Label: Vertigo Records (Japan), PHCR-2055
Style: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 35:01
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 258 Mb
The mighty Sabbath found themselves in the middle of the 80’s with not much to offer to the growing competition. Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P.) left after two albums and a live performance, and the stunt with Ian Gillan wasn’t exactly the rebirth the guys were envisaging. Little by little the Sabbath ship was abandoned by everyone save for Tony Iommi, of course. To put an insult to injury, the Ozzy solo career nearly hit the stratosphere after “The Ultimate Sin”, leaving his old comrades far behind…
Not an enviable situation at all to the point that even Iommi started thinking about embarking on a solo career rather than riding a half-dead horse in a humiliating semi-gallop through the very competitive 80’s. Easier done than said, and the man found himself one day surrounded by luminaries like the singer Glenn Hughes, another Deep Purple representative, the Kiss drummer Eric Singer, and the relatively unknown at the time Dave Spitz, the brother of Anthrax’s Dan Spitz. The material was ready just waiting for someone to hit the “Play” button… with one small difference, though: Warner Bros., the label in charge, didn’t want to release the album under the Iommi moniker. They wanted to capitalize on Black Sabbath’s fame, whatever was left of it at the time, so this had to become another Sabbath album…
I guess Iommi didn’t have much of a choice, except for the cover art probably, and the album reviewed here has been a part of his main band’s discography for over 30 years now. It’s a public secret that it doesn’t possess the trademark dark doomy vibe of the older works, and as such hasn’t been very warmly accepted by the band fans. However, as a work of pure classic heavy metal done right this album can match any other opus from the decade all the way to “Blackout”, “Defenders of the Faith”, and “Balls to the Wall”. There’s literally nothing wrong with it from the first to the last note… except that it doesn’t sound like Black Sabbath. Besides, it presents Iommi as a fine axeman finally; with the abrasive ship-sinking reverberations gone, the man sounds way warmer, more flexible and more proficient… and less doomy.
“In for the Kill” is a mighty galloper the guys riding the winds of power metal with Hughes’ outstanding vocals the best possible companion to the impetuous riff-fest. A great beginning on all counts which also has its lyrical side in the face of “No Stranger to Love”, already released as a single a few months prior, a supreme heart-rending ballad with warm bluesy overtones, a perennial hit that has appeared in numerous “best ballads” compilations through the years. “Turn to Stone” presses the pedal down again, a wayward proto-speedster which brings the energy level up again. Not for long as the title-track is a high-octane doomster, the only reminder of the earlier Sabbath catalogue, a brilliant epic with the stomping riffs and the memorable chorus. Time for some smattering old school heavy/power metal with “Danger Zone”, the definitive hymn with Iommi and Hughes in a highly inspired form the former unleashing all his guitar grandeur, something which wasn’t quite possible within the restrictive doom-laden context of the earlier efforts. “Heart Like a Wheel” is an overlong bluesy ballad which slows the album down, but at least Iommi has plenty of chances to show-off with stylish, quasi-doomy licks. The latter vibe stays around for “Angry Heart” which can’t be labelled as anything else but blues metal; still, its soulful relaxed rhythms are a wonder to listen to, especially if you’re in a retrospective mood for which a great help would also be “In Memory”, a superb short ballad which is way more than just an epitaph with Hughes’ hypnotic emotional croon hovering above the heavy, pensive riffage, particularly on the several higher notes; a vocal talent second to none who would grace another strong showing (Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Odyssey”) two years later.
Iommi had done a great job acquitting himself in the most admirable manner imaginable, putting his signature underneath this recording which revealed him as an individualistic musician, perfectly capable of operating outside the shadow of Black Sabbath, on full throttle at that. Either for commercial reasons or because of the old “Old love gathers no rust” proverb (which can’t be any truer, mind you), the man subjected his solo strives for the greater good, and voted to carry on with the Sabbath moniker which produced marvellous results before long, putting the band name back on the very front of the metal arena. The band still stand strong despite the numerous turmoils, conflicts, backward stabbings and what not, and even ended up with Ozzy in the line-up again… it’s a picturesque world out there, one that would always secure a vacant lane for an ever-rolling Sabbath stone.
(https://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Black_Sabbath/Seventh_Star/520/) Review by bayern. May 16th, 2017
01. In For The Kill (03:43)
02. No Stranger To Love (04:29)
03. Turn To Stone (03:30)
04. Sphinx (01:11)
05. Seventh Star (05:21)
06. Danger Zone (04:25)
07. Heart Like A Wheel (06:38)
08. Angry Heart (03:07)
09. In Memory (02:35)
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