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Back during Black Sabbath's golden era I was a total "fanboy", I loved the band's music over its Ozzy period. When Dio took over vocal duties I still liked the band however my love for the band waned somewhat. "Heaven and Hell" fronted by Dio was a very good album which probably rescued Black Sabbath at the time and put them back in the spotlight however it wasn't the same for me without Ozzy. I followed Sabbath though and purchased each studio album on release, as I did with the Ozzy solo albums - the magic was gone however although I found a lot to like in each album that I got hold of.

It was with trepidation that I got hold of this new release from Black Sabbath - the iteration of the band that I adored was back together (except for Bill Ward) - would they be able to recapture the old magic for me? Would this be an album that would disappoint me and I would end up wishing was never made?

Well I can't say that I wish it was never made however I must say that the magic is still gone. It is an ok album that I don't dislike but it lacks the punch that I loved in tracks like "Snowblind", "Wheels of Confusion", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" etc. It lacks the adrenaline rush of the Sabotage album. It lacks the enjoyment level that I got out of "Technical Extacy" and "Never Say Die" even though those two were the weakest albums of the early Sabbath discography.

The band seem to follow a bluesy metal approach throughout most of this as opposed to the hard hitting hard rock crunch of "Master of Reality" or "Volume 4" or the progressive approach that they took on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and even more so on "Sabotage". The first track holds a lot of elements from the very first "Black Sabbath" track from the album of the same name and ,for me, the album just seems to stay in that territory right the way through. There is no "Tomorrow's Dream" or "Killing Yourself To Live" here. At times it felt like an Ozzy solo album and at other times like a reliving of the bands first album.

All in all then - an enjoyable blast from the past but not a magic one. Three stars from me.

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