So there was I about to start tidying/packing for my leaving on Friday when I suddenly realised that there was a Black Sabbath album that I hadn't listened to in ages....then the thought of a review came upon me and alas my room will remain a pigsty and my bags will stay unpacked for the next wee while....

Anyhow, Sabbath needed a new vocalist and the man, who can in my humble opinion be considered one of the best rock vocalists of all time, Ian Gillan was going spare after splitting up his band Gillan....prior and post this Gillan made his name with another legendary band, Deep Purple. The story goes that Gillan met up with Sabbath, everyone got smashed, and Gillan received a phone call from his manager the next day slightly annoyed at Gillan having agreed to join Sabbath without consulting him! Another change from the previous two albums was that drummer Vinny Appice was replaced by original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward, making the line up: Ian GIllan (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass, real name Terrance!), Bill Ward (drums) and Geoff Nichols (keyboards).

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Track listing
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1 - Trashed - well we know straight off who the new Sabbath vocalist is, Gillan's characteristic screams coming in over the fast paced chugging intro. Trashed refers both to the state of Gillan post-drinking and the state of his "bitch", his car (apparently based upon a sober near death crash of GIllans):

I knew I wouldn't make it the car just couldn't take it
I was turning, tires burning
The ground was in my sky
I was laughing. The bitch was trashed
And death was in my eye"

2 - Stonehenge - One of Iommi's what I call fiddles....random, creepy sounding noises for about a minute and then what sounds like a heart beat comes in for the next minute, it gets faster and you know you're building to something....

"The force of the devil is the darkness the priest has to face
The force of the night will destroy him but will not disgrace
To get into his mind and to his soul you gotta set alight
The flames of doubt so deep inside inside
The devil and the priest can't exist if one goes away
It's just like the battle of the sun and the moon and night and day
The force of the devil, that's we're all told to fear
Watch out for religion when he gets too near too near

4 - The Dark - just a waste of 45 seconds of your life, Iommi's fiddling again! It does lead nicely into track 5 though, the intro swamping The Dark....

6 - Digital Bitch -

Pictures of Born Again - Black Sabbath

The touring band (Bevan instead of Ward)

Keep away from the digital bitch
Keep away from the digital bitch
I keep away from the digital bitch
She's so rich, the digital bitch ahhh"

7 - Born Again - the title track and a good choice: brilliant song. A slow, moody opening, Gillan sings emotionally and on the chrous as Iommi powers in we get some classic Gillan screaming, again beyond what Ozzy could do, not that I'm criticising Ozzy, his vocals suit Sabbath best I feel, just that he is a different type of singer and Gillan does what he does best here, great stuff. Another brilliant solo from Iommi as the track nears its end.

9 - Keep it warm - Feelings for a lady friend:

Slower, moodier, but nothing special and I think I mean it this time :) Although Iommi's solo is again quite cool as the song picks up tempo, before getting down and dirty again for the final verse.

The album also has more tracks of a light hearted nature compared to previous Sabbath albums, nothing really about drugs (a common factor for Sabbath: Hand of Doom, Sweet Leaf, Snowblind etc. on successive albums) and more about women.