Special Report: Black Sabbath’s 13

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The members of Black Sabbath are in Auckland preparing for their two shows (Saturday, April 20th and Monday, April 22nd) at The Vector Arena. The good folks at Universal Records invited a select group of music fans to The Langham Hotel on Symonds Street to get a first listen to Sabbath’s upcoming album, 13. The bandmembers were also on hand for a brief Q&A after the roar of the music died down. Self-professed metal-head Tove Partington represented The 13th Floor at this esteemed event. Here is her report:

The new Black Sabbath album, 13,  is highly anticipated, touting the return of the great Ozzy Osbourne to the fold. It debuts on 7/6/2013, and on Thursday I had the luck to listen to it, and meet the men themselves. In the strangely plush surroundings of the Langham Hotel about 40 metalheads gathered, looking very out of place. We were given booze, and led into a room to listen. The first surprise was Ozzy himself, wearing a glittery frock coat and looking somewhat worse for wear. He thanked us for coming, and the album began. We weren’t given a track list, and I suspect there will be a few more than the 8 tracks we were played (my money is on 13 of them). Let me be frank; this is a Black Sabbath album for Black Sabbath fans. There is nothing that truly SCREAMS shut the fuck up and listen, nor does anyone expect this. But as a album for fans, it does this VERY well.

I took several pages of notes, and on them is the proof there are definite FUCK YES moments. There are some amazing riffs, and this is a return to early Black Sabbath. My main complaint was the over mixed sound, which was a surprise. It wasn’t as rough and doomy as I expected, and Ozzy clearly doesn’t have the range he did. He said this was because he recorded the album live, so he could tour with it and sing the whole thing live. One wonders at this, but it is a decent excuse. There was only one song that didn’t fit, and that was when they were trying to do something different. The saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ springs to mind, and this was where the problem of the drum tracks really came out.

Black Sabbath 13In the Q & A afterwards there were obvious tensions. Ozzy and Tony were old buddies, but Geezer sat apart, staring into space. He woke up a few times, and in those times his problems with the choice of producer and drummer were clear. And I have to agree. My main problem with the album was the over-production, the strange session drummer with no soul or understanding of Black Sabbath, and the need for too much filler in some of the tracks. But all songs had at least one moment when all the problems fall away, you remember why you fell in love with Black Sabbath, and fall in love all over again. Ozzy’s vocals, Iommi’s beautiful, doomy riffs and Geezer’s heavy bass and lyrics are the core of this album, and the rest of the problems don’t stand a chance against them. I’m already gagging for a re-listen, and will be first in line when 13 is released. 

– Tove Partington

You can listen a recording of the Black Sabbath Q&A here:

Click here to listen to the new Black Sabbath track God Is Dead?

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