DEHUMANIZER

Let's be honest : the late eighties / early nineties are not really the best of "Sabbath" years. Dio is back for this release, but it won't be a masterpiece. At least "Sabbath" will renew with the heavy genre which they almost forgot since "Born Again" released in 1983 (with Gillan on vocals).

"After All" and "Letters From Earth" are perfect examples of this heavy come-back; but the latter is pretty weak. With "TV Crimes", the straight and easily accessible hard-rock is performed; this is my fave. I am not really charmed with Dio's work here. He almost sounds as if he is forcing his voice all the way through. It's a pity because a song as "Master Of Insanity" really suffers from this. Great guitar work, strong riff but even melodic at times. Another of the good songs from this album (which won't feature that many).

"Time Machine" illustrates this fact brilliantly. Dio is yelling all the time and it is all too boring at the end. The heaviest one is probably "Sins Of The Father". It sounds as a lethal weapon which could destroy anything on earth. Not brilliant but not too bad. The super heavy metal in all its splendour.

"Too Late" is a bit different : it starts almost acoustic and has a crescendo building structure. There is even some good Iommi guitar solo. It is not a great song; but "Sabbath" has already produced worse than that. But the last two tracks are just unbearable. "I" and "Buried Alive" do belong to the poorest "Sabbath" output.

Iommi is more discrete than usual. Great riff of course but almost no killing soli liked he used to play. Lack of inspiration maybe. IMO this album is not as bad as "Headless Cross" (their nadir really). Just on par with most of their work after "Sabotage" (1975). If one excludes "The Eternal Idol", this album is their poorest score in the UK charts so far: it will reach the 28th spot.

I'm hesitant in terms of rating : one or two stars ? Three out of ten really. One star. "Thanks" to the poor Dio's work.