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What to Expect From Black Sabbath’s Upcoming Album, ’13’

Black Sabbath’s career is spread out over several decades, multiple lineup changes, and varying degrees of success. Like many classic rock groups that persistently carry on, Black Sabbath’s early years were marked by gems that established the group as titans of a newly conceptualized movement, in their case the fusion of heavy metal and rock music. Black Sabbath emerged in the ‘70s similar to many other groups at the time; they embraced a mix ‘n’ match approach that meshed various genres to create a sound that, at the time, was truly unique. Along with groups like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath helped spearhead the metal scene with a raucously accessible sound that radio waves found a liking to despite loud tones and darkly morose lyrical content that drew the ire of conservative groups.

A broader reception to meshed sub-genres like Black Sabbath’s can be accredited perhaps most to The Beatles, whose later career was marked by idiosyncratic experimentation that mixed familiar pop and rock sentiments with sounds that were never heard before. Black Sabbath were playing with different elements of sound entirely, hence their role in spearheading the metal movement. Even if they didn’t sound like them, Black Sabbath’s creative methodology was largely inspired by the “Fab Four” and other ‘60s staples like The Rolling Stones, bands never afraid of combining and picking apart previous stylistic conventions.

The first six albums from Black Sabbath are must-listens; they are all considered classics by rock and metal historians for good reason. With those, the band perfected what came to be known as “sludge metal”, a style where the fast-paced vigor of hardcore punk meshes with the numbing distortion of doom metal and noise. Black Sabbath cut down on the abrasiveness often found within the genre through exceptional songwriting, musicianship, and the soaring vocals of Ozzy Osbourne. When Osbourne was dismissed from Black Sabbath in 1979 due to his drug use, it marked the beginning of an era for the group that many ‘60s and ‘70s rock titans were familiar with in the ‘80s: a string of hits and misses, mostly misses, marked by indecisiveness in an era whose singular identity is still difficult to surmise.

Apart from glitzy dance-pop, many associate the ’80s with previous legends being stuck with a “washed up” tag, even as they would later re-emerge in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Hey, even Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney released a few clunkers during the ‘80s. Black Sabbath, with the departure of frontman and their symbolic leader in Osbourne, were expected to fall flat. And some of their albums, like the contrived Born Again, did. But they still surprised with achievements like 1980’s Heaven and Hell, which featured new singer Ronnie James Dio and a re-invigorated sound led by classics like “Neon Knights”.

Black Sabbath stayed afloat throughout the ‘80s, even as their former frontman Osbourne became one of the decade’s best-selling acts as a solo artist. A few middling albums in the ‘90s were helmed by the group’s only continuous member in Tony Iommi, who to the delight of fans decided in 1997 to reunite with Osbourne so the original Black Sabbath could co-headline Ozzfest. A 1998 double live album, Reunion, sparked re-interest in the band — especially after earning the 2000 Grammy for Best Metal Performance with the track “Iron Man”. They entered the studio in 2001 with famed producer Rick Rubin, but a new Black Sabbath album never came to fruition — as Osbourne left to continue his solo material, and when The Osbournes reality TV show premiered the following year Osbourne clearly had a different focus.

Over a decade after Black Sabbath intended to record their first Osbourne-fronted album since 1978’s unfocused Never Say Die!, they finally headed back into the studio. The original members announced in November 2011 they would record an album together, and so they have with the tentatively titled 13, Black Sabbath’s nineteenth solo album. Set to be released on June 11th, it is produced by Rick Rubin – just as Black Sabbath had intended a decade earlier. With track names like “God Is Dead”, “Loner”, and “Methademic,” one can expect a return to Sabbath’s commentary on a variety of social plights – from unrequited love to drug addiction. With Rubin at the production helm, one can also expect plenty of distortion-loving crunchiness, as he has shown on his work with everyone from Danzig and Slayer to AC/DC and Audioslave. As far as producers go, he’s an ideal fit for Black Sabbath’s anticipated re-emergence, which should feature their familiar sound with a fun contemporary edge. Some fans thought they would never see the day when the original members of Black Sabbath would be back together. Now, they’re actively speculating what their new album will sound like. That feeling for longtime fans is real-life nostalgia at its finest.

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