Black Sabbath- The End (2016)

Black Sabbath- The End (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

Could Season of the Dead be taken as a direct reflection on the recent deaths of music greats like Lemmy Kilmister and David Bowie? Could the enigmatic recording titled The End be really the end for this legendary metal act? The End is a strong statement coming from a band of Apocalypse enthusiasts, although a small collection of songs recorded during the Rubin sessions for 13, the force of the songs alone let them shine with enough demonic black light to stand on their own.

A couple of years ago on 13, the record that marked the return of 75% of the original band, in Niestzschean way they announced that god was dead, and now is the time for this metal pioneers to finally enter the graveyard of music? Ozzy's press declarations and a tour named The End seem to be a clear sign that the band would be gone for good sooner or later, but let's not underestimate that Ozzy is no longer the "Prince of Darkness" but a media clown, so his words might have less meaning that in the past.

Although The End' package includes some live songs from the tour, let's concentrate on the previously unreleased themes, like the hard edged riffs of Cry All Night, with a delicious dark groove that sends us right to the classic sounds and days of the band, with Iommi putting perfect iron riffs to the song, a solid rhythm by Butler and Wilk giving Ozzy the change to do his once famous of wailing all over the song, there is some brilliant soloing stuff by Iommi and Brad Wilk adding unexpected arrangements on the drums, Isolated Man repeats the previous formula but in a more accentuated nature, Who said BS were about diversity? While Ozzy gets more focused here, while Wilks hit heavier his drums.

The definite central song here is the eerily prophetic Season of the Dead, here the Sabbs go for a doomier flavor, Butler and Iommi are perfect here playing in a really tight manner, and Ozzy finally shines at the change of spitting a really venomous and evil vocal melody.

And for the last unreleased song, the band goes really heavy with Take Me Home, creating a blues oriented heavy and dark songs recalling those epic songs from the past that seemed to announce the end of the world, although this time the Sabbs aren't as solid and evil as they used to be, Who knows? Perhaps this time