Picture yourself as Tony Iommi in 1986. Your last iteration of Black Sabbath featured a former lead singer for Deep Purple; the end result, Born Again, remains one of the most divisive albums among fans of your band (though the album was initially not supposed to be a Black Sabbath record).
Now, picture yourself attempting to do the exact same thing three years later, only without any core members of the classic band, a different ex-Purple singer in Glenn Hughes, and another attempt to record a solo album that had Black Sabbath's name slapped on it by the record company. History couldn't repeat itself... could it?
That’s the situation one finds themselves in when picking up Seventh Star. As it was never intended to be a proper Black Sabbath album, its style musically is different and bluesy, with times of all-out hard rock. And, while it still would be a reach to call this a true Black Sabbath album, it is a step in the right direction.
When I first got this album way back when, I remember being disappointed by it—and, honestly, anyone who picked it up expecting a modern-day Paranoid or Master Of Reality was going to be in for a setback. But, the passage of time has allowed this disc to mature and show its true colors—and it actually isn’t bad.
For starters, Hughes was a far better fit as vocalist than Gillan had been (though he, too, would only last one album). His characteristics melded better with the music presented over these nine tracks, and showed his range from smoky blues belter to all-out rocker.
The opening track, “In For The Kill,” does try to set the bar high for the album, and while Iommi does take time to find his niche as a player doing straight-on hard rock, it does feel like mission accomplished. This, after all, was the song that made me want to buy this album back in the day, and Hughes definitely delivers the goods with his vocals. Drummer Eric Singer seems to be a perfect fit for this iteration of Black Sabbath as well; one might never have expected double-bass kicks on one of their songs.
For the most part, the tracks on Seventh Star may steer away from the sinister edge that Black Sabbath’s music had become known for. Understanding that this was supposed to be a solo outing for Iommi that happened to have the band’s name plastered on last-minute by the record label makes the change acceptable—but, honestly, had this style been present on Born Again with better production, it might have been more listenable. Tracks like “Turn To Stone,” “Angry Heart” and the title track all have a bit of excitement that hadn’t been felt since the departure of Ronnie James Dio.
The only mis-step seems to be “No Stranger To Love,” a song that doesn't feel like Iommi—or even the band, for that matter—was entirely comfortable with the style of the song. It’s not that this iteration of Black Sabbath couldn’t pull off a slower number; “Seventh Star” proves otherwise, and is a great groove-based track. And it’s not that Black Sabbath couldn’t pull off a ballad; time and time again in the Ozzy Osbourne days, they showed they were capable of doing just that. This time, though, I don’t know if it was in the songwriting or the idea of Black Sabbath doing a love song in the vein of Whitesnake... it just didn’t work.
Still, one mis-step isn’t too bad, and the rest of Seventh Star proves to be a diamond in the rough when it comes to Black Sabbath’s discography. It still may be off-putting for someone picking it up expecting to have demons flowing from their speakers, but it actually showed (albeit unintentionally) that Black Sabbath was able to remain relevant 15-plus years after they burst onto the scene.
Why I don’t listen to this one more often, I don’t understand. Going through it again for the purposes of this review tells me this is an oversight I’ll be correcting.