Black Sabbath : "The End" ep

The only good thing to come out of David Bowie's death is he is now perfectly preserved and there is zero chance of him diminishing his legend. Ozzy and the boys are still kicking the chance that they could taint my memories of Sabbath are very real. The chug that drives this song, works but does it living up to the monolith of music that is their first 11 albums and If we are counting the Dio albums and "Born Again" as the classics, so some people might dispute "Technical Ectasy" and "Never Say Die " as classics , truth be told, I have given the Dio albums more air time than those two. The four new songs were from the "13" sessions, so are the four song that didn't make the album. "13" is not a bad album. It got an 8 on here. So falls short of "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of Madman", and more than likely even "No Rest For the Wicked". Middle of the road solo Ozzy.

The militant chug to "the Season of the Dead" marches in a manner that would be impressive if it wasn't from the band who wrote the book on metal, instead it feels like they are pulling from the cliff notes. "Cry All Night" sounds like it  was left off "No Rest For the Wicked" rather than a Sabbath. Though it's giving Ozzy props since that album came out in 1988. The middle section where the solo surfaces is the first place where it really feels like Sabbath.   This one grew on me the most after repeated listens. Half the drums on this album are handled by Tommy Clefetos a session guy who has played with Ted Nugent, Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper.


Geezer has some nice runs and proves he still has the chops on " Take Me Home" and the song has some mean punches to it that are heavier than most solo Ozzy, but does this measure up to Black Sabbath? The acoustic section in the middle reminds you Tony Iommi is much better than people give him credit for, but from a song writing perspective, Bill and Tony need to take the wheel from Ozzy, who is doing what he does, but this is what he does post "Bark At the Moon".  There is more fire in the attack of "Isolated Man".  I don't mind the lower voiced Ozzy melody on the verses, it's a cool effect and it would have worked well on "Ozzmosis" .  I'll give these songs a 9,  for a man his age Ozzy sang his ass off and sounds as good as he did in the late 80s. Even if Iommi is dialing it in he captures enough moments to remind you who he is.