The reformation of the Mark II line-up, restoring Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice to the band with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler was an announcement that surprised most of us. Of course, Sabbath had come off the back of three albums with Tony Martin fronting vocals, to critical if not popular acclaim, while Dio had come off Lock Up The Wolves, which had received little acclaim anywhere.
The result was Dehumanizer, and is a brilliant 'comeback' in anyone's terms. This is an angrier album than one would have imagined, Ronnie spitting lyrics out throughout the album with more gusto than he perhaps ever has. The growling guitars of Tony and Geezer set the Sabbath mood beautifully, and the songwriting, as always with these three, is superb.
Though the whole album is great, my personal favourites include Computer God, After All (The Dead), Master Of Insanity and I.
The fact that this partnership dissolved after only one release, due to the infamous Reunion gig of the original Sabbath with Ozzy and Bill Ward at one of Ozzy's concerts on his “Farewell” Tour (proven wrong a thousand times over in the past 14 years), is a real shame. This album shows what this quartet could produce, and more examples of their work together would have been interesting to listen to.
Memories : The first music I heard off this album was Time Machine. It is the song that plays in the movie Wayne's World, just as the motorcycle cop pulls over Wayne when he is on his way to pledge his love for Cassandra.
Rating : Just short of the best that there is. Would another release have been better? Or less? 4.5/5.
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