BLACK SABBATH — Born Again (review)

BLACK SABBATH — Born Again album cover Album · 1983 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1.5/5 ·
Stooge
This album had the ingredients to be special. Ian Gillan was one of the greatest voices of 70s rock and metal. Adding him to the Sabbath trio of Iommi, Butler, and Ward, this sounds promising indeed. From a song perspective, there is some stuff here that isn’t too bad. “Trashed”, “Disturbing The Priest” and “Zero The Hero” have their moments, but this is still a rather challenging listen.

The mix has got to be one of the worse there is. Aside from Ian Gillan’s possessed-by-a-demon delivery, the instrumentation just blends together in a bit of a mess.

You always hear about Seventh Star not being a true Black Sabbath album, but Born Again is certainly a different album from what the metal godfathers would churn out. The best way for me to describe it would be that so called classic Sabbath would set such a dark and disturbing atmosphere but it felt pretty organic, whereas Born Again sounds like it’s trying to make a scary record but in a cliché fashion. I guess it could scare a child, but kids are easy to frighten.

I usually forget about the second side entirely except for the fact one song is humorously titled “Digital Bitch”. The second side actually sounds like a completely different approach. Gillan’s voice sounds a bit more natural, and the hard rock style of the songs is a better fit for him. Like I said though, I usually forget the second side.

This is one of those albums that I have to be in the right mood to listen to, which doesn’t say much for it. I’d save this for the die-hard fans of Ian Gillan and the members of Sabbath.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Из Чего Я Состою Crust Punk
MARIE GUELLA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Surowica / Slavenkust Hardcore Punk
SLAVENKUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Surowica / Slavenkust Crust Punk
SUROWICA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Nie Wydarzy Się Crust Punk
SUROWICA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Repulsive Forms Sludge Metal
UMA
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us