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- Verified Buyer
One thing to note- I am HUGE fan of Black Sabbath's first 5 or 6 albums with Ozzy. After Technical Ecstasy- I was a little disappointed. I grew up on most of Ozzy's sabbath. That is until I heard Ronnie James Dio's Sabbath- who is something of a different Sabbath all together. Iommi's riffs still sound like him- with perhaps more melodious touches and flourishes. Butler plays more with the kit instead of just doubling Iommi's parts. Vinny Appice's drumming is precise & often I feel is so under rated as a musician in general. (Obviously he's got a reputation to live up to with his older brother Carmine- a legend in his own right) It can't be stated how great Ronnie's voice was. The older he got- his voice was always in great shape...I remember being blown away by this whole record - to me this is a great "comeback" record by Sabbath. Sorry, I don't call this band heaven and hell. Just Sabbath 2.0. You will always have the original Sabbath, but to me the other great version of Sabbath was Dio's era. And this is certainly a testament to Sabbath's amazing legacy. "Computer God"- amazing opener. Kicks your ass with bombastic hits and master riffery. Rarely does this album let up - lulling you sometimes into false senses of sercurity before launching another bombardment on the senses. (Forgive the trite cliche's) "After All (the dead)" to me is classic Black Sabbath- creepy riffs, minor keys, tempo's that any "doomster" can nod their head to. And why not? Iommi and co- helped invent the f'n musical genre known as metal, and all it's sub genre's (doom metal, stoner, blah blah blah)...One other thing to note is Dehumanizer's production values. Not exactly THE heaviest Sabbath's ever sounded, but overall, it's a good sounding record, that has just enough low-end to satisfy my cravings. The pacing is perfect, a faster track , then a slow creepy number. Dehumanizer, you are without a doubt the underated gem for me. I know people think of Dio's Sabbath and think Heaven and Hell and or The Mob Rules, which are good albums- but to me, I'm an underdog guy- I like this album perhaps more. It epitomizes what I think of from Black Sabbbath. 5 STARS!
