HEAVEN AND HELL

Ozzy was sent packing and in came Ronnie James Dio. Black Sabbath also added Geoff Nicholls on keyboards. That and a new sound and a new approach.

Punk had come and gone. AOR was the dominating stadion filler with Foreigner and Journey. Kiss was packing in the stadiums too. Van Halen was the big new thing, followed by some other US bands. Iron Maiden and new generation of heavy metal bands set a new standard. So Black Sabbath adapted and changed too. Copied others, that is.

Ronnie James Dio is a brilliant vocalist. I am a fan of his. He is the flicker of light on this album. But I do not like Black Sabbath's adaptations of the new sound. They went from doom metal to AOR in the 1980s and this is the first of their AOR albums. The innovators became meek followers and just that. Only on songs like Children Of The Sea and the title track showcases the Black Sabbath I like. Those two songs are great. The rest of the album is AOR songs where both Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi is restricted to nodding along on these poppy AOR songs. The quality of this album, with the exception of the abovementioned tracks, is pretty dire. A song like Wishing Well is nowhere near the standard I expect from a band like Black Sabbath.

This is a dire album, not even saved by Children Of The Sea and the title track. The rest of this album is best forgotten.

2.75 stars

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