Black Sabbath - 13

Black Sabbath. Just... Black fucking Sabbath. You mention that name in this scene and everyone drops to their knees in worship. I don't need to put an extensive history lesson here, doing so would be insulting to my readers... unless you really, genuinely have no clue who Black Sabbath are. In which case, stop reading and go back to your modern right-wing racist gunwank video games because you're so far out of the loop that you've spiralled off into the depths of the universe. However, I will enlighten all four people who haven't been keeping up to date on 13's development, though how you could have possibly missed such news is beyond me.

13 is the first Black Sabbath album with Ozzy Osbourne at the mic since 1978's Never Say Die which, by all accounts, was a pretty dreadful album. It's also been very well documented due to the absence of origina drummer Bill Ward who claimed that the contract he was handed was "unsignable" which led to a lot of pantomime booing from fans, but in all honesty... it just doesn't matter. It doesn't. Yes, it'd be heartwarmingly nostalgic to have the original awesome foursome of Osbourne, Ward, Butler and Iommi but the music presented here is surprisingly good that it does make Bill's exclusion feel completely negligible. Like dropping a single M&M when you've just opened a party-sized bag of the bastards. The big worries everyone had here were that... well for one, everyone's getting on a bit. Ozzy has found himself with somewhat of a reputation for sounding a bit poor live recently, Ironmanommi was diagnosed with cancer last year and everyone is in their mid to late sixties (with the exception of the drummer Brad Wilk) so there were fears that the band would sound tired or just plain poor musically. The other concern raised was in relation to how the album itself would sound - was it going to be a throwback to the glory days of Master of Reality and Volume 4? Or would it just sound like a modernised Sabotage or, Satan forbid, Technical Ecstacy? This album is arguably the most important of their career yet there were only two possible outcomes - it was either going to be a colossal record that does the band's name justice, or it was going to be a crushing disappointment. There's no middle ground. So what's the verdict?

Spoiler alert: This album is terrific.

13's structure reeks of musty old Sabbath, bookended with doom and some tasty bluesy groove in the middle like a giant 70's sandwich. Of doom. Reactions were mixed to the lead single God Is Dead? due to it's pacing and length of over eight minutes, which by all accounts is a fucking long song, but this critic feels that Sabbath are one of the few bands to be able to justify such long tracks. Secondary spoiler alert, ladies and gentlemen; five of 13's core eight tracks are longer than seven minutes. I know that in the past I've harped on and on about how you need to be able to justify a song of long length with interesting content, but Sabbath have always been about long tracks haven't they? Doomy metal tends to be longer by default anyway and Sabbath manage to keep everything interesting enough to hold their own for the most part while throwing in some nice groove changes every so often. There is a heavy reliance upon older riffs, with a fair few sections sounding rather similar to Hole in the Sky, Planet Caravan and N.I.B, but ultimately it still manages to feel justified somehow... possibly nostalgia value. The band knew what they were doing when they were writing these songs, they knew full well that 13 had to be pure old school Sabbath so a few similar riffs would no doubt be expected here and there provided they're not just put in for the sake of it. It's an undeniable Black Sabbath album through and through - in fact, this album is so close to their old sound that there's even a goddamn harmonica solo. Seriously. Once more my job has been made very difficult by the sheer amount of consistent quality to be found here mixed with some slight fanboyism and awe.

One complaint that many have made about 13 so far is Ozzy's vocals - they're very droning in places, and while I'm in agreement when they say that it makes the record feel a little bit monotonous in places, I actully applaud Osbourne here. He still has his amazing moments where he goes high or applies a bit of grit at a climax, but what I'm on about here is the pure and simple fact that Ozzy hasn't tried to do shit that he's simply incapable of. he's not trying to do any Sabbath Bloody Sabbath high wails because he's well aware that he doesn't have the capacity to do that anymore, and that's extremely rare in performers these days - no, what we get here is Ozzy singing his fucking heart out on what is probably the most important album he's ever going to record. And he sounds like he's loving every second of it. Yes, he does drone on a bit and it makes the album sound slightly tiresome eventually but the man has done surprisingly well here and I can really, really respect him for not attempting anything he can't do anymore. Simplicity sometimes works better, y'know? But alas, monotony does somehow manage to creep into 13 eventually - five tracks over seven minutes and a further three over four equals a very long album and despite my love for Sabbath's work in the last paragraph, sometimes you will find yourself zoning in and out nearer the end. Live Forever is the big offender with a great riff that's just repeated far too much for it to remain fun after the second chorus, despite Iommi and co. doing their best to come up with some interesting variations. It's not a drastic issue, but it does make the album a little bit difficult to listen to from start to finish too often. Thankfully, a large majority of songs here (especially on the deluxe edition) are great standalone tracks and the Planet Caravan-esque Zeitgeist really helps break up the pacing halfway through the album and keeps it feeling far fresher from there forward.

So while Black Sabbath may have missed out on a five star rating from me (like it matters to them), they've not missed their target here. Despite small bouts of monotony in places, 13 is the best would could have possibly received from the band at this point and after having two majorly disappointing release from two of my favourite bands this year, I'm overwhelmed that this has managed to at least live up to my expectations. I've found myself rather infuriated that a lot of heavy metal fans seem to have been failing to see 13 for what it is - it's fucking Black Sabbath. Classic Black Sabbath sound with (most of) the classic lineup. Arguably the most important band in heavy metal, ever, and this wonderful release is being viewed in the same way as a new bloody Bring Me The Horizon album or something... fuck that. Buy the deluxe edition for the three delicious extra tracks, put this on and lose yourself to an hour of brilliant music by some brilliant people.

This is probably the last Black Sabbath album we'll ever receive, and you know what? They've ended it the way it began, the best way possible. This is a fantastic release.

1. End Of The Beginning
2. God Is Dead?
3. Loner
4. Zeitgeist
5. Age Of Reason
6. Live Forever
7. Damaged Soul
8. Dear Father
9. Methademic (Bonus Track)
10. Peace Of Mind (Bonus Track)
11. Pariah (Bonus Track)