Black Sabbath

Was I ready for the princes of darkness? Probably not, my headphones nearly blew off. Their reincarnation under Rick Rubin, clear master of the universe, for '13', is remarkable and certainly feels like the idea of Black Sabbath I have in my head, which is a sort of giant sized stupefaction, something that is pleasantly set to annihilate pretty much everything, perhaps the rock and roll equivalent of slow cooking. It must be great fun (if a bit tedious) writing the lyrics; 'the gloom I rise up from my tomb into impending doom' (and go to my room?- how could Ozzy resist that?) etc etc but, Sabbath are mercilessly consistent, dogs don't get to smell the bodies; that would be far too energetic. The Prince of Darkness evidently doesn't do much, but he ponders a lot; mopes about the universe. On the inner sleeve I was delighted to find a hand written construction of one of the tracks, it is pretty much the only information offered other than the thoughtful lyrics and the band members copious thanks to others for their own survival. It goes like this:

Intro Riff

Verse

Main Riff

Verse

Main Riff

Bridge

Intro Riff

Solo

Metal Riff

Main Riff

Verse

Main Riff

Fast Shuffle

?Main Riff?

and well, that's all you need to know, that's poetry that is.