Throughout the 80's Black Sabbath went through numerous line-up changes, the only consistent member being guitarist Tony Iommi. The most popular of the post-Ozzy Osbourne line-ups though was the classic one of Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass, Vinny Appice on drums, and Ronnie James Dio on the mic. In 1982 that line-up split up, causing the band to go into a downward spiral. In 1992 however, for a brief moment they managed to patch things up well enough to do another album together, known as Dehumanizer.
Dehumanizer is arguably the heaviest Black Sabbath album ever recorded. Iommi's riffs are gargantuan monsters and the drums and bass just pound through the speakers. This of course can be partly attributed to the high level of studio production, but let's not take away the credit where it's due either. Dio wrote some of his darkest lyrics of his career on this album with topics ranging from fear for a computer controlled future, doubts about the afterlife, being a monster, and more.
"Computer God" is one hell of a way start an album. It builds tension with the sounds of metal being hit until it turns into a drum beat followed by a gigantic wall of sound from Iommi and Butler. It hits you over and over, giving you a minor reprieve in the bridge with Ronnie's soft singing backed by a light arpeggio riff until you get dragged along by the balls for a blistering fast solo section up until the song comes crashing to an end.
"I". Just one simple letter, yet it represents one of the most powerful and heavy songs Black Sabbath ever put to a recording. I and many others have looked to it as a source of self-affirmation because that essentially is one of the meanings you can glean from it. It stomps around and crushes buildings, making you feel like you are an unstoppable force of nature. Never have I heard Dio sound so angry and evil in a song. It's chilling in a way.
Dehumanizer is definitely one of the most under rated Black Sabbath albums in the catalog. It's not the best of the Dio albums, but even the least good of those is still AMAZING. Monstrous riffs, blistering solos, well written lyrics, thundering booming rhythms, and an overall dark, empty, chilling atmosphere await ye who play this record. I can guarantee you'll like it better than some of the Ozzy era songs for sure.
Dehumanizer, by Black Sabbath receives 3.75 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Computer God
2. After All (The Dead)
3. TV Crimes
4. Letters From Earth
5. Master of Insanity
6. Time Machine
7. Sins of the Father
8. Too Late
9. I
10. Buried Alive
Buy the album on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Dehumanizer-Remastered-Black-Sabbath/dp/B001MCOXIK/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1516939777&sr=8-1&keywords=black+sabbath+dehumanizer
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