Black Sabbath — The Dio Years

The Dio Years

Rhino/Warner

Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack)

04/04/2007 8:55am

Sharon Osbourne's lawyers have ensured the name "Black Sabbath" is legally tied to her husband Ozzy, but true metalheads know the reality is far less conclusive. Ozzy fell off back around 1976's Technical Ecstasy album. The follow-up, Never Say Die, was worse. And so the Ozzman was replaced by Ronnie James Dio for the seminal, dramatic return to form LPs, Mob Rules and Heaven And Hell. Dio songs "Sign Of The Southern Cross" and "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" never received the respect and acclaim of "Iron Man" and "Paranoid," but they're at least equal in every way. And so, The Dio Years ably collects the sterling moments from these records, as well as the best of the prescient, broody, computers-are-evil tracks from '92's Dehumanizer album and three entirely competent new songs. Ozzy had six great Sabbath records to Dio's two on Satan's scorecard of metallic brilliance, but nowadays Osbourne is a stuttering hen-pecked mess, while Dio still has his snarling, operatic voice and the ability to form sentences. That leads me to believe Dio wouldn't trade his Sabbath legacy for Ozzy's.