Black Sabbath

Classic Albums Revisited: Black Sabbath’s Born Again

“With the recent UK deluxe reissues of the mid-eighties Black Sabbath albums Seventh Star and The Eternal Idol creating quite a buzz about those releases once again I thought it might be time to revisit my favourite under-heralded Sabs relic. Born Again, the band’s 1983 release and only one to feature noted vocalist Ian Gillan, is one of the most dividing releases ever to bore the Black Sabbath moniker. it is one of those records that you either love or loathe. There is no middle ground needed, and none provided.”

Album review by Sean Palmerston

Various Artists:Snakebites – The Music of Whitesnake

Every cover is so irritatingly faithful to the original version it’s aping –right down to sounding overproduced- that it’s painful. But try as they might, none of the covering vocalists here appear to possess an nth of the swagger and soul that Mr. Coverdale conveyed in his prime (even if he did nick it from Robert Plant).

Zoroaster – Matador

While this is a pretty decent record in its own right, I’m somewhat saddened that Zoroaster has moved away from its own unique take on
southern sludge towards a sound that can be filed next to Farflung, The Atlas Moth, and countless other bands.

Dio – Holy Diver Live

While it is nice to see this upgraded to a higher quality format, as the redefinition of it has improved the picture quality over the original DVD release, I must admit that this release is not without its faults.

STAFF PLAYLISTS: September 2010

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Find out what HELLBOUND’s contributors have been listening to during the month of September. Almost every writer has submitted their Top 5 list and have an option to list a book and a film they are into right now too

Geezer Butler: The Hellbound Interview

“We all thought that we’d be able to do [Black Sabbath] for two or three years and then go get proper jobs. I mean, that is what bands did back then. That is what we thought would happen with Black Sabbath. We were lucky to do a second album, we were hoping that it would do well and then eventually we’d disappear. Nobody ever dreamt that any band would last this long, still being popular some forty years later.”

Sean Palmerston in conversation with Black Sabbath bassist and founding member Geezer Butler for Hellbound.ca

Black Sabbath – Classic Albums: Paranoid

That lack of needless hyperbole is exactly what makes Classic Albums – Paranoid so easy and interesting to watch. Here, viewers learn that Paranoid – the largest keystone recording in metal – was recorded recorded in two days, cut live off the floor with a minimal number of overdubs and mixed in an additional two. It was a matter of in, down and done, and then Black Sabbath left it to be mixed and released while they went to play in Europe.