#10 - Top of 2013

Black Sabbath -13 (Republic Records)

It has been a long long road for the metal pioneers. After completely disbanding for a period in the 90's, they got back with Ozzy for "one last tour", giving us the "Last Supper" live album which was to serve as an epilogue to their career. But the band through multiple bumps and ego fights stayed the course continuously touring in the 00's (either with Ozzy or Dio) and released the excellent "The Devil You Know" in 2007 under the moniker "Heaven and Hell" and Dio as their main vocalist. After some more touring as Heaven and Hell, Dio sadly passed away in 2010 and Ozzy returned to the band culminating in their Download appearance in 2012. Iommi unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer so theor live appearances were few and far between, but this gave them the will to do one last (?) album. This is the album "13", aptly named after the year it was released and marking the 19th (!) release by Heavy Metal Icons. There is not much to say beyond that it is another excellent release by the band, not quite reaching the levels of albums such as their debut, "Paranoid" or "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", but nevertheless giving us another 8 tracks by Iommi and company, marking their Swan Song and an end of an era. Standout tracks are "God is Dead", "Age of Reason" and the closing track "Dear Father". It is also worth listening to the extended version which includes the explosive "Methademic"and the EP released earlier this year ("The End") which includes another 4 unreleased tracks from the "13" recording sessions.


94/100


Below is the official music video for "God is Dead".