‘There's been no escape from the power of Satan / On a nation so brave and so proud.’ Chills with cheese on. ‘From the first evil night, when a black flash of light / Cut the crucifix half to the ground,’ Martin sings, unlocking arch new levels of melodrama. Layering up the synths and OTT '80s arena-rock production, the title track’s (apparently true) medieval tale of the titular small town where the inhabitants would pray to the dark lord of a headless cross on the hill to be spared from the rampant pestilence of the time is brought thrillingly to life. The 4 Dio era studio albums remain hugely popular amongst Black Sabbath fans, with many hailing the first 2 amongst the band’s best, usually flaring up the who was better Ozzy or Dio debate. It was his follow-up offering Headless Cross, though, which sticks out in many fans’ minds. The arrival of relatively unheralded vocalist Tony Martin for 1987’s The Eternal Idol changed all that. Instead, Dio split when he refused to open shows for Ozzy Osbourne's retirement tour they used Judas Priest singer Rob Halford for a few shows, and then everyone left but Iommi and Butler, who stayed on to paste a new lineup back together for the marginally better Cross Purposes.As they entered their third decade as a band, with Tony Iommi the sole remaining founding member, there were concerns that Sabbath had burned through their remaining reserves and were destined (like so many of their '70s contemporaries) to stall and spiral into nostalgia-act blandness. As Paul Elliott of Louder tells us, Dio joined Black Sabbath when the band fired the increasingly unreliable Ozzy Osbourne in 1979, and his powerful voice was a perfect match for the bands signature sound. Dehumanizer isn't terrible, but it should have been the sign for the band to call it a career. At least he doesn't sing about dragons, but it wouldn't be that much worse than what is here. "Computer God," "TV Crimes," and "Master of Insanity" are all decent songs that are tanked by his cheesy "contempt for humanity" lyrics. You might not know the name Cozy Powell but youve definitely heard him - played drums for Whitesnake, ELP, Rainbow, Black Sabbath etc. And instead of Butler's classic doom-laden lyrics making their triumphant return, Dio takes on the writing duties and manages to pen some true stinkers. PodPinky Met Dio - he only came up to my shoulders Sabbath rehearsed in 1992 at Rich bitch in Birmingham a couple of miles away and I met him there. The bandmembers do craft enough good riffs to make songs like "Time Machine" and "After All (The Dead)" at least sound interesting, but they don't deliver a "Heaven and Hell" or "E5150" like they could have. "Sins of the Father" is a good example they attempt a "Children of the Sea"-type slow jam with the same ringing guitar and up-tempo vocals, but the hook is just not there and the band sounds like its creative wheels are spinning in place. With Dio as a frontman, the band was harder, nastier, and a little faster than the slow sludge of the early Sabbath records, but it fit in nicely with the New Wave of British. But they cannot seem to overcome the challenge of crafting classic Sabbath material, and it is this issue that haunts the recording from moment one. 'Children of The Sea' is the 2nd track of Black Sabbath's 9th album, Heaven And Hell (1980). The Dio Years proves that during his brief time with the band, Dio did help Sabbath make music that could hold its own with some of the classic lineup's finest moments. Ronnie James Dio delivers his strongest performance since the early '80s, and hearing Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi play together after nine years is inspiring. But with ten-year-old internal tensions still gnawing away at the band, they hastily created Dehumanizer, a weird side note in their long history. In a perfect world, they would have created a monster of an album and shot back into the limelight with a vengeance. 1 The name Dio was chosen because it made sense from a commercial standpoint, citation needed as the name was already well known at that time. Dio left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice. Sabbath and Dio were dealing with a dwindling fan base, unsuccessful albums, and a longstanding creative rut when they decided to reunite the Mob Rules lineup. Dio was an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio.
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