TYR

One of the most closest to prog albums by Sabbath. The central concept compostion consits of 3 parts - "The Battle of Tyr" (short Wagnerian instrumental for keyboards), "Odin's Court" (ballad), "Valhalla" (heavy epic). It is devoted to Scandinavian mythology and to the beliefs of the Vikings. Album was produced by Tony Iommi and Cozy Powell and probably it was Cozy who made acsent on drums and keyboads in the mix. I suppose that Cozy had "Stargazer" by Rainbow as a model of sound in his mind. Tony, Cozy and Leif Masses had made very contrast album. You are either listening to heavy metal riffs or to acoustic or ballad guitar sound. Heavy epics in the start ("Anno Mundi") and the middle of the album, real ballad (do you remember "Changes"?) and official single hit "Feels Good to Me", two dynamic tracks "Law Maker" and "Heaven in Black" (potential hits). Real hit (without single and video) "Jerusalem". What's not to like? Probably the most impressive record and most impressive lyrics by Tony Martin ever. It seems that album impressed mostly Scandinavian bands - you can listen to the albums by Tiamat, Bathory from 90s and they frequently used same manner of contrast sound.