{"id":13065,"date":"1978-09-28T00:00:25","date_gmt":"1978-09-28T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=13065"},"modified":"2013-07-20T11:33:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T11:33:15","slug":"album-review-black-sabbath-never-say-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-black-sabbath-never-say-die\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK SABBATH – Never Say Die! (1978) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK SABBATH
Never Say Die!<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nVertigo (1978)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s last word in Black Sabbath<\/a> comes in the form of Never Say Die!<\/em>, a fitting title for a band that would sack its vocalist a year later. Quite literally dried up and doped up to the eyeballs, Sabbath entered a studio in Canada knowing full well that all was not well within its ranks; Ozzy had already quit the band the previous year, but with record company pressure they wheeled out their last batch of Ozzy Osbourne-fronted songs.<\/p>\n

Strangely, although Ozzy, when speaking later, was rumoured to have found the last two Sabbath albums depressing, Never Say Die!<\/em> comes up trumps with the title track. Upbeat, brisk, and fiery it\u2019s a song that intrudes upon the ears and never lets go \u2013 becoming a firm favourite with fans and even appearing in some of Ozzy\u2019s solo shows.<\/p>\n

Bill Ward\u2019s drums are hasty and Tony Iommi\u2019s guitar work impressive as ever, but in general the whole album has a loose feel, meaning I prefer it over Technical Ecstasy<\/em><\/a> (1976), finding myself rocking along to the driving, buzzing \u2018Johnny Blade\u2019 with its high-pitched wail of a chorus and strange synth injections. The same can also be said for the shuffling \u2018Junior\u2019s Eyes\u2019 \u2013 a lighter, fragmented number that jogs in on Ward\u2019s scuffling drums and Iommi\u2019s sneering guitar.<\/p>\n

Never Say Die!<\/em>, for all of its faults, is an incredibly underrated record that has a real basement quality to it. There\u2019s something particularly raw in Iommi\u2019s guitar sound, while Geezer Butler\u2019s tumbling bass and Ward\u2019s drums seem sewn together \u2013 albeit hastily \u2013 with Ozzy\u2019s worn-out yawn… and yet I\u2019m intrigued by it all.<\/p>\n

\u2018A Hard Road\u2019 is a stripped down rocker with crashing drums, while \u2018Shock Wave\u2019 features another iconic riff by the great man, proving there\u2019s still life in these war-torn dogs yet as Ozzy barks \u201cBlack moon rising in a blood red sky, this time to realise that you\u2019re gonna die\u201d<\/em>. This is classic grunge-styled rock \u2019n\u2019 roll that boasts an anthem or two.<\/p>\n

\u2018Air Dance\u2019 may lack the creative flow of previous efforts, but it\u2019s a jazzy blues fusion with smooth passages that lead us toward the plodding \u2018Over To You\u2019 and the jazz fusion of instrumental \u2018Breakout\u2019, which comes complete with ascending horns and soaring sax. Even at their reputedly creative low, Black Sabbath find remarkable structures, original to the end with those hypnotic arrangements.<\/p>\n

Album closer is the doomy \u2018Swinging The Chain\u2019 with its boozy vocal, bringing Ozzy\u2019s Sabbath career to an abrupt end. But boy am I glad that he gave it one more shot, because Never Say Die!<\/em> is a cracking little record that all Black Sabbath fans should own.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACK SABBATHNever Say Die! Vertigo (1978)Rating: 8.5\/10 Ozzy Osbourne\u2019s last word in Black Sabbath comes in the form of Never Say Die!, a fitting title for a band that would sack its vocalist a year later. Quite literally dried up and doped up to the eyeballs, Sabbath entered a studio in Canada knowing full well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-black-sabbath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13065"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13079,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13065\/revisions\/13079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}