Kingcrimsonprog Technical Ecstasy is the Birmingham based band's seventh full-length studio album and their second-last album with Ozzy Osbourne. People never give this the credit it deserves; it is actually a very accomplished and well rounded album but by and large it is an album that is either ignored or insulted by a sizable portion of Black Sabbath fans.

The main reason that the album isn't thought of as terrific is that it arguably doesn't sound all that much like Black Sabbath. There are a lot of different styles experimented with on the album and there aren't many classic three minute Heavy Metal tracks. Sabbath try a lot of new things on this album, and if you are open to a bit of variety and experimentation it will prove at least an interesting album though ultimately still won't be the best Sabbath album in your collection.

It does have a lot going for it too however, as Ozzy's voice arguably sounds better here than on many other albums, and the production is arguably better than usual as well.

Standout moments include the heavy and complex 'Dirty Woman,' which contains loads of memorable riffs and is a welcome component of their reunion DVD, as well as the maudlin piano ballad 'It's Alright' which Guns n Roses fans will recognize. Possibly the greatest track on the album (and arguably the most underrated in the band's history) however is 'You Won't Change Me,' which a haunting tune that really should be considered as Sabbath's 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Comfortably Numb' but is unfortunately widely overlooked.

If you still don't like the idea of the album you should at least check out 'Dirty Woman' and 'You Won't Change Me' as stand alone MP3s.

Overall, Technical Ecstasy isn't the best Black Sabbath album, but it is definitely worth a listen if you don't mind that there aren't wall to wall rockers and enjoy a bit of variety. If you don't own many Black Sabbath albums yet, this is definitely not something you should pick up until you have about five or six other Sabbath records first, but at the same time it is not something that you should dogmatically avoid from ever hearing.

UMUR "Live Evil" is a live album release by UK heavy metal/doom metal act Black Sabbath. The album was released through Vertigo/Warner Brothers in December 1982. The 14 tracks on the album were recorded at two concerts in Seattle in April 1982, one concert in Dallas in May 1982 and at one concert in San Antonio in May 1982. The touring band featured the same lineup that recorded "Mob Rules (1981)".

The setlist naturally focuses on tracks from the Dio-led Black Sabbath albums, "Heaven and Hell (1980)" and "Mob Rules (1981)", which were at the time the most recent releases by the band. However about half the setlist are tracks from the first two albums by the band, which includes tracks like "Iron Man", "War Pigs", "Black Sabbath" and "Paranoid". "Children of the Grave" is the only other track on "Live Evil" from any of the other Ozzy Osbourne-led Black Sabbath albums.

The musicianship is impeccable as expected. Dio was such a powerful vocalist and those heavy riffs and determined playing style of Tony Iommi and the powerful heavy rythm section of drummer Vinnie Appice and bassist Geezer Butler interact like a great organic machine. Unfortunately the sound quality doesn´t follow suit, and much of my listening experience is drowned in the muddy sound. The band´s comments in the booklet to how the mixing process had run, probably explains a lot though. Already on the tour the band were more on less broken up. Dio and Vinnie Appice were driving in one car between shows and Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler were driving in another car. Little things that had not been adressed properly had build up and there was animosity between the two groups. During the mixing process the band couldn´t share the studio, which meant that Iommi and Butler would work in the mix at day and Dio would work on the same mix at night and then Iommi and Butler would enter the studio the next morning only to find that their mix had been altered. This led to the mixing process taking a very long time. Paired with what Iommi himself calls "an Odd drug problem" he had at the time, things just didn´t go as the band had planned.

What should have been a triumphant celebration of the live version of the Dio-led Black Sabbath period, ended up an obituary instead. Black Sabbath weren´t satisfied when the lo-fi sounding "Live at Last (1980)" was released as the first official Black Sabbath, but personally I don´t think "Live Evil" is a much better live album. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Live at Last" is the first live album released by British heavy metal act Black Sabbath. Released through NEMS Enterprises in July 1980 after Ozzy Osbourne had left the band (or rather had been kicked out) but with recordings from the 1973 tour this live album release was not received well by, the then new incarnation, of Black Sabbath with Dio on vocals. However for the fans of Ozzy Osbourne era Black Sabbath it was a long overdue opportunity to listen to some live recordings by the band.

The song selection is pretty natural when you consider that Black Sabbath were touring in support of "Volume four (1972)" and most songs come from this album (three out of nine and an excerpt of "Supernaut" in the "Wicked World" jam section). The debut album is represented by "Wicked World" (which was only featured on the US release of the debut), "Paranoid (1970)" by "War Pigs", "Master of Reality (1971)" by "Sweet Leaf", "Embryo/Children of the Grave" and an excerpt of "Into the Void". In addition to that there´s also a song ("Killing Yourself to Live") from the then yet unreleased 5th full-length studio album by Black Sabbath which would be titled "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)". The version of "Wicked World" is 18:59 minutes long and includes loads of improvised guitar soloing by Tony Iommi, a drum solo by Bill Ward and quite surprisingly (at least to me who´s never seen them live) a jazz rock section. Maybe another desperate attempt by Tony Iommi to show the critics that there was more to Black Sabbath than just heavy riffs? In this case the attempt is actually quite successful to my ears and a nice variation in the set.

The performance is good and even though Ozzy Osbourne doesn´t always hit the right notes he´s as enthusiastic as ever and the phrase: "We Love You" is more than once during the set communicated to the audience. I wouldn´t call the overall performance by the band excellent or wildly inspired though and the rather bad sound quality doesn´t really help on my impression either. It might be stretching it a bit but the production could be catagorized as a good bootleg sound quality.

"Live at Last" is not an essential listening experience neither for fans nor for the casual listener IMO. But it is a pretty good yet raw and unpolished live album and especially for fans of Ozzy Osbourne era Black Sabbath there are much to enjoy here. 3 stars (60%) are deserved.

Warthur Having released their most well-received album for some years in the form of Heaven and Hell, Sabbath can be forgiven for playing it safe with the next album, which is essentially a slightly darker take on the same general sound. Those who like one will like the other, but in my view Heaven and Hell is a notch better than this one - in particular, the second side here starts getting rather bogged down and samey. Still, it's got Dio on it, and any collaboration between Dio and Sabbath (whether it's under the name of Sabbath or Heaven and Hell) is worth a listen or two - and there's anthemic songs on here like Sign of the Southern Cross which I certainly wouldn't want to be without.

Warthur After a run of five classic studio albums, one patchy but still quite good piece (Sabotage) and a couple of albums best forgotten, the Ozzy-fronted incarnation of Black Sabbath finally disintegrated for good. Luckily, Iommi, Ward and Butler had been having a good time jamming with Dio of late, and took him on as their new vocalist - a crucial moment for the careers of both Dio and the band as a whole.

Wisely, Sabbath do not try to mimic the sound of the Ozzy-era albums, instead taking the opportunity of their new lead singer to update and rejuvenate their sound and show those NWOBHM whippersnappers how it's done. The result is a confident and capable album which might not be as starkly original and groundbreaking as their first releases, but still represents a striking return to form after a fallow patch in the band's fortunes and a refreshingly new sound for the group.

Particularly striking is the way Iommi is able to weave guitar solos in his own classic style into fast-paced tunes like Neon Knights, which in their pounding rhythms and Dio's dramatic delivery rank compare favourably to the sort of material produced by Iron Maiden or Judas Priest at around the same time. Meanwhile, Dio proves he's capable of handling slower, doomier material like the title track, Lonely Is the Word, or Children of the Sea. These slower tracks take on a more operatic tone than the sledgehammer-heavy dirges of early Sabbath, but this is only appropriate for Dio's vocal style - which is on top form this time around.

On the whole, this album is probably more closely aligned to Dio's early solo style than the classic early 1970s Black Sabbath sound, so if you're fond of the former but aren't so keen on the latter, don't be put off from giving it a try, while if you love the early Ozzy sound don't expect more of the same with a different vocalist here. Of course, if you love both early Sabbath and solo Dio, you'll probably end up giving this album heavy rotation anyway.