ARTIST: Black Sabbath
ALBUM: 13
LABEL: Vertigo Records/Republic Records
RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2013
Lucky Number 13
Written by Dan Sinclair
Don’t be confused, my dear metal heads, 13 is actually the 19th studio album from the legendary English hard rockers Black Sabbath and their first one since their universally panned 1995 release Forbidden. It’s also the first full studio album to reunite lead guitarist Tommy Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler with original singer Ozzy Osborne since the Oz-man was kicked out due to his heavy drug use way back in 1979. Unfortunately, one original member did not join in on the reunion as drummer Bill Ward apparently had better things to do and was instead replaced by former Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave percussionist Brad Wilk.
13 starts off exactly where it should with “End of the Beginning” because after all, we are all surely asking ourselves what this reunion of Sabbath means for the future, aren’t we? The slow mounting intro has Ozzy ask, “Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?” over mounting guitar and drum fills, very aptly placed first words indeed. Is this just one last hurrah for Black Sabbath to go out the way they came in or should we expect a steady stream of new rock from the sexagenarian musicians? And more importantly… will we want it? But soon, the intro dies down and up comes Tommy Iommi doing his magic on the guitar along with Butler and Wilk picking up the pace and we can see that age is not a factor—these motherfuckers are here to rock. This first track is over eight epic minutes of good old fashioned rock and roll to kick off the new album, answering at least one of those questions… yes, we will want more!
“God Is Dead” is next, and of course it is because where would we be without Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath proudly blurring the lines between God and Satan, and having some fun with organized religion? The track keeps on rocking with Butler’s bass thundering loudly in the intro. Ozzy sings, “Give me the wine, you keep the bread,” before asking “Is God alive or is God dead?” Is that a trick question, Oz? Last we heard you were still alive and well.
Pretty catchy riff for “Loner” next as 13 continues to rock on. Sabbath rocks out to “He’s a loner/he never says hello,” and we are taken back to the better part of the 1970s… even those of us who were never actually there. Okay I was technically there for a year but I don’t remember baby shit, come on!
Next we hear Ozzy laughing over the mellow acoustic guitar for the start of “Zeitgeist.” It’s the first true (and pretty much only) slow song on the album, but feels rightly placed and very soothing. But don’t worry about Sabbath going soft on you because the drums start pounding again right after that as “Age of Reason” comes in to get your head banging again.
“Live Forever” is next and is even better than the last track. Ozzy sings, “Well, I don’t wanna live forever but I don’t want to die.” That’s a pretty good universal problem that we all think about from time to time and it’s nice to rock out, knowing that Sabbath can relate to us all. And then rock some more.
“Damaged Soul” has a really unique feel to it as it gets a little bluesier than the other tracks before the band explores some heavy metal daddy issues on “Dear Father,” but it’s “Methademic” that takes the best track award on 13. The song starts off with some mellow acoustic guitar, trying to reel you in to another lullaby and then explodes into some really heavy fast shit and Ozzy is at his best in the great melodic refrain leading up to the chorus of “You live too fast.”
“Peace of Mind,” much like “Loner,” really has that old school Ozzy/Sabbath feel to it and the album concludes tremendously with one of the best closers in a long time in “Pariah.”
13 is not an unlucky number for Black Sabbath. The album is the first one in the band’s history to hit Billboard’s #1 spot. It even beat out Daft Punk’s new album, reinforcing something that I’ve held in my heart for quite some time: no matter how cute you can make your synthesizers, keyboards and computer programs sound, they’ll never touch great rock and roll. Hard rockers and metal heads everywhere have waited for this monumental reunion for most of their lives. It’s now here and very much worth the wait.