BLACK SABBATH — Mob Rules (review)

BLACK SABBATH — Mob Rules album cover Album · 1981 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Turn up the volume...

Genre: heavy metal / doom metal

I always thought that "The Mob Rules" never quite made it, compared to "Heaven and Hell" and I never really was able to fully appreciate "The Mob Rules", but lately I'm finding myself gradually changing my mind about that.

Like "Heaven and Hell", this album is more of a straight heavy metal album, containing a number of straight uptempo hard rockers such as "Turn Up the Night", "The Mob Rules", "Slipping Away" and the typical 80s metal "Voodoo"(which are slightly heavier though), but these have been less captivating to me than their counterparts on "Heaven and Hell", but I find myself enjoying listening to them much more now than before, which is a very positive surprise to me.

Interestingly, this album also contains tracks that musically are slightly reminiscent of the very heavy and doomladen material of the early days of the Ozzy-era. For instance, "The Sign of the Southern Cross", while not as heavy as "Iron Man", "Electric Funeral" or "Black Sabbath", is still heavy enough to be considered a doom metal track of sorts. It opens out with a beautiful acoustic introduction with soft but impressive vocals by Dio before kicking into a heavy Iommi-style riff of the sort that can never go wrong. "Southern Cross" is one of my favorite os the album. "Country Girl" is another one, may because it contains another one of those Iommi-riffs, but also because of its melodic bridge section. "Over and Over" is another melancholic doom-laden track, and another favorite of mine, while "Falling Off The Edge of the World" is probably the best track on the album.

I think that fans of traditional heavy metal and hard rock will appreciate this album, and some doom metal fans might like it too for its heavier tracks.
Share this review
more

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!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

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

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
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
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed