This is my track by track review of Black Sabbath's newest album "13". I hope you like it :)
Track 1: End of The Beginning- This was a perfect album opener. The main riff is heavy and dark and as many people said, is very reminiscent to the Tri-tone Riff from their self titled song from their debut album back in 1970. Lyrically, im not sure what the song is about but I don't care because the music is awesome. Ozzy is in his 60s already(as well as Tony and Geezer) and he still sounds fantastic! Tony has a good guitar solo in the song and right after, its almost as if a whole nother song starts playing because of the difference in the guitar playing(1st half is very Doom Metal and the 2nd half is just typical type of guitar work lol) All in all a very solid album opener. 5/5*
Track 2: God Is Dead?- This was the first single off the album and upon its release, it caused a stir because of the song title. Leave it to America to be so anti-God but when a song comes out saying God is dead, everybody plays the goody two shoe Christian -____-. Anyhow, this song uses biblical references from The Last Supper and twists and distorts the original meaning in a way only Sabbath can do("Give me the wine, you keep the bread" "Give me more wine, I don't need bread") however, despite this, I strongly believe that this song is about politics and how fucked up the world is and how theres evil all around us on a daily basis and God just sits back and watches us all suffering and the song is questioning if God is even alive at all. I think it was smart for Sabbath to release this song as the first single because nothing gets the people talking like taking something many people believe in and saying that its dead lol. Sabbath needed to put themselves in the spotlight in order to promote this album and this was the perfect song and single to do it. I also like that many people can relate to the message of the song because I know ive questioned Gods exsistence many times because of things that didn't happen and what not. 5/5*
Track 3: Loner- I really like this song because of the lyrics. It totally reminds me of how I was in middle and High school. I was the one that was constantly picked on and treated like shit so if I was still in school, this would be my theme probably lol.
Track 4: Zeitgeist- This is one of my favorite songs because its like a continuation from Planet Caravan off the Paranoid album. The song is the softest song on the album(uses acoustic guitars and congo drums) but its just one of those types of songs that, if you smoke weed, you can just blare the song in your room and get high as fuck to. Lyrically, I think the song is about 2 lovers in a space ship that has stopped working and is drifting through space and in the end of the song, the ship crashes and they both die.....Definitly a continuation from Planet Caravan as that song is about 2 lovers flying through space together looking at the planets and stars and galaxies. Geezer has a wide imagination lol. 5/5* easily
Track 5: Age of Reason: Another good hard rocking song. Not really much for me to say here about it but I do like the riff that starts around the 2:50 mark lol. 4/5*
Track 6: Live Forever: This song starts out with a monster of a riff from Iommi then kicks into a groove type of riff. I like the drum work on this one as well. It fits great with the guitar. The song has a great line that I think we can all relate to "I don't wanna live forever, but I don't wanna die". Im sure we all feel like we wanna die at some point but at the same time, we don't wanna leave earth hahaha. 4/5*
Track 7: Damaged Soul- This song has my favorite riff on the entire album. Heavy but relaxing almost. When I hear it, I think of a bunch of guys sitting in a bar, drinking and just chilling. I guess, if you like to drink, you could call this a drinking song lol. Lyrically, im not sure if this song is about demon possession or what, I cant really tell. Also, another big highlight here is Tony's guitar solo! Freaking epic! His guitar playing on this track, is probably my favorite on the album.
Track 8: Dear Father-This is another favorite of mine. I love the guitars on the Chorus but the entire song is great, musically. Now Lyrically, Geezer wrote the song after seeing a story on the news about a little boy who was molested by a Catholic priest. The song is written from the perspective of the child and how he sees the priests hypocrisy and calls him out on it saying that he is no longer a holy man because of what he did to him and also questions him about his own life....Really great album closer especially the last 30 seconds because the music stops and all you hear is sound effects of Rain, Thunder and Church bells. Im not sure if this is Sabbaths last record, but if it is, its a very fitting end to their career, not only with the entire album, but with the ending because the rain, thunder and church bells were EXACTLY how they started their career off with their self titled song. Ominous start with the sound effects and Sabbath made it known from the start that they were the band to start the heavy/dark sounding rock/metal.
END THOUGHTS: Overall, I loved this album. Theres not a single song that I don't like. I really hope to God that this album becomes their first number 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. If it does(and it very well may because its already number 1 in over 50 countires) It will have made it to number one without the radio(only heard God Is Dead? A few times but not much) and without the help of MTV because im sure they will never support a band like Sabbath nearly as much as they support the shit that's all over the radio today....If they make it to the top, its gonna be a huge "Fuck You" to the radio and TV stations that never supported them because they weren't marketable to the young teens today. Honestly though, if you are a long time fan of Sabbath or, like me, have barely started to listen to their albums, go pick this record up! Even if you don't like Sabbath, but you like hard rock or Metal, go pick this record up! These guys waited an entire 13 years to make this record and it is very well done.
FINAL RATING: 5/5*
