Black sabbath never say die review
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Come on Sabbath lovers. Never Say Die!, Ozzy Osbourne’s final album with Black Sabbath (before the 2013 reunion) is actually a cracking good album! Like Technical Ecstasy before it, it only suffers relatively from comparison with the earlier albums, that were even better, but as a standalone rock album from 1978 it knocks the spots off most competitors. Show Granted the sound is different from what we were used to, with a more conventional rock sound — the tracks are more upbeat, the guitar is tuned higher and the overall production is super polished. There are even elements of jazz which is not entirely alien to the Sabs going back as far as their debut album (although admittedly instrumental honker Breakout is taking it too far). There is a reason the best bands have a good singer. Another track that doesn’t work too well is the messy closer Swinging The Chain where Bill Ward takes up vocals again as he did more successfully on It’s Alright from Technical Ecstasy (there is a reason the best bands have a good singer). However where the new polished production really comes together well is on tracks like Junior’s Eyes which has a funky drum and bass backing a chugging guitar, and a catchy chorus, and Air Dance which has fluid guitar and piano arpeggios and goes full on jazz fusion in its second half. The overall continuity of sound and style is pleasing and in the title song Never Say Die! the band nail down one of their most exciting rockers ever — enough to keep even the most cynical fan happy. I also love the cover with the hooded pilots, stormy sky, and iconic Sabbath font (another from Hipgnosis). Despite it’s difficult provenance and the messy aftermath leading to Osbourne’s replacement by Ronnie James Dio Never Say Die! remains a fitting, albeit underrated, (first) swansong for vintage period Sabbath. I think people don't like this album because it has almost nothing to do with classic Ozzy era Sabbath, or even the Dio's days. So don't expect any kind of vintage british witches or satanic hidden verses when you play your LP in reverse. Never Say Die! has one foot and a half in the early 80s and a considerable flirtation with "Pop" music, probably being the most diverse BS album. Unlike the rest of their Ozzy discography here we're dominated by light colours and an easy going mood, it's quite obvious that what appears to me as qualities are probably the same things that will turn most of the evil hairy boys away. It has the same effects as other "pop", late and underrated records like "Risk" and "Angel Rat". In the end this rush of fresh air into this classic band makes NSD one of my favorite Black Sabbath records. Published By 1978, Black Sabbath were one utterly fucked up bunch of guys. They were also awesome musicians. 'Never Say Die!' is, whether by intention or accident, an attempt to absorb the entire history of rock music over the preceding ten years - Physical Grafitti, Who's Next, New York punk, Procol Harum, Freebird, heavy psych, Hendrix, prog and back to Physical Grafitti again - and spit it out in 9 songs. The songs are astonishingly huge, with vast codas, distended middle-sections and constant tempo changes. Shock Wave goes too far and is a cacophony; everything else is, to my ears at least, utterly awesome. The one thing it doesn't sound like is Black Sabbath. What's wrong with you guys? Published It's a long road Black Sabbath's woefully under-appreciated 1978 swan song (it was the final album for the original lineup of Ozzy/Iommi/Butler/Ward) was a fitting end to an amazing era, and a gloriously powerful way for Black Sabbath to go out in style. This album is a both a drastic departure from Black Sabbath's earlier slow, massively heavy, doomful style and a bridge to the faster and more propulsively metallic sound of Ronnie James Dio era black Sabbath. This album is also very very experimentational and is almost Progressive Rock. And because of those reasons most Metalheads, and Sabbath fans disdain this album, which is a shame. Because Never Say Die is amazing. The stunning intro to "Air Dance" is one of Tony Iommi's finest moments as a guitarist. "Johnny Blade" is an expansive Progressive Rock/Metal epic. and "A Hard Road" with it's incredible mantra-chorus (Harmony sung by all four members) is a stunning chapter close to Black Sabbath's greatest era. Published
Inferior to their classics like Paranoid & Sabbath Bloody Sabbath but does include a few gems. "Hard Road", "Never Say Die" & "Swinging the chain" are the highlights here. Lyrically suspect, "Johnny Blade" wouldn't look out of place on a Spinal Tap album. Published The once proud monster known as Black Sabbath had hit the skids by the time Never Say Die! was recorded. Outside influences and drug abuse had ripped the group apart. Ozzy Osbourne had actually quit the group before the recording sessions for Never Say Die! had commenced, to be replaced by Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker. However, the mad Oz man eventually returned to work on the new songs with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Issued simply to satisfy their recording contractual obligation, Never Say Die! is front-loaded, peaking early with the furious opening title cut, which storms out of the box chased by "Johnny Blade", the ambitious "Junior's Eyes" and "Hard Road". Keyboardist Don Airey assisted during the recording sessions. While side one packs muscle, the remainder of the recording is bogged-down with uninspired filler material by Sabbath's doom and gloom standard. Nothing approaches the genius from earlier efforts such as Sabotage, Vol 4 and Master of Reality. The self-produced 1978 effort features a cool cover shot, which was actually an alternate choice, as the creative forces at Hipgnosis originally presented Black Sabbath with the image that was eventually used for Rainbow's Difficult to Cure LP. NEVER SAY NEVER! Published Great Sabbath album that has a weird story for me too. When I was involved in a hit and run accident , this album was in my napsack and saved my back from being broken. How weird is that " Never Say Die " indeed. 1979 Published
Black Sabbath trying to sound like "generic hard rock/pop rock trying to be as famous as the popular hard rock/pop rock bands from that time" the only downside is that they can't writte any memorable riff or solos and Ozzy sounds like he would preefer to get high rather then record this. In other words boring and uninspired. What is the most underrated Black Sabbath album?“The entire Tony Martin era is extremely underrated. Headless Cross and TYR in particular I think are really excellent albums that get overlooked because they don't sound quite like typical Sabbath and Tony Iommi was the only original member in the lineup. Why was Black Sabbath banned?Black Sabbath started with atmospheric sound effects and then guitarist Tony Iommi launched into one of metal's most influential licks, the devil's tritone – a dissonant, unsettling configuration allegedly once banned by the church and shunned by composers. Did Led Zeppelin like Black Sabbath?It is likely that members of Led Zeppelin were familiar with Black Sabbath's music. Both bands were influential in the development of heavy metal and were active during the same time period in the 1970s. There may have been mutual respect and awareness of each other's work within the music industry. What was Ozzy kicked out of Black Sabbath?Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to alcohol and drug problems. He then began a successful solo career with Blizzard of Ozz in 1980 and has released 13 studio albums, the first seven of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US. He has since reunited with Black Sabbath on several occasions. |
