BLACK SABBATH Vinyl & CDs

Review: When people think Black Sabbath, they're most likely thinking of their initial tenure with the incomparable Ozzy Osbourne, while then there's the other camp who recognise the greatness of the Oz-Man but opt to worship at the shrine of Ronnie James Dio. Unfairly forgotten to time, however, is the 90s tenure of the metal giants' third vocalist Tony Martin, who would ultimately serve as their second-longest running frontman across 1989's Headless Cross, 1990's Tyr, 1994's Cross Purposes and 1995's Forbidden. Now, for the first time, this entire era comes home to vinyl via Anno Domini: 1989-1995, with remasters of the entire collection, and a fully remixed version of Forbidden handled by nine-fingered guitar hero Tony Iommi himself. Also included are a thick booklet, previously unseen photos, a poster from the Headless Cross tour as well as a replica concert book. For the often forgotten third subset of Sabbath diehards, Tony Martin finally has his flowers.

Review: RECOMMENDED
How can heavy metal-ers not get excited about this one? While sporting a pretty serious price tag, this Super Deluxe edition of Black Sabbath's seminal fourth album is certainly one for the collectors, who will delight in the 11 additional studio recordings featured in the huge amount of bonus material here, which include snippets of studio dialogue, false starts and more rough around the edges nuances that bring the work to life.

As for the LP itself, it was something of a landmark moment in the band's journey - shifting the intensity and ferocity up at least three gears and then sticking a brick on the throttle to hold it in place. Perhaps Mojo's take on things puts it best; ""If booze and dope had helped fuel Sabbath's earlier albums, Vol. 4 is their cocaine ... Despite their spiraling addictions, musically Vol. 4 is another ambitious outing". Enough said.