★★★★★
There's no arguing about the importance of these eight albums, the first salvo from all four original members of Britain's foremost heavy metal outfit. After all, 2004's lavish Black Box (now out of print), which included the same material (along with a short DVD) is over twice as expensive, so this is good bang for the buck. Musically, although the band's quality control started decreasing after Volume 4, there are plenty of molten highlights scattered throughout the final discs...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2014-04-25
★★★★★
It is nothing short of amiracle that Black Sabbath,or at least the three-quartersof that band, who recordedtheir new album 13, cameup with such an amazingbunch of tunes this manyyears down the line. Thankspartly goes to producerRick Rubin, but mostly towhichever fortuitous burst ofcreativity hit Ozzy Osbourne,Tony Iommi and GeezerButler - all in their 60s bynow. The album is one of thebest they've ever made.
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-12-06
★★★★★
When I heard Black Sabbath was indeed releasing a new album, and it had a release date, I was a little skeptical to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I love Black Sabbath, and they're one of my favorite bands, but the idea of them putting out an album after so many years was somewhat worrisome. More times than not in these instances the album ends up being cringe-inducing (Van Halen, case and point)...
- www.musicreview.co.za
2013-12-04
★★★★★
This film was shot in Melbourne, Australia earlier this year as Sabbath began a tour to support their not-yet-released 13 album. Four songs from the bestseller are played: "End of the Beginning," "Loner," "Methademic" and "God is Dead?" and the crowd roars for each of the previously unheard songs like they are longtime favorites, a tribute not only to the strength of the new material but also to how much love there is out there for the band and the fact that this tour featured original members...
- www.antimusic.com
2013-12-03
★★★★★
Republic/Mercury It's ok - we won't tell anyone you're into Black Sabbath and its new album 13. It's tough not to be when you consider this is the first time the original band -- well, minus the persnickety drummer Bill Ward -- has come together since the lads kicked Ozzy to the curb in 1978 and plucked Ronnie James Dio out of Rainbow to fill the lead vocal slot. And today's Sabbath band sounds as good -- really -- as they did when they were in their early '70s heyday...
- www.jambands.com
2013-08-05
★★★★★
As the producer of Black Sabbath's first album since 1995 and first with original singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978, Rick Rubin said his goal was to get the band back to jamming. He succeeded. 13 is built on titanic riffs that prove Tony Iommi at 65 is still terrifically inspired. They march forward at length, interwoven with Geezer Butler's robust bass lines, only to suddenly take a progressive or bluesy twist or feverish, righteous solo...
- www.nowtoronto.com
2013-07-09
★★★★★
BLACK SABBATH 13 REPUBLIC/MERCURY 7/10 Back from the grave. The first Sabbath album with Ozzy for 35 years... Over 40 years since their formation, the question Black Sabbath asked on the first line of the first track on their first album remains a valid one: what is this that stands before me? Purportedly, this is Black Sabbath in its original and most potent form, in which the downtuned guitar riffs of Tony Iommi soundtrack the apocalyptic visions of Terry "Geezer" Butler, as vocalised by the...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2013-07-06
★★★★★
Black Sabbath13 (Universal Republic) "God is dead," proclaims Ozzy Osbourne in the eponymous, debut single from 13, the first Black Sabbath studio album in 35 years to feature the singer alongside original demons Tony Iommi (guitar) and Terry "Geezer" Butler (bass). Nietzschean proclamation or ham-fisted provocation? As with all things Sabbath, it's difficult to say...
- www.austinchronicle.com
2013-07-04
★★★★★
The thirteenth time is the charm for Black Sabbath as 13, the legendary group's first studio album to feature singer Ozzy Osbourne in 35-years, shot straight to the #1 spot on the Billboard charts as soon as it was released. In order to accomplish this feat a great deal of sales had to be made to people who had not yet heard the record and who were spending their money based on Sabbath's (and Ozzy's) track record and the attendant excitement surrounding the long-awaited reunion album...
- www.antimusic.com
2013-06-24
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