Did anybody have their doubts when Black Sabbath announced a new album that it would be a display of
the same excellence that the band made a reputation of recording in the early
70s? I think a lot of people did. Even I, among the more optimistic of music
fans, was on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what 34 years of separation
would have done to the chemistry that Ozzy
Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi once had. I think when it
was announced that Bill Ward would
not be participating in this reunion for the ages, even more doubt was put in
the minds of fans. Hell, it created quite some backlash with fans, some even
boycotting listening the project altogether. It reminds me exactly of Van Halen carrying on without bassist Michael Anthony. What these estranged
fans (of both bands, frankly) have to consider to themselves is this: is the absence
of one member so much worse than the band as a whole never touring again?
I will admit to being a huge Ronnie James Dio fan, one of those fans who stand by the fact that
he is one of the most important figures in heavy metal. For those who don’t
know, after years of hanging around the music business with several
incarnations of his first band, which would end with the title Elf, Ronnie was asked to join none other than Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie
Blackmore in his first post-Deep
Purple band called Rainbow (or
as the first album read, “Ritchie
Blackmore’s Rainbow”). The band was essentially the Elf line-up just with Ritchie on guitar instead of guitarist David Feinstein. After various line-up
changes (which continued after Ronnie left), Ronnie continued his climb to the
heavy metal top by joining none other than Black
Sabbath after the departure of original lead vocalist, some guy named Ozzy Osbourne. It was now that Ronnie
gained the attention required to be a credible name in heavy metal. Having
already started a popular transition while in Rainbow with his lyrics of wizards and sorcery, he brought this
lyric style in to Sabbath’s sound, as well as the “devil horns” hand gesture
which became the heavy metal symbol from that moment on.
By the time Disturbed
released their fifth and most recent album, Asylum, in summer of 2010, fans pretty much
had an idea of what a Disturbed album would sound liked; David Draiman’s growl of a singing voice and Dan Donegan’s heavy and sometimes over-computer processed guitar licks
on top of many different electronic sounds that only a production studio could
muster. There were definite differences between each album, but by the time
Asylum came out, the band just sounded uninspired and unwilling to really try
anything new. To no surprise the band would go on “hiatus” approximately a year
later.
