Post-Ozzy Black Sabbath chapter four - Tony Martin retrospective

With "Tyr", the band's third album with Tony Martin, Black Sabbath veered in what could possibly be described as a power metal sound. Songs like "The Law Maker" and "Valhalla" in particular attribute to this notion. Also of note is the return of a somewhat beefier production, which would run throughout the rest of the band's discography. This album is a favorite of surprisingly many."Headless Cross" saw yet another lineup change, as typical of the era, but the two things that defined this era of Black Sabbath, the two Tonys, remained very much intact. Although this album is marred somewhat by a quite dated 80s production ("Devil & Daughter" and "A Kill in the Spirit World" in particular are victims of this), the strength of the material makes this album a favorite among die hard fans of the band with rousing anthems like "Headless Cross" and the dynamics songs like "When Death Calls" and "Nightwing"."The Eternal Idol" is Black Sabbath's first album with the band's second-longest tenured vocalist, Tony Martin. The album takes on quite an anthemic style right from the opening song, "The Shining", while the keys of Geoff Nicholls provide a sinister undercurrent. While the production is somewhat thin, Tony Iommi's guitar tone remains heavy and robust through hard rockers like "Glory Ride" and the energetic "Born to Lose". It is the vocals of Martin, however, despite the material not being written with him, that does much to carry not on this album, but this entire era of the band.View the list »
The decade spanning 1986 to 1996 was quite a period of uncertainty and turmoil in Black Sabbath, despite producing 6 albums in that time period. Five of them were with Tony Martin, while one was with Ronnie James Dio. However, "The Eternal Idol" was originally recorded with Ray Gillen on vocals.

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The period following the release of the "Seventh Star" album, which was essentially a Tony Iommi solo project, is arguably the most interesting period of Black Sabbath. Not perhaps from a musical perspective, but as far as the history of the band is concerned, there is a lot of intrigue between the mid 1980s and the mid 1990s.

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When Glenn Hughes was replaced by Ray Gillen on the "Seventh Star" tour, the band wrote and recorded the follow-up album, "The Eternal Idol", essentially without a lineup. The album with Gillen's vocals still exists in demo form. However, when Gillen left, Tony Martin was brought in, and he re-recorded the vocals.

Martin went on to front four more Black Sabbath albums; however, between the third and fourth albums was "Dehumanizer", a reunion of the "Mob Rules" era of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio. Read more about this era of the band here and here.

Click here to read more about the Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath.

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  • The decade spanning 1986 to 1996 was quite a period of uncertainty and turmoil in Black Sabbath, despite producing 6 albums in that time period. Five of them were with Tony Martin, while one was with Ronnie James Dio. However, "The Eternal Idol" was originally recorded with Ray Gillen on vocals.
  • "The Eternal Idol" is Black Sabbath's first album with the band's second-longest tenured vocalist, Tony Martin. The album takes on quite an anthemic style right from the opening song, "The Shining", while the keys of Geoff Nicholls provide a sinister undercurrent. While the production is somewhat thin, Tony Iommi's guitar tone remains heavy and robust through hard rockers like "Glory Ride" and the energetic "Born to Lose". It is the vocals of Martin, however, despite the material not being written with him, that does much to carry not on this album, but this entire era of the band.
  • "Headless Cross" saw yet another lineup change, as typical of the era, but the two things that defined this era of Black Sabbath, the two Tonys, remained very much intact. Although this album is marred somewhat by a quite dated 80s production ("Devil & Daughter" and "A Kill in the Spirit World" in particular are victims of this), the strength of the material makes this album a favorite among die hard fans of the band with rousing anthems like "Headless Cross" and the dynamics songs like "When Death Calls" and "Nightwing".
  • With "Tyr", the band's third album with Tony Martin, Black Sabbath veered in what could possibly be described as a power metal sound. Songs like "The Law Maker" and "Valhalla" in particular attribute to this notion. Also of note is the return of a somewhat beefier production, which would run throughout the rest of the band's discography. This album is a favorite of surprisingly many.
  • "Dehumanizer" features the return of the "Mob Rules" era of Black Sabbath, and not just personnel, but also in sound, a fact made obvious from the opening moments of "Computer God". As is always the case when he is in a band, Dio's vocals tend to steal the spotlight, and he delivers on this album. This is perhaps the heaviest Black Sabbath album outside of the first six. The song "Time Machine" was written specifically for the "Wayne's World" soundtrack.
  • After the reunion with Dio fell through, Geezer Butler stuck around, and Tony Martin was brought back. Butler's presence is evident on this album, his first album with the band since "Born Again". This is also the heaviest of the Tony Martin era albums, both in terms of production and in songwriting, as in the song "Psychophobia".
  • "Forbidden" is perhaps one of the most unfairly maligned albums in heavy metal. Part of this is due to its association with rapper Ice-T, who features in a rap segment in the opening song, "The Illusion of Power". The album was also produced by Ice-T's producer, Ernie C, which also contributes to this view of the album; however, what many people ignore is that he actually delivers a pretty heavy production here. The song "Kiss of Death" in particular is among the best from the Tony Martin era. The rest of the album hands off between punchy numbers and others with a more personal, emotional touch. Compare "Get a Grip" with "I Won't Cry for You".
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, Newark Music Examiner

As a life long fan of heavy metal music in its various forms, Matt has taken that love and passion for music and turned it into a vehicle through which to explore the inner workings of contemporary music in the heavy metal field. Drawing upon his background in literature, Matt makes a vested...

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