Black Sabbath – ‘Born Again’
After singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Apice left Black Sabbath in 1982, the band were on the brink of collapse. They considered hiring Robert Plant and even Michael Bolton for the next record but eventually settled on Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, as per the suggestion of Sharon Osbourne’s father, Don Arden.
With original Sabbath drummer Bill Ward back behind the kit, Sabbath set about making their eleventh studio album, Born Again, perhaps a fitting title for the new formation rising from the ashes. Born Again should have marked the beginning of a supergroup of sorts with Gillan behind the mic, but sadly, the record is nothing short of a tragic disappointment.
We begin with the messy opener ‘Trashed’, a standard classical metal number where Gillan flexes his high-pitched squeal. However, far gone are the dark and introspective lyrics of Ozzy Osbourne and, to a degree, Ronnie James Dio, replaced by the poor wordsmithery of Gillan with diabolical efforts such as, “I drank a bottle of tequila and I felt real good”.
The 1980s were not proving to be kind to Sabbath, and the mounting pressure of heavy metal’s more theatrical main rival, glam metal, had proven to be taking its toll. Still, ‘Thrashed’ features a decent guitar solo by Tony Iommi, even if it pales in significance up against his efforts from the previous 15 years.
Born Again’s second track is a spacey synth instrumental, suggesting that the record might delve into the more progressive side of Sabbath. Sadly, we quickly find that ‘Stonehenge’ merely serves as a lengthy introduction to the terrible ‘Disturbing the Priest’, where Gillan’s laughing vocals are only matched in their abhorrence by Iommi’s rather limp riff. There are shades of Ozzy in the song’s chorus, and Gillan is certainly able to hit higher notes than his predecessor, but so far into Born Again, the record just does not hit home.
One thing starkly missing from the 1983 album is Geezer Butler’s typically grooving basslines, one of the central features that makes Sabbath so bloody great. In fact, it was the last time Butler would even play on a Sabbath album, so perhaps the cards had already been dealt. Butler’s ultimately uninspired basslines on Born Again are perhaps why the entire rhythm section does not groove as it once did on this record, and Ward equally matches his old bandmate’s lack of enthusiasm.
‘Zero the Hero’ has a nice crunchy riff married to a gloomy synth chord progression and perhaps laid the groundwork for the way Pantera would discover the groove metal genre a few years later. But still, Born Again just sounds way too ’80s and is nowhere near dark enough for a Sabbath record, even if Iommi is still shredding his guitar with the effortless ease we all know he is capable of. But stellar musicianship even seems lacklustre when applied to this stilted conceit.
‘Digital Bitch’ has shades of virtuoso metal players like Joe Satriani and John Petrucci, while ‘Born Again’ is almost ballad-like in its approach and is arguably the most exciting track on the record in the fact that it is at least unique. Perhaps Michael Bolton ought to have been considered to take Gillan’s job after all, as ‘Born Again’ is rather suited to his sultry tones.
‘Hot Line’ is nothing but a blues-rock number in the style of ZZ Top, and once again, Gillan is afforded the opportunity to showcase some of the worst lyrics ever written for a metal record – although, admittedly, the other contenders are vast in number. “When will you show me a sign? When will you throw me a line?” he asks, as we somehow nearly nod off in complete boredom, even amidst all the noise.
Ultimately, Born Again is the effort of Sabbath to keep the band together after years of lineup changes, and reaching for one of heavy metal’s most prominent vocalists in Gillan ought to have brought a new level of excitement to proceedings. Sadly, this is not the case, and the album proved to be the only Sabbath record that Gillan offered his services to.
Born Again is the sign of a band in swift decline, the glory years long behind them, but not too far back at that point that Sabbath could be considered in the “legend” category that they are today. It’s a complete disappointment and not a record you should waste your time on unless you want to listen to some half-decent guitar solos from Iommi. But even then, it’s definitely better to look elsewhere. The daemon baby on the cover says it all; we’d be crying, too, if this sorry slide to apathy bore our image.