Ian Gillan in Black Sabbath. It\u2019s either a superstar lineup or a sacrilege pairing between two rival bands of the 1970\u2019s, depending on one\u2019s tastes. Regardless of listeners\u2019 preferences, Born Again<\/i> remains something of a cult classic among Sabbath\u2019s forgotten albums. <\/p>\n
There are a number of peculiar things about this album. The cover, featuring a garish picture of a red baby with devil horns and pointed, yellow fingernails. The godawful production, featuring Tony Iommi\u2019s worst guitar sound on record. Drummer Bill Ward\u2019s sobriety leading to the most forgettable performance his career. Gillan\u2019s banshee screams and campy, evil lyrics. And, of course, the instrumental ditty, \u201cStonehenge,\u201d with its notorious links to one of Spinal Tap\u2019s most famous scenes. <\/p>\n
Born Again<\/i> is best described as demonic cheese with the occasional dose of attitude. From the opening notes of \u201cTrashed,\u201d the album\u2019s generic, fast-paced single, it\u2019s a markedly different affair than the two albums with Ronnie James Dio. If it weren\u2019t for Iommi\u2019s soloing and Gillan\u2019s unmistakable scream, you would never guess it was a team of rock veterans playing this song. The music video, covering a drunk driver\u2019s comical effort to beg forgiveness and evade the authorities, remains a bit of a nugget in the 80\u2019s Sabbath catalogue for its comic value.<\/p>\n
Only two songs stand out for their positive features. \u201cDisturbing The Priest,\u201d in spite of its hideous, squealing harmonics intro, is a dark and heavy effort that shows Ian Gillan to be in great form, hitting notes that have been out of his range since \u201cChild In Time.\u201d In spite of some hammy lyrics and evil laughter scattered throughout, it\u2019s oddly catchy. As Gillan howls, \u201cYour life is contradiction \/ Because of crucifixion\u201d atop Iommi\u2019s pummeling guitar, one can\u2019t help but grin. Heavy and hokey at its very best.<\/p>\n
\u201cZero The Hero,\u201d meanwhile, is the only track worthy of being labeled a classic in Black Sabbath\u2019s extensive library of songs. Stretching nearly eight minutes in length, it features a slow and heavy riff \u2013 some fans have pointed to its vague resemblance to \u201cParadise City\u201d \u2013 and Ian gives his shrieking vocals a rest. The icing on the cake is the guitar solo, where Tony ventures well-outside his usual comfort zone for a full minute-and-a-half. It\u2019s a shame that the album sounds as if were mixed underwater. \u201cZero\u2026\u201d would be an absolute bone-crusher if there were some meat to the guitar sound. <\/p>\n
Things take a sharp downhill turn after this glimmering highlight, though, and if it weren\u2019t for the rest of the songs\u2019 comedic value, they wouldn\u2019t even warrant a first listen. <\/p>\n
\u201cDigital Bitch\u201d is just awful\u2026 awful! Tony Iommi speeds along with a generic riff and run-of-the-mill guitar licks while Gillan warns listeners to \u201cKeep away from the digital bitch,” cause “She\u2019s a greedy emotional looter!\u201d \u201cHot Line\u201d is a similarly pedestrian effort, while \u201cKeep It [Luke]Warm\u201d closes things on a tame note. Despite featuring a guitar solo that harkens back to the band\u2019s 1970\u2019s heyday, most listeners will likely have hit the stop button by this point. <\/p>\n
Much of Born Again<\/i> is outright embarrassing, it can\u2019t be denied. But it\u2019s great fun. The duo of Gillan and Iommi offer some bizarre musical moments, both of them appearing to be in fine shape but having little chemistry between them. It\u2019s a memorable collaboration, for better or worse. And if fans can\u2019t at least get a chuckle out of the title track\u2019s absurd lyrics about \u201cThe hearts of mutant gods\u201d and \u201cGrey plastic retards all floating in circles,\u201d then they need to invest in a sense of humor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":29978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5638],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-41603","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-black-sabbath","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41603"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}