Black Sabbath - The Tony Martin Years

Stained Class

Hi all!

Lately I've been listening to alot of Sabbath lately and whilst I love the first 6 Ozzy albums with Sabbath and it was two tracks on a Best Of sabbath comp (Turn Up The Night & Heaven and Hell) which opened my eyes to Dio (era-sabbath and Rainbow and Dio) one era which always seems to be ignored (unfairly) are the Tony Martin albums.

Tony Martin released some excellent albums with sabbath, some do vary in quality but the gold is there. Recently I downloaded (legally and paid for) Cross Purposes and Forbidden and found the former to actually be slightly stronger than Dehmanizer. Now I love DH but CP seemed more inventiv and fluid and more of a follow on of the excellent Tyr album, especially songs such as Cross of Thorns and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

Forbidden was not quite so strong but loaded with emotion from Tony Martin and some superb songs are in there such as Forbidden, Get a Grip and Guilty as Hell.

Yet few people mention the Tony Martin line-up. I know it wasn't a huge success financially and that Tony Martin was ditched through Forbidden to get out of a recording contract for the reunion but there is excellent music from this line up.

To me this line comes in at joint second place with my rating of past sabbath line-ups being -
1 - Dio Era
2 - Ozzy Era
2 - Martin Era
3 - Deep Sabbath
N/A - Deep Sabbath Mk 2 (Haven't heard seventh star so I can't comment)

So my question is what do you guys think about Tony Martin Era Sabbath? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? (although please be constructive here and not just insulting i.e. please don't just say because it isn't Ozzy or Dio as I have seen threads with the mention of Ozzy in them)

D-Man · Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 702 Location: Holland

Don't know it too well. I'll have to check out more.
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GEORDIE · Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 101

The Tony Martin era is so underappreciated it makes me cry. So many classic Sabbath tunes from this era-The Shining, Headless Cross just to name a few. Tony helped bring Sabbath out of mediocrity and really pumped some much needed life into them. Great vocalist, hell of a singer. This era needs more attention and Tony needs to be recognized for his tremendous work.

Nurse Ratched · Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 1033

I will check it out and let you know. Very Happy

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screaming_4_priest · Joined: 30 Oct 2006 Posts: 294 Location: u.k

I would have thought the best place to put this Thread would have been in the Black Sabbath section!!!!!
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Stained Class · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:01 am Post subject:

@ D-man + Diodreams: I can't stress enough that this era is worth having a look at. I would reccomend Tyr or Cross Purposes as good starting points as these to me are the strongest Martin-era albums, follwed by Eternal Idol et al.

@ Screaming: I did consider putting this in the Sabbath forum but I thought that it was just for the Dio-Era of Sabbath so I put it here.

The Wolf · Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 330 Location: Great Old Vienna

I love the Martin-era specialy Tyr followed close by Headless Cross!
My first Sabbath concert was on the Tyr-tour and it was great!
Martin can sing song of all Sabbath-eras(imagine Ozzy singing H&H Laughing

) and the songwriting is excellent.
Sab/Ozzy,Sab/Dio and Sab/Martin have complete different styles-you can´t compare.
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Magica Dragon · Joined: 19 Jan 2007 Posts: 626 Location: England

I can't find the Tony Martin albums anywhere!
I bought Headless Cross when I was out in America and it ROCKS, fantastic record so I'd really like to listen to Tyr and Cross Purposes Live but Eternal Idol is the only album of the Martin-era still in print Rolling Eyes

Even when you do come across copies of them and Forbidden etc. on ebay they're alot of money. I really wish they'd re-release them or something....

Stained Class · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 2:52 am Post subject:

Why not try the Sony Connect Download store Magica Dragon, thats how I got Headless Cross, Tyr, Cross Purposes & Forbidden. Alternatively you could try iTunes.

Also worth checking out is Tony Martins solo album Scream which I found on Amazon which is pretty good and features his son on guitar and a contribution from Cozy Powell on tyhe opening track Raisin Hell. It stands up well to most of Tnony's Sabbath work and definitely worth checking out if youy like hard rock.

Szaleniec · Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 50 Location: Lodz, Poland

Metal2767 · Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 11:08 am Post subject:

I have to admit that Tyr and Headless Cross are my 2 fave BS albums... I know shame on me, but I do love the lyrics and the music on it... and I like the voice of Tony Martin, even though of course it can't beat Ronnies.
I did prefer Dio in his own band...
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SABBATH STEVE · Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:26 pm Post subject:

I was fortunate to have seen Martin with Sabbath on tour with Motorhead,great line-up.

In the more progressive,epic side of doom metal,Martin is hailed as a great singer.He has that great melodic quality like Dio,but he just doesn't have the roar.

I think one of his biggest problems (no fault of his own) was that he was a talented more than capable singer,but he was basically a laid back guy with no particular "persona",caught in the shadows of two very different legends.

Even Ian ,on tour with Sabbath had this ghoulish look,with his hair in his face and the the cool screams.The thing missing with that line-up IMO was lyrics,ironically enough,the track left off of the BA album,"The Fallen"was the best song lyricwise.Musically,the band was great !
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The Masterstroke · Joined: 20 May 2010 Posts: 57

"When Death Calls" is my favorite song from the Tony Martin era. Featuring a guitar solo by Brian May.

SABBATH STEVE · Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:15 pm Post subject:

My favorite Martin era albums are Tyr,Eternal Idol and Cross Purposes.Too many great songs to list from those.........

Headless Cross has a few really good ones

"Guilty As Hell" Imo is the best thing about Forbidden,it just seems like the least inspired of them all.
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Sword of Terraroth,fantasy/sci/fi with influences of Tolkien,Dungeons and Dragons,Grimms,mythology and the lyrics and concepts of metal bands,in particular the mystical words of Dio.The rainbow shines like magic in the dark of the midnight sky........