CROSS PURPOSES

Somehow, Black Sabbath just kept hanging on. After the departure of Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio, they just kept hanging on. Yes, the continued line-up changes kept coming and going and it was getting hard for people to keep up with who was who during this time, but, as far as the albums go, from "The Eternal Idol" in 1987, to "Forbidden" in 1995, one thing remained constant: Tony Martin was the lead singer for Black Sabbath, except for one album, "Dehumanizer" (which saw the return of Dio), making Martin the most consistent vocalist next to Osbourne. He sang on 5 of Sabbath's studio albums. Yet it is funny how no one seems to remember his name. During this time of upheaval in the band, hardly anyone kept track of that. Martin just didn't have that unique vocal quality of Osbourne, Dio or Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), who only sang on one of Sabbath's albums, "Born Again". Basically, he could have been anyone. But at least he helped make things consistent during this time.

Such is the case is the 17th Black Sabbath album, "Cross Purposes". Released in January of 1994, this album had the hard job of trying to re-re-form the band after Dio and Vinnie Appice (drums) left after the "Dehumanizer" tour. Strangely enough, Bobby Rondinelli, former drummer for Rainbow, who, as most know, Dio was the original vocalist for, came in to replace Appice on drums, but would only remain for this album. So, for "Cross Purposes" we see the return of Martin as vocalist, of course Tony Iommi (the one constant Sabbath member) on guitars, original band member Geezer Butler was along for this album also on bass, previously mentioned "one-timer" Bobby Rondinelli on drums, and the invisible, yet faithful member Geoff Nicholls on keyboards. Nicholls has at least grown to full band status, and not just a session musicians whenever Osbourne was involved, but he is another one that was unheard of, but who was almost always there, even in the early days.

So, the question is, how does this album stack up to the rest of their discography? Well, pretty much the same as all of the others that were produced during this period. Iommi tries his best to create memorable riffs, and actually seems to hit the mark better than he has for a while. Unfortunately, his power metal style that he was using during this time in the Sabbath history just doesn't seem to fit well with Martin's more soulful vocals. That eerie evil sound that seems to exist when Osbourne or Dio are singing just isn't there, and, even the opening track "I Witness", which is supposed to grab your attention, just ends up sounding like it is coming off of a Whitesnake album. Also missing is the changing meters and melodies that really made Sabbath stand out in the Osbourne years, in other words, the one thing that hinted at progressive sound is not even there anymore.

"Cross of Thorns" goes for a slower sound, and Nicholl's keyboards tend to help Martin's vocals fit in a bit better, and you even hear Martin reach for Dio's thicker voice, and it actually works, except that, now there are no memorable guitar riffs and unfortunately, you end up with another mostly mediocre track. "Psychophobia" simple just returns to the same Whitesnake- style power metal of before. The big surprise of the album is held out for the next track "Virtual Death". Iommi and Butler come together like they haven't done since the "Sabotage" album. A nice slow-crawl of deep dark metal starts off the track and even Martin, with a completely different style, sound like he actually belongs here with this classic sound. The harmonic resonance almost sounds like "Alice in Chains" on this song, and that is a compliment of the highest order. It's an excellent track, and things are looking up now. The wailing guitar solo is perfect, exactly what you would expect from a band with a lot of talent, if only the album were full of tracks like this, especially with the feeling that Iommi knows what to do with Martin's vocals. Excellent. One of the brightest stars in Sabbath's discography from this era, by far.

So, "Immaculate Deception" starts off again with another great riff, but then Nicholls comes in and waters the whole thing down. Rondinelli attempts to save the track with sudden fast and heavy drumming for the choruses, but can't quite pull it off because now the track is inconsistent and soon slips into obscurity with many of the other Sabbath tracks from this era. "Dying for Love" is just another hard rock ballad that could have been done by any of the commercial hair metal bands from the 80s. "Back to Eden" has nothing going for it at all that you haven't heard a million times already. "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" is more Whitesnake schleppery. Iommi has a cool riff, but it's too repetitive and Martin's vocals just don't do anything to help, but then neither does the lackluster melody and textbook lyrics. A real snore-fest.

"Cardinal Sin" (originally known as "Sin, Cardinal Sin" but renamed because of a printing error) is a track where Nicholls steals a symphonic style riff from Deep Purple's "Perfect Stranger" to try to bring some flavor to another tasteless tune. It doesn't help. The track does speed up in the middle section, but even that doesn't help bring any interest to the track. "Evil Eye" finishes off the album with a track that was co-written by Eddie Van Halen, but was uncredited due to record label restrictions. Guess what? You can hear some riffs that sound like they were inspired by him, and in the end, it's just another track, and by this time you might be wondering, what's the use? Speaking of that, "What's the Use?" is the name of the Japanese edition's bonus track. And, no, you are not any better off knowing that. It's only another throw away track with Martin trying to sound like Dio again, coming full circle to the first track.

So, put this one in the stack of mediocre Black Sabbath albums. With only one excellent track on here, "Virtual Death", its just not worth your time, unless you want to hear just how great this album could have been if they used Martin's vocals the way they did on that track. But, since there is only one non-throw away track on this album, it's just not good enough. This one is only for straightforward metal lovers with very few expectations. Download "Virtual Death" and forget the rest.