Black Sabbath: 13

Pretty well! Sorry I missed hockey season. You guys wouldn't have enjoyed me on there anyway! Great playoffs though no matter who won.

BILL!!! you came back!!!

<3

How are you alive

should we be looking for pieces of Hungry4Ass on Peachtree?

Honestly i think Hungry4Ass is probably alive and well too. Cooler heads prevailed (at least mine did) and i went to the gym instead.

hi bill

i generally agree w/your take on this album

Hey there.

There seems to be a lack of inspiration. I'm gonna spin it a few more times to make sure, but the last one they made with Dio hooked me from the get-go. It's tough not to compare the two.

seeing them Monday. Clufetos is drumming apparently.

seen the setlist. For someone who's seen Sab w/ Ozzy before (ie, the prior reunions), absolutely zero surprises in the setlist (other than the new material being performed). For someone like me who hasn't....holeeeeeeey fuck.

When I saw that little video clip trailer of Sabbath in the studio recording, all in the dark with candles and low lights I thought "cool, they're trying to get a vibe going, awesome"

But then they would switch to clips of Rubin, listening to the takes in another room, with the windows open, fully sun lit, wearing shorts with no shoes on some sort of chaise lounge chair, sitting around like teenage girl on the phone talking about periods and boys... I thought there is no fucking way Rubin can produce the evil needed that is Black Fucking Sabbath. How does he have the gall to expect anyone to listen to him if he ain't at least acting like he's on the same page. It really bothered me. I'm pretty done with Rubin and his attempts to grab on to the glory of heroes and royalty still going for it.

Rubin is not the hero on this album. Iommi is. I still think everyone is comparing 13 to a preconceived notion of what they imagined it could be. Just like the Watchmen movie.

The reality is that this is WAY better than it could have been or ought to have been considering what any of these guys have done as solo artists in the last 25 years.

I'm more than satisfied, even if it's not perfect. All the songs are heavy, the leads are fantastic, and Ozzy is staying within his range. Will be tough to find another album this year with better songwriting, IMO.

Just like the Watchmen movie.

OMG I could hug you for this one. Instead I'll buy you a drink next time you are in Chicago. But yeah, you're completely OTM all through this thread and I appreciate the voice of reason.

OTMing Nate, I enjoy this record. End of the Beginning and Age of Reason are straight-up killers, and even if some of the record is a slog it has alot of power, and no out and out capital B-A-D tracks IMO.

the watchman movie being a self-conscious and ponderous attempt to meticulously recreate something from decades ago and failing, yes i agree

i don't think any part of the watchmen movie was "meticulously" trying to recreate anything, which is why it didn't fail as badly as the fanboys want to believe it did.

but that's an argument for another thread at another time.

they are both ultimately hollow acts of craftsmanship with little of what made the original material great IMO

listen, i won't ever argue that either of these things are better in any way than the original things. i'm just with Nate that 13 is a lot better than people want to give it credit for. the digression into the watchmen not being as terrible as its sold was all me, but i'm not really going to fight that battle on the internet because i know i'm massively outnumbered on that. i'm not going to die on that particular hill.

i would prefer being boned to death by 5 dr. manhattans tbh

Id join this argument but im about to SEE Sabbath in orchestra seat so i dun care ;)

The reality is that this is WAY better than it could have been or ought to have been considering what any of these guys have done as solo artists in the last 25 years.

To some extent I agree. Tony is in fine form and a few of the riffs are truly fantastic. Nothing else about this record is anything except grating, from Geezer's tone to the perfunctory drumming to Ozzy being the Ozzy of the past 30 years. If all of those other pieces don't bug you than I'm very happy you like it. But those all drive me nuts, and I'm not going to spend time getting to know it better in the vain hope I'll somehow be able to overlook all the parts I dislike and only focus on the golden Iommi bits. Life is too short. It's better than I expected but I wouldn't call it good. Those are two very different things.

I do have to say it's a shame they didn't integrate some of the bonus tracks into the album as a whole. Excise a few long plodding tunes that go nowhere and have some of these short, exciting cuts instead and it's a much better album.

And count me as someone who enjoyed Watchmen for what it is.

Im w/ Nate. I love 13.

Yeah, I'm with Nate too. The album is far from perfect, but it's much farther from bad.

soooo....I loved Sabbath last night. but wow, was Ozzy off-key/flat all night. lol. but damn, if it wasn't awesome to hear "Black Sabbath" and "Under the Sun", "Into the Void" in person....

I liked the Watchmen movie too!

Any other reports on Sabbath shows? I thought they were great last year at Lollapalooza. Oz even started out quite strong, though he did wobble a bit the middle third of the set, but seemed to rally. I'm missing their show at Tinley Park cuz it sold out and I'm not paying scalpers.

Just finished this last night: http://fastnbulbous.com/doom-goes-pop/

I took some pics at the Graceland Cemetery yesterday for the piece. The sun was a bit bright for what I wanted, but they close it down long before dusk.

Anyone recognize which famous mausoleum this is from?

http://fastnbulbous.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/graceland-5.jpg

"They recorded two songs in 1997 and on “Selling My Soul,” Bill’s was deemed “too out-of-time”, so they used a drum machine instead. He then had a heart attack and has not gotten into physical condition to be able to play a two hour show. Out of shape, out of practice, Bill Ward in 2013 is not the Bill Ward from 1973 or even 1993. If the band can get over it, so should the fans"

I saw them with Ward in '05 and he was very good. If the test to be used is what someone sounded like in 1973 then Ozzy should not be allowed anywhere near the stage unless he's got a ticket to the show. Ward means more to the classic Sabbath lineup than Ozzy

Concert psych-up currently underway. 'Born Again' just finished. Now 'Master of Reality' at top volume. Neighbors prolly wanna kill me. 100 fine from condo assoc forthcoming. Ah well.

Yeah, Ozzy sucks now, but .... can't miss this. such a life changer of a rock band

Is it worth spending an extra $5 or so to get that deluxe version with three exclusive tracks on it?

Sure, that's not a huge ask. They're pretty good. I haven't heard the even-more-bonus one that's on the version you get at Best Buy.

Ward means more to the classic Sabbath lineup than Ozzy

so otm. so weird that anybody could give a shit for Iommi/Butler/drummer + the ghost of Ozzy Osbourne

The bonus tracks are 1000 percent worth it; I highly recommend grabbing that Best Buy deluxe edition if you can find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVbQaU6le20

the track on the Best Buy version

So Sabbath last night was just phenomenal.

Let me tell you something, aero, I kinda feel like you are
being a complete jackass about this thing. I mean the very idea. If someone gave you tix to the Zep show at O2, would you have not gone because, "oh well, you know, that's not REALLY Led Zeppelin". pffft. come on

ANYWAY, point being I did see Sab last year at Lollapalooza, and man they sucked real bad. Ozz was clearly done. Didn't remember lyrics, looking at the teleprompter constantly. Doing like the classic pouring buckets of water on his head. It was pretty much a sham, yeah.

Last night, tho: magical. His handlers clearly cleaned him up for this Sabbath tour. Dunno what they did to get him straight; but I gonna be honest, he's kinda back! and it's kinda damn magical!

"Under the Sun"
"Behind the Wall of Sleep"
"Into the Void"
"N.I.B"

performed in fantastic fashion by Ozz, Geez, and Tony. On a beautiful Friday evening. With a shit ton of fellow Sab fans complely losing their mind.

Stormy I'm glad the show was this weekend was great, sorry I missed it, but you totally exaggerate about Lollapalooza. Yes he faltered somewhat in second half of the set, but it wasn't how you described. Having observed him in the last decade, it's amazing he can even walk and talk let alone sing halfway decently. I was near the front, perhaps too busy losing my mind. There's plenty of video footage though, and it was far, far from a sham. It makes sense that they'd be better now though, with that many more gigs under their belts. It sounds like it's too much though, they're getting burned out. Geezer is saying he's too old to be playing every night. Agreed, they're old, well, geezers, and they shouldn't be expected to tour like a bunch of 20-somethings. In Iommi's interviews, however, he says he's having a blast, and has no idea how long he'll be around so he's enjoying it while he can. I'd say that's the main point here. If nothing else, Tony fucking Iommi is putting it out there every night, and the man is sick with cancer. He's probably going to die, maybe in six months, maybe a few years. I really hope he doesn't, but he is NOT in remission as far as we know. So all the bitching about Ozzy not being perfect or missing Ward seems utterly pointless.

Didn't see the show the other night, but have seen Sabbath before a couple of times. To the band's credit, at least it recorded a new album this time, and while decades of Ozzy Inc. doing things mostly for the money definitely eroded whatever reputation he ever had, it's reassuring that Ozzy is being treated almost as an afterthought to this outing, with all eyes on Iommi. But the dif between Sabbath and the Zep reunion is that Zep has reunited sans Bonham, what, three times? All one-off performances. And Bonham was not locked out of the band due to financial feuding, he's dead. But Sabbath has reunited several times already, both with and without Ward, who this time around has been locked out of Sabbath for money reasons, as far as any of us know. A good time can still be had by all, in the band and in the crowd, regardless, and again, I love how the focus has largely been on Iommi and this awesome machine he created. Doesn't mean there's no room to bitch a little about the way this final (?) go-round went down.

Those who feel Sabbath has been underrated in the 2013 polls, this is your chance to make an impact. While unfortunately fewer people are voting, it means your ballot will have more impact.

~~~ ILM METAL POLL 2013 - ALBUMS & TRACKS VOTING & CAMPAIGN THREAD~~~ (VOTING ENDS FRIDAY JANUARY 10th 11.59pm UK time/6.59pm EST) )

Maximum of 50 album votes/Minimum of 5.
Maximum of 20 tracks votes/Minimum of 5

Please vote by filling in the
Voting Form, copying your selections directly from the nominations spreadsheets:

Album Nominations Spreadsheet
Tracks Nominations Spreadsheet

stop it

No.

They might have rehearsed together in the same room (with cameras rolling), but there is no fucking way they made this album with everyone in the same room jamming together, not with everything that's at stake from a label perspective.

Actually they did record this pretty live. When I interviewed Iommi, he said it was the most live studio album they've made since the first one, and that Rubin made him do his leads first take and overdub the rhythm parts. He even wrote a guitar melody line that Rubin threw out. He said Ozzy was in the vocal booth while they were tracking. That none of them had worked like this in decades.

I'm not defending Rubin here, but it does sound like they went through some good effort to do this right.

this still holds up to my ears.

Age of Reason

I played this today and tbqfh, it holds up just fine. in fact, maybe even better, because there's no burden of expectations.

it's not perfect (Geezer's bass sounds weird, "AGe of Reason" has an Audioslave sounding riff), but most of the songs hold up to me. feel like the first three are a solid jump out of the gate.

I'll be playing this again this week I'm sure.

I like this album. Was quite shocked to read the first posts on this thread... Iommi is in great form, Ozzy sounds fine, I've never had problems with the bass sound. Ward is sadly missing, fair enough.

I mentioned upthread that I wrote a review, but I never posted it. Here's a link. I stand by it.