Nativity In Black II: A Tribute To Black Sabbath

The second edition of NIB has modern metal's elite again doing their darndest to recreate Sabbath's wall of sound to varying levels of success. Machine Head's take on "Hole In The Sky" and System Of A Down's smokin' "Snowblind" mix the originals up enough to satisfy and make up for Megadeth's thin live stab at Sabbath's pop (?) masterpiece "Never Say Die." Nativity II wins because of the material, but other than Ozzy's teaming with Primus for a rubbery "N.I.B." and Hed(pe)'s hip-hop reading of "Sabbra Cadabra," most of the artists forget the lurching swing that Sabbath had in favour of double-bass, drum-happy tortures. Somehow "Under The Sun" wouldn't have been so memorable if Ozzy had originally grunted it out like Soulfly.