NATIVITY IN BLACK - A TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH

There was a second volume to this but I have never heard it. This a tribute to the 1970s Ozzy- era of Sabbath. I was familiar with all the Ozzy albums except Vol. 4, Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die when I got this. There are no songs from the last two but it does include "Supernaut" from Vol. 4. It's one of the best songs here performed by Ministry side- project 1000 Homo DJs.

The very best song here is "Black Sabbath" performed by one of my favourite metal bands of the '90s: Type O Negative. Very good. The iconic three-note riff is done on piano. There is some chanting in this song. Has some nice organ near the end. The back-up vocals at the end are a nice touch as well. "Children Of The Grave" by White Zombie is a highlight. The riff and drums at the beginning of this version remind me of the song "Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson. But this came out first.

"War Pigs" by Faith No More is a live version taken from their home video You Fat B**tards-Live In Brixton. "The Wizard" is credited to Bullring Brummies, which features ex-Sab members Bill Ward and Geezer Butler; Rob Halford(ex-Judas Priest at the time) does the vocals. "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath" is done by Godspeed featuring Bruce Dickinson(ex-Iron Maiden at the time). "Symptom Of The Universe" is performed by Sepultura. This version has great drumming and they keep the acoustic part at the end.

"Iron Man" is performed by Therapy? with vocals from Ozzy himself. The music and vocals were recorded seperately in different countries. Most of the songs here don't sound much different to the originals. This is only worth hearing for "Children Of The Grave", "Supernaut" and "Black Sabbath". 2 stars.