NEVER SAY DIE!

If Technical Ecstasy suffers of an unfairly maligned reputation, NSD really justifies it, and really smelled the rot settled in the band. Ozzy had been shortly replaced by Savoy Brown vocalist Dave Walker, but the Oz was back for this album, which is completely uninspired. NSD is a downright poor album, exuding boredom that even the album title screams out loud; and the grim pilot of death and doomy artwork is just as boring. Though maybe not as evident as on Technical Ecstasy, a few track titles just hint at the lack of inspiration that permeates through the album. Part of the problem is of course the very standard song structures, and Ozzy's voice, often bordering the annoying.

If I spoke of filler track in the previous paragraph, it's clear that absolutely no NSD tracks would've earned a spot on Master Of Reality or Sabotage, save (maybe) Johnny Blade, this despite a very poorly chosen synth early on in the track. The only other tracks really worth mentioning are the album-lengthiest Junior's Eyes or the more aerial Air Dance. The rest of the album is mostly made of lacklustre stuff, like the opening title track, Hard Road, Shock Wave, Over To You, Break Out (despite some brass arrangements ala VdGG's Jaxon)) or the closing Swinging Chain.

Ozzy will get the boot once more after this album and the band would enter some kind of lethargy for a year or so, until they found a superb albeit diminutive new frontman. Ok, NSD might not be as bad or hopeless as I might hint at, but it's definitely their poorer effort of their first 15 years of existence. Don't get me wrong though: a poor Sabbath album was always superior to a Thin Lizzy, many Judas Priest or most Blue Oyster Cult albums. .