MOB RULES

Let's start by saying that Dio's entrance gave Black Sabbath the chance to create two of the best albums of the first years of the 80's and that can have no doubt as i said earlier. Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules is by far better than anything Black Sabbath did in their last three Ozzy albums, albums worthy of two stars. Secondly, Ronnie James Dio is some thousands miles away a better singer than Ozzy Osbourne and that means being at the same level of ability(technique and intepretation of the songs) for so many years-ozzy has never been a stable singer especially when playing live for months. And coming into the real thing, Mob Rules has great songs which the most substancial matter. Just a step down from Heaven And Hell but in the same vein. Production is a little bit more messy and more darker...i would like it to be as clear as HAHalbum. There are two masterpieces, so very well known-Sign Of The Southern Cross and Falling Off The Edge Of the World that showcase Tony Iommi's writing peak and maturity. Three songs are at least very good-Turn Up The Night, The Mob Rules and Over And Over, the latter following the same vein of Lonely Is The Word. And one good song which is Voodoo. It's meaningless to talk about the mucisianship of the album, even the newcomer then Vinnie Appice gives a great performance. In my opinion there was and still is a prejudice about the 80's, something i felt when i was younger in my youth which was back then at the 80's and i still see it even now-we saw some really great music back then, a fact we do not see often nowadays and i mean great music-all those bands were trying to do their best in a climate that was not good at all about rock music and all its genres such as prog rock or heavy rock and only this is worthy to give them a credit. Anyway this was another great album of those years. 4.5 stars really...