Nevertheless, Martin-fronted Sabbath produced no small volume of great material, and at least one bonafide classic in Headless Cross. The Martin era brought great traditional/doom metal output at a time in metal when other genres were beginning to march to the forefront. Missing from the list is Martin’s final album with Sabbath, the almost universally derided Forbidden (1995). īelow are 13 selections from four out of the five albums that Martin fronted: The Eternal Idol (1987), Headless Cross (1989), Tyr (1990) and Cross Purposes (1994). Similarly, the bottom of the list frequently features at least two albums fronted by Ozzy: Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978). Consider that another two of those albums would includ Ronnie James Dio - 1980’s Heaven and Hell and 1981’s Mob Rules - and you’re looking at roughy half of Sabbath’s best work fronted by people other than Ozzy. When ranking all-time Sabbath albums, it’s not crazy to have multiple albums fronted by Tony Martin in the top 10. The one that get’s the least amount of attention in proportion to how much he deserves: Tony Martin. For this Devil’s Dozen we decided to focus on one of “the big three” vocalists for Sabbath (calling them “the big three” was decided literally just now). When it comes to frontmen, Sabbath has gone through no small number: Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Ron Keel, Jeff Fenholt, Dave Donato, Glenn Hughes and the one and only Tony Martin, aka “The Cat” (not to be confused with hockey legend Emile “The Cat” Francis). This belief is not only a misconception, but unfair and borderline demeaning to the other members of Black Sabbath, in particular Tony Iommi and to a lesser degree Geezer Butler. The idea is that Black Sabbath ceased to make top quality metal either after the (second) departure of Ozzy Osbourne in 1979 or on albums without Dio. There’s a common misconception among most fans of metal.

Black sabbath albums