Tony Martin continues his role as Sabbath vocalist for the third time in a row, and he sounds very comfortable and confident here. Opener "Anno Mundi" really shows off Martin's vocals, especially in the chorus. The riff is very heavy, chugging alongside Cozy Powell's very bashing drums. Bassist Neil Murray has always been a bit subdued in terms of tone for my tastes, but provides a decent enough bass sound, if a little buried. I love the break-down, with the creepy keyboards and chanting like backing vocals, a great sound. A great start to a massively underrated album. Next, "The Lawmaker" picks up the pace, a very fast song. Showing the growing influence of power metal on Sabbath, the song rolls at Iron Maiden like speeds, one of the fastest songs by the band. Iommi's riff is gorgeous, simple, yet effective and energetic. The lyrics are very focused on the classical religious themes of the band, and seem to concern an entity who controls the mortal world, obviously being Satan. Tony's solo is stellar as usual, and one of his best from the 1990s. A great track, but sadly never played live (as far as I know).
"Jerusalem" is my pick for the best song on the album, very epic. Somehow poppy despite the very heavy lyrical content, the song really shows off the stellar musicianship of the band. Cozy's drumming here is mind-blowing, such a powerful force of music, and he is sadly missed. Great leads, heavy drumming, and killer vocals, my only real complaint is that the song is a tad too keyboard heavy. However, you need to understand the time and place in which the album was produced, as nearly every late 80s/early 90s metal band made liberal use of keyboards. Next is "The Sabbath Stones". After a spooky intro a la "The Eternal Idol", a heavy Iommi riff blasts its way in atop smashing drums from Cozy. Tony Martin sounds great on the track, and in my opinion, delivered his strongest vocals during his time in Sabbath during this album. The album closes with a rolling riff that instantly reminds of the song "Black Sabbath" from the band's 1970 debut. Not as epic as Black Sabbath's closing section, but pretty cool sounding with its gallop.
"The Battle of Tyr" is a short instrumental that sets the tone for the suite of songs to come. A fairly useless movie-soundtrack type, the song would not sound totally out of place in a 1980s fantasy movie. The sounds are fairly dated, but given the time it was recorded, it sounds decent enough. Not much to see here, let's move on. "Odin's Court" reflects the Norse mythology element present through much of the album. Mostly acoustic, the song is very desolate and sparse. Gentle synth washes back up Tony Martin's vocals nicely, a nice "campfire" song. The song quickly transitions into "Valhalla". Much heavier than the previous song, it features a very fast and "bright" riff from Tony Iommi. The song concerns the tale of the Vikings, and ties into the Norse theme of the album. I like the track quite a bit, especially Cozy's insanely heavy drum assault and Tony rapid-fire solo.
"Feels Good To Me" is most people's pick for worst song on the album. An early 1990s power-ballad, the song is pretty dull and quite out of character for the masters of doom and gloom. A video was made, and the song was clearly an attempt by the band to be commercial. The chorus isn't bad, and Martin's vocals are very strong, but one of the worst Sabbath songs ever put to record in this author's opinion, too sappy. The album closes with "Heaven in Black". While not as commercial as the last song, it still feels somewhat out of character for the band. There is nothing particularly bad about the song, just not a huge fan of the structure, despite a smoking solo from Iommi and some very tasty drums from Cozy Powell.
'Tyr" is a decent album, not one of the greatest, but my pick for second best of the 1990s for Sabbath. Hardcore fans of the band will find something to like about the album, and it deserves at least one listen.
Rating-7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment