Black Sabbath-Born Again Review

    1983's Born Again was the first and only Sabbath album released with Ian Gillan as the singer of the Sabs. Dubbed "Deep Sabbath" by many detractors, the album was met with a fair degree of hostility, confusion, and anger in some circles. But the album has been "Born Again" recently by receiving a great deal of  attention as a valuable piece of music. What do I think? Find out below...

               The album begins with a typically silly Ian Gillan lyric about getting boozed up. “Trashed” is about the antics that the band got into while recording the album, a la Smoke on the Water years before. A fairly well-known music video was made for the song, which was equally ridiculous. Not a classic by any means, the song is too goofy and superficial for the name Black Sabbath. Next is “Stonehenge”. The song is now legendary for being the inspiration behind the “Stonehenge” scene in “Spinal Tap”. Musically, the song is really just a short and dated sounding instrumental with some nice atmospherics, but little actual purpose. Check out the longer version on the Deluxe Edition of Born Again, as it is a much more complete musical statement. Moving along, “Disturbing The Priest” is another song churned from the events of the recording sessions for the album. Not as evil as the title sounds(check the true meaning of the song), the song is really just a showcase for Gillan’s screeching vocals, which fit the very dark tone of this song. Good song, but not a classic. “The Dark” is another fairly short instrumental track. Sounding like it belongs on the soundtrack to a cheap 80s horror movie, the song fails to really do anything for me. Just more simple keyboard noodling from Tony and company.

Next up is probably the most famous and beloved song from the album. “Zero The Hero” is a beast of a song. An absolutely disgusting and chunky riff is helped by sinister bass notes and a jack-hammering Bill Ward beat. The song would later be cited as an influence on many modern metal bands, including “Cannibal Corpse”  who would later covered it. Easily the best song on the album, “Zero The Hero” may sound like shit (the whole album does, really), but it was easily the heaviest song on the planet circa 1983 and the terrible mix actually gives the song a unique quality. “Digital Bitch” is claimed by many to be about Sharon Osbourne, with whom the band had a difficult relationship (to say the least). In any case, the song is not bad at all. Despite sounding very much like Trashed musically, a nice fast beat, funny lyrics, and great singing from Ian really add up to an almost-classic retelling of the “evil woman” metal song. The title track is next. “Born Again” has always been a little too bloated and long-winded for my tastes. Very slow and dreary, the introspective lyrics and desolate sounding instrumentation are welcomed, but I lose interest by the five minute mark.Not a great song. Next is "Hot Line", driven by a manic riff, the song is very Deep Purplish, albeit covered in more grit and nastiness. Organs come in for the chorus, but without Jon Lord playing, something is lost in the Gillan/organ combo. The solo is quite nice, but sounds terrible distorted and nasty. The final song is "Keep It Warm", a slightly bluesy song about ........guess what?....sex! The song is honestly totally boring. The riff doesn't match the bluesy lyrics, the drums sound like their are being played from a submarine speaker, and the bass sound is just terribly low in the mix. 

          I love Black Sabbath, and all of their albums. But Born Again is almost a total disaster, despite a few high points. Basically an interesting curiosity, a meeting of two worlds. The album is quite heavy and raw, and vocals are strong. But, terrible production, a defeated Bill Ward, and rushed songs result is one of the less than stellar Sabbath albums in existence. However, it is worth a listen to hear just how strange it is.

Rating-6/10