BLACKEST SABBATH

Very posh sleeve design with a goldenprint; probably suggesting a gravestone. Two disk set. This compilation represents a guide through a BLACK SABBATH career. You already guessed it - CD 1 contains 70's material, CD 2 80's.

The seventies section really should have been compiled more carefully; this is just hollow. The eighties section - well, is good just as the second Sabbath's decade - from what I've heard so far: it is junk. Only the "Sign Of The Southern Cross/Heaven And Hell" stands out. The "golden era" sections contains 8 songs, and when they are good, they're good indeed. But why, oh, why on Earth three absolutely disposable songs?? To represent each album? Unnecessary. And certainly not "the blackest" possible sabbath. First five tracks are all band's staples, however I'm missing a lot "Wheels Of Confusion" and...actually anything from the early years.

I'm much less familiar with band's discography from the 80's than from the 70's. Therefore I can't tell if the CD 2 "squeezed" the best out the decade or not. As an isolated unit, it is miserable. I'm wondering what will a newbie think after listening to this one - if the CD 1 represent the first decade badly, then maybe 80's aren't so bad and they're worth checking out...or vice versa. I really doubt compilation editors were such psychologists. This one, sublimely, wasn't aimed at Sabbath-newbie market; more on older generation of hard rockers...it was a matter of time when BLACK SABBATH will use a reference to "Deepest Purple". But there is no point of comparing. This one is only for the money, and it could be easily avoided.

I'm rating it with lowest possible rating. It might not be fair towards the first five tracks which are okay. But damn, is it such a rocket science to cherry-pick the songs for a compilation?. Five (okay, six) good songs out of 15; no excuses, that's bad.