November is Doom-Black Sabbath : "Forbidden'

 

This album had a great deal going against it, as Body Count's Ernie C, who just got his own guitar sound dialed in last year, produced it. The Ice-T is on the first song, which sounds uninspired, and the rapped verse he delivers is whack as hell. The chorus is ok, and it's heavier than the last album, as Iommi tries to find where he fits in the 90s. Then they begin to rip themselves off as the riff to "Get a Grip" is pretty much "Zero the Hero". The chorus also falls flat. This is the last album Martin and Powell, or anyone else except Tony, for that matter, appear on. I would be up for them making one more Tony Martin album if they can make it as killer as "Headless Cross." But it's doubtful. 

Not sure what was going on when they wrote "Can't Get Close Enough."  As bad production can be overlooked to some extent, uninspired and unfocused songwriting not so much, this sounds like a band you would find playing a Thursday night at a sports bar, who is influenced by Black Sabbath, not one of the greatest bands ever.  Martin's vocals work better on the chorus than the verse, and the guitar mix is shitty on  "Shaking off the Chains There is a King Diamond riff at one point, which is cool, but they should sound more like themselves on this.  "I Won't Cry For You" feels like it got left off " Cross Purposes," which is an improvement. 

They continue to reheat leftovers on "Guilty as Sin," which has a riff that feels like it's from the slush pile of the Dio era demos. 'Sick and Tired' builds a case for Powell's drumming. It does invoke more ofthe Whitesnake swagger from the earlier works of Martin. "Rusty Angels" feels like they headed into the studio with a riff they never really wrote a song around. The title track has more of a Whitesnake feel, thanks to Martin's Coverdale-like delivery. The last song is fine, it jsut is not as catchy and commanding as a Sabbath song should be. This album gets a 7.5, which would be alright for some mid-tier band in the club circuit, but not Sabbath; needless to say, their worst album. 

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