MOB RULES

Bringing in Ronnie James Dio was just the right thing for sabbath to do. It gave new power to Sabbath, who had almost lost the glow on "Technical Extasy" and the bit better "Never Say Die". Dio's first Sabbath album, Heaven and Hell was a great, great album. Too bad, this album isn't as good or "Fresh" sounding. Still, it's a good 80's Hard Rock/Metal album! Turn up the night is a pretty dull song, good for radio stations or so. Straight foward hard rock. Voodoo is better, it's more Dio style, still not something really special. The next one, "The Sign of the Southern Cross", is the albums highlight number one. This is an almost epic song, just like the title track off "Heaven and Hell", only less good. It's slow paced, and almost ballad-like. With typical Dio-lyrics (or so i think :S). E5150 is a wierd electronic effects "song", that was used for concert opening on the 81-82 tour. It leads into "The Mob Rules", which is similar to "Turn up the night", a boring (from a prog perspective) Radio-play-song. BUT, as the sabbath-fanboy i am, i still like it! Country Girl is the next highlight. The riff here is so typical Iommi-style, that it could've been on one of their 70's albums. Classic! Slipping Away is another rather boring song, but better than "Mob Rules" & "Turn up the Night". It's still good. The last two songs are also pretty good, but not great. I love sabbath, even with Dio. Therefor, i give this album a 3.5/4 (Rounded up to a 4).