

Tony Iommi albums:

1. Seventh Star
2. The Eternal Idol (Ray Gillen version)
3. TYR
4. Headless Cross
5. Forbidden

Heaven And Hell!

My top 5:
1. Mob Rules
2. Heaven and Hell
3. The Headless Cross
4. Born Again
5. Dehumanizer

Nice to see Dehumanizer getting some love, currently tied for second place with Mob Rules. One of my all-time favorite albums.  Very solid and "I" blew me away when I first heard it, and it still does.

Dehumanizer is generally criticized for its recycled riffs, which I can understand, but damn is it heavy and the energy is still there so I say why complain, just kick back and enjoy.

Definitely, for me, it is a perfect album, and obviously my choice.

The good thing is that there are no "bad" Sabbath albums. I love all era Sabbath songs, but personally have a preference to Ozzy albums.

Seventh Star was pretty good...I mean surprisingly good.

Diggin' it more than any of Dio's best Sabbath effort (Dio fan myself..but I'm more connected with his solo albums)  I just loooove poignant, dark records...makes me wanna get drunk everytime I listen to it.

I honestly couldn't make a pick.  So I'd go with all of the above.  And if I was to pick on the one that I felt deserves more love I'd go with TYR.  Have always been a big fan of that one.

Heaven & Hell for me.

I heard "Mob Rules" before "Heaven and Hell" so it's a bit more sentimental to me, though on any given day, H&H could get the nod!

I think Heaven & Hell is already a solid classic for Sabbath and metal generally. You know it is going to win - it's predictable. Mob Rules is the underdog here and in some respects does a few things better than H&H though in others it is a bit on the weird side - Country Girl being one such moment...

That song was a problem for Geoff Nicholls as well, he loved the riff Tony came up with, but thought the lyrics Ronnie penned didn't fit Sabbath at all...

This makes more sense of the song now; I was always slightly confused. But I still love that song.

I've never been a fan of Ronnie's lyrics. They're just too overblown and corny. Geezer had a much better handle on songwriting.

Stop me if this is too much of a derail but I've had a thought going through my head for a while now regarding the next Sabbath singer. Let's face it, Ozzy is heading back to rehab and probably just wants to milk the reunion for all it's worth then get back to making kiddie musak, but Tony (health permitting) and Geezer have hit a good songwriting stride with this one and I really hope that this isn't the end for Sabbath. There is one name that keeps running through my head and I can't shake it, i just think that he would be spectacular fronting Sabbath.

That man is Ian Astbury! I think that he has an amazing voice, would be great doing the Ozzy songs (something that Dio & Gillan weren't) and has the presence to front a band of that magnitude (something that Martin & Gillen didn't have)

Thoughts or other suggestions?

Boris2008 wrote:

Thoughts or other suggestions?

If it's not Ozzy, Tony & Geezer the name needs to be retired. The last thing the world needs is yet another singer for Black Sabbath.

I love 'Country Girl', but on the other hand 'Turn Up The Night', 'Voodoo' and a couple others just really do nothing for me. 'Mob Rules' is just too spotty compared to 'Heaven And Hell'...


I would buy a Sabbath record with Astbury singing, no question..

Pretty easy, Heaven and Hell for me.  Had The Devil You Know been on the poll I might have had a more difficult decision, but I still think H&H would have gotten the vote.

Totally didn't notice Devil You Know was missing until you pointed it out. It should still be considered a Sabbath album.