Why Black Sabbath Went Out on a High Note With ’13’

There was a bit of genius in the layout of Black Sabbath’s long-awaited reunion album 13, which eventually became the band’s first U.S. No. 1.

Released in June 2013, 13 appears to be the final studio album in the career of Black Sabbath, which makes the choice of the first and last tunes on the standard eight-song version of the album so great. It opens with “End of the Beginning,” which features, early on, a riff that’s designed to put you in mind of the title track from their eponymous debut album – the song that started everything. Then, as eighth track “Dear Father” fades out, we get the thunder, bells and rain sounds that open that album. It brings the career of Sabbath full circle in a very nice touch.

It’s a simple, but powerful moment that leaves fans with a bit of a wow.

To my surprise, though, 13 was a record that needed time to grow on me. Perhaps it was the hype. Three of the original four members were back together, working with Rick Rubin, who has a reputation for bringing the best out of bands late in their careers. I think I was expecting to have my mind blown like it was the first time that I heard “War Pigs” – my introduction to Black Sabbath. Of course, they were very different musicians by then, and I’m a very different music fan. So, that was never going to happen. Still, there was a bit of disappointment for me that it didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong. I like 13. I like it a lot. I liked it more every time I listened to it. But I do have a few frustrations with it, as well.

The one thing about this record that can’t be disputed is the fact that, even at age 65, Tony Iommi was still writing the baddest riffs on the planet. This man created the metal riff. His work is the template used by all of the metal bands that came after, and most of the best guitarists in the genre will tell you that without hesitation. He was still churning them out on 13, one after the other. Dark, sinister, crushingly heavy. All of his trademarks were there. Several times on the album, Iommi hit that big, ominous, echoing power chord on his simple Gibson SG and you could picture those younger guys toting around those down-tuned eight-string guitars quivering in despair to realize that even with those extra low strings, there’s no matching his intensity or heaviness.

Geezer Butler, who I’ve always felt was the heart and soul of the band, did what he always does. Butler wrote the lyrics for most of the band’s best songs of the 1970s and his bass lines are the band’s not-so-secret weapon. Having spent years locked in step with drummer Bill Ward, who we sadly didn’t get to hear on 13 because of contractual issues, Butler wasted no time in establishing the same kind of groove with Brad Wilk.

For his part, Wilk did a great job in filling Ward’s considerable shoes. Old fans like me are still going to grouse a little about the original drummer’s absence, but the work here was solid.

Then, there was Ozzy. His vocals, admittedly, did occasionally sound a little processed, but we’ve grown used to that over the years. On the upside, there seemed to be more energy in his performance. He didn’t quite recapture his 1970s self, but there was a lot of similarity to his 1980s vocals on many of the songs.

Overall, the band and Rubin captured the spirit of Black Sabbath’s classic sound. More than that, though, 13 also managed to nod to all of their many eras. There were the raw, heavy bluesy sounds of the beginning, the more proggy experimentation of their later years with Ozzy, and even the more uptempo metallic sounds of their stint with Ronnie James Dio. “Loner” and “Live Forever,” in particular, put me in mind of that era.

There were overt references to their classic work all over the record, not only in the riff of “End of the Beginning” or those final moments of “Dear Father.” “Zeitgeist,” one of my personal favorite tracks on the record, was practically an ode to “Planet Caravan,” with its soft, acoustic guitar, the spacey effects on Ozzy’s vocals and that bluesy, soulful solo from Iommi.

Some of Ozzy’s solo career crept in, too. Parts of “Age of Reason” could have been pulled from one of his 1990s records. I’m thinking Ozzmosis. But damn, that riff from Tony Iommi. Huge groove, heavy as a monster chunk of lead. When I grabbed my guitar after listening to this record, it was the first one that I wanted to figure out. The song also had some great proggy tempo changes and moods, and while some of the seven-plus-minute tracks on 13 got a little old before they’re through, “Age of Reason” was not one of them.

I actually think those slow, gloomy and doomy numbers are the ones that really shine on this record. Along with “Zeitgeist,” my other favorite is “Damaged Soul.” More than any other track, perhaps, it captured the vibe of the original Black Sabbath sound. Iommi’s fuzzy, blues-laced guitar riffs create a bleak landscape over which Ozzy wails like a harbinger of doom. For once, he really sounded like his 1970s version, then he puffed on his harmonica to boot.

That gave it just a bit of the feel of “The Wizard” in places, another of those nods. Then Iommi backed away from the big riffs of the rest of the track to let loose some slow, sparse and smooth leads before they geared it up for the big, stomping, almost joyful payoff where it sounded like they’re just jamming out and having fun. It’s a song that truly would have been at home on their debut.

Then “Dear Father” delivers perhaps the heaviest riff of 13, as Iommi grinds away. Ozzy Osbourne sounded more like his modern self on the track, but it was a perfectly sinister delivery – and, of course, that nod at the end to “Black Sabbath.”

Now for the bonus tracks: In a way, I wish they had made them part of the regular album for a couple of reasons. One, having a second disc kind of dilutes the effect of that cool moment at the end of “Dear Father.” It’s a moment of finality, but oh wait, we’ve got three or four more songs for you. I’m not saying that I want Black Sabbath’s recording days to be over, especially not after how solid this record is, but I just think the main project ends on the perfect note. Second, I think a couple of these songs are better than ones that made the main album.

“Methademic” was probably the fastest tune of the entire bunch, but it’s also the one that leans most toward the Dio era. It has that mystical feel and a few big vocal notes, and the listener – this listener, at least – really believes that the song might have been written for a Heaven and Hell project. That sort of chanted piece at the end was certainly tailor-made for Dio. Ozzy handled it well, though, particularly with that evil little laugh, and I still love the song.

“Peace of Mind” featured another one of those big, trademark riffs from Iommi and Butler’s rumbling bass setting the tone. At only about three and a half minutes, it was the shortest and most straight-forward song written for 13, but sometimes that’s not a bad thing. “Pariah” might have my favorite riff of the songs recorded in these sessions. After a building, soft and dark opening, Iommi got a little, believe it or not, funky. It was something completely different from anything else here, and though the song wasn’t one of my favorites, that riff is too cool.

Finally, there was the Best Buy bonus track, with another nod to their past in the title, “Naivete in Black.” This one was a high-energy driving number that really put me in mind of Sabotage, which also happens to be my favorite Black Sabbath album. And, yes, it’s my favorite of the bonus tracks.

I kind of understand why they didn’t sandwich the bonuses into the album. Black Sabbath was trying to play on the doomy, heavy classic sound of the band and keep it to a relatively small number of songs to give it the real feel of a 1970s-era record. I get that. All of the bonus tracks were more uptempo and rocking songs and probably would have thrown the pacing off a little. In the end, I guess I’m just glad we got them.

Despite what my unrealistic expectations may have been, classic albums like Black Sabbath, Master of Reality, Paranoid and Sabotage can never be recreated, and as good as 13 was, I don’t think it’s a match for those. To their credit Sabbath and Rubin didn’t try to do that. Instead, they went for the basic vibe of those albums, with a more modern feel that celebrates all of the various sounds of the group over the years. In that, they did one hell of a job.

Just as Heaven and Hell’s The Devil You Know was a strong and fitting end to the Dio lineup of Black Sabbath, the final music they made with Ozzy Osbourne was a great way to go out.

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Fred Phillips

Fred Phillips is a veteran entertainment writer with a love of hard rock and heavy metal. He has written music reviews, columns and feature stories for several newspapers, Web sites and a national wire service, while running a stand-alone site called Hall of the Mountain King in various places and incarnations since 1997. Contact Something Else! at [email protected].

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