Living in a Time Machine (Dehumanizer - Black Sabbath)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Dehumanizer - Black Sabbath
Date:	21/02/08 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Surprising change of direction from a classic line-up.

Disadvantages: Epic flair of the preceding albums has been extinguished.

However successful the Tony Martin years were proving in establishing a new and solid, albeit less widely recognised sound for Black Sabbath, the band had already passed its prime with its golden years long behind it. 'Dehumanizer' represents the first of the "classic line-up" reunions that nowadays provide the band with all their income and gigs, and why not? With two distinct classic line-ups to choose from, there's a greater opportunity to milk older successes in front of adoring old and new audiences alike, though I doubt the most recent Heaven and Hell tour will be followed by a reunion for the smaller audience of Tony Martin fans who secretly still prefer Dio if they're being honest.

This surprisingly creative album sees the first Dio reunion along with the other long-departed band members from the early eighties in the form of drummer Vinny Appice and legendary old-timer bass player Geezer Butler. Rather than record an inferior version of 'Heaven and Hell,' which its immediate successor 'Mob Rules' had pretty much already done, this infernal grouping cobbled together their respective experiences in the gap years and solo projects between, tore them up, and used their natural sparking relationship to come up with a decidedly aggressive collection of heavy songs, not so much a return to form as the beginning of a new era that would ultimately only extend to this recording... and the next couple of Dio solo albums, as the singer took the inspiration away with him. The hellish and pagan themes have similarly been replaced with contemporary criticisms and fears of technology, televangelism and the other assorted concepts common to early nineties rock, and there are no unpalatable contract-obliging power ballads in sight. The only thing that comes close to mainstream rock is the damn fun 'Time Machine,' which was specially re-recorded for inclusion in 'Wayne's World' that year. Excellent! (Or something).

The style here is more in line with the heavier side of American sludge than the blues-based doom metal Sabbath pioneered, and they carry it off expertly. The sound is slow, deep and hard, with Dio's powerful voice snarling away in the verses and screaming emphatically in the choruses. The only real problem is that, as usual, many of the songs tend to blur together and can often be distinguished only by their respective choruses, but there are no moments that stand out as being weaker than the rest. 'Time Machine' will always be the most special to me, since it was the track's inclusion in a relatively insignificant bit of Wayne's World that first interested me in Sabbath (it isn't the bit where they're singing along and headbanging in the car, that was some other, less well known song), and my version of the album includes the slightly different 'Wayne's World version' that's more or less the same, but with added 'Doctor Who' style sound effects at the beginning.

With roaring metal in the form of 'TV Crimes' and the slow and pounding 'Sins of the Father' among others, this would be a good album for metal fans who are newcomers to the band and would maybe be put off by the lethargic, stoned excesses of their early albums - after getting into this one you can backtrack and realise that 'Master of Reality' and 'Vol. 4' were the best after all.

1. Computer God
2. After All (The Dead)
3. TV Crimes
4. Letters from Earth
5. Master of Insanity
6. Time Machine
7. Sins of the Father
8. Too Late
9. I
10. Buried Alive
11. Time Machine (Wayne's World version)

Summary: Black Sabbath's sixteenth studio album (1992).