CROSS PURPOSES

Cross Purposes is the seventeenth full-length studio album by UK heavy metal act Black Sabbath. After Dio´s second departure from Black Sabbath just before finishing the tour supporting their sixteenth full-length studio album Dehumanizer (1992), the band reunited with Tony Martin who had been the lead singer in Black Sabbath on the albums The Eternal Idol (1987), Headless Cross (1989) and Tyr (1990). A great singer who had brought much to those albums.

The music on Cross Purposes is a bit heavier and not as epic as the music generally was on the three albums mentioned above. There are also some contemporary influences in the music and I´m thinking about Alice in Chains and Soundgarden more than one time during the playing time. A band like Extreme also came to mind because of the hard rock/ funky elements in the music. These are only influences though and above all the music on Cross Purposes is still unmistakably Black Sabbath. Heavy guitar riff based songs with strong vocals by Tony Martin. The production and the musicianship are professional and strong as ever.

Cross Purposes surprised me a bit if I have to be honest. The contemporary influences were not something I had expected but they don´t sound forced or out of place and I´m actually glad that Black Sabbath didn´t make Dehumanizer part 2 with Tony Martin on vocals. That said I still think Dehumanizer is a stronger album than Cross Purposes. Nothing beats Dio´s intense and passionate vocal delivery IMO. Cross Purposes is a good album though and it deserves a 3 star rating.