Best Black Sabbath Album

Master of Reality > Paranoid > Black Sabbath > Sabotage > Sabbath Bloody Sabbath > Vol. 4 >>> Never Say Die >>>>>> Technical Ecstasy.

I'd like Vol. 4 more if it wasn't for its thin and downright awful production, but as it stands its easily my least favourite of the classic run.

Who the fuck voted for Mob Rules?

i respect it

Mob Rules is a great Dio album.

Mob Rules rules

I've been loving "Never Say Die" lately, that record rules

Love that album, especially the horn rock number

They should have gone Blodwyn Pig on the bit more often

None of them, I don't like Black Sabbath 6

Wtf

I like Mob Rules better than Heaven and Hell, there's more grit in the sound and more memorable riffs, but all three Rainbow records with Dio are better than both, and so is Never Say Die.

Paranoid and Master of Reality are the only two I own mainly because I also have Symptom Of The Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 and that covers virtually every great track from that era.

(It’s a two-CD compilation from Rhino Records)

That's a good selection, but I need every song from those first six records.

Even "Blow On a Jug".

man SBS really got snubbed here huh

Wall of sleep is lying broken

Spiral blah blah blah blah

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath is mostly too soft/pretentious for the people who like the earliest records, while the people who love that side of the band will probably pick Sabotage instead of it.

The title track is absolutely killer, but I found the rest of Mob Rules forgettable.

‘Sign of the Southern Cross’ rules and is dooomy awesome.

“turn up the night” completely rules

“Over and over” gets my vote on MR

"Over and Over" lyrically I feel very often

My MR sequencing starts at the end and moves backward

Love Ronnie’s growl on Sign

I feel like “Mob Rules” is secretly better than “Heaven & Hell” but I’m not fucking checking

I like the faster numbers with Ronnie but I want to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that 3 separate and apparently real human beings voted for “Heaven and Hell” in this poll. You can write off 1 vote for “Mob Rules,” but 3 for “Heaven and Hell”? It’s a solid record but if that’s the best Black Sabbath album then “Load” must be the best Metallica album.

No becuz H&H is a solid record, but Load is a solid

H & H is great

"Great" may be stretching it.

It was a pleasant surprise when it came out, I do remember that.

"Die Young", "Neon Knights", the title track all on the same album, i mean if that ain't great then

The two Dio Sabbath albums are way better than the last couple with Ozzy and production wise are maybe the best sounding records they did.

Dio version of NIB on Live Evil is awesome too.

All the Dio albums are great, including The Devil You Know (released as Heaven & Hell to avoid the wrath of Sharon).

Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules are classics, full stop. Ronnie and Tony both finding another gear creatively. Metal is notorious for its shocking comebacks, and this had to have been its first, or at least side by side with Ozzy.

And in the wake of leaving Rainbow this really catapulted Dio's own career. The man would dominate American heavy metal from 1980 to 87 or so, and it started with these two records.

That may be stretching the definition of "classic" a bit too far out of shape.

Dio was pretty trump tight from Elf through around Sacred Heart

I saw him on the first Dio tour, he had a great stage presence, especially for such a little dude.

This is a pretty good run of LPs for about anyone in hard rock/heavy metal across a decade.

Rainbow
Rising
Long Live Rock and Roll
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Live Evil
Holy Diver
The Last In Line

I was a bit too young, but I was regaled by a few heads about seeing Dio fronted Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult during the 'Black and Blue' tour.

I'd figure that was a heck of a show.

I don't like "Heaven and Hell" (the song) because I don't listen to Black Sabbath to hear mid-tempo one note basslines that go DUN duh duh DUN duh duh DUN duh duh DUN. Save that for Foreigner or Survivor.

The biggest problem with Mob Rules is the absence of Bill Ward.

I don't like "Heaven and Hell" (the song) because I don't listen to Black Sabbath to hear mid-tempo one note basslines that go DUN duh duh DUN duh duh DUN duh duh DUN. Save that for Foreigner or Survivor.

"Children of the Grave" is fast, not mid-tempo!

I like Appice fine on MR though I do miss Ward’s cringey attempts at swing

turn up the night: awesome
voodoo: awesome
sign of the southern cross: unreasonably awesome
e5150: awesome transition track, sabbath arguably unequalled in transition track excellence
the mob rules: awesome
country girl: awesome
slipping away: this is one of those tracks that makes you thankful for vinny appice. awesome
falling off the edge of the world: maybe the most awesome thing about this album is how much metallica obviously loves it. one of my top ten sabbath tracks
over and over: so fucking awesome