Strange times were brewing for the forefathers of metal, Black Sabbath, thirty years ago. Strange, to put it mildly. The whole world was soaking up everything that sounded destructive and was produced in the bestial glow of distorted vampirism, yet it stubbornly rejected the content of the Black Sabbath albums made after the »Born Again« (1983) debacle. This is a band that never actually made a bad album in its career, but one with pronounced highs and lows, which depended quite a bit on who happened to be holding down the lead vocal duties in any given era. Behind the Ozzy era stood a phalanx of the loudest fans, who in their fascism toward eighties Black Sabbath pretty much “convinced” the whole world, if not the entire music industry, that Black Sabbath simply can’t be Black Sabbath if Ozzy isn’t in the lineup. A string of clumsy decisions by the band’s management at the time, the inflexibility and disinterest of the label, and constant lineup changes, where the audience didn’t know even a week ahead who the real members were, all took their toll. Black Sabbath became an ever more convenient target for sarcastic labels in the music press, which was certainly not worthy of the reputation of one of the most enigmatic bands in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
The essence lived on in the fingers of the “Riffmeister” Tony Iommi, however it happened to manifest. It turned out that Iommi found his solution in his namesake, singer Tony Martin. After the story with Ozzy was over and the band boldly marched into the eighties with the iconic »Heaven And Hell« album, which got its much-needed production push from the legendary and sadly departed Martin Birch, that convincing moment of transformation with Ronnie James Dio in the lineup barely held up with the less inspired »Mob Rules«. Then Iommi aimed his next step in completely the wrong direction and teamed up with the incompatible voice of the Deep Purple Mk II lineup, that is, Ian Gillan. After the total “shipwreck” and some more headache-chasing with the »The Seventh Star« (1986) experience, and with Ray Gillen having “run off”, the band was revived with an excellent new vocalist, Tony Martin. This brand-new incarnation of Black Sabbath, with the guitarist Tony Iommi as the only original member, created a consecutive trio of studio documents through the albums »The Eternal Idol« (1987), followed by »Headless Cross« (1989) and »Tyr« (1990), each one refining and building on the last. Despite the great new music, though, Black Sabbath kept “fading” in the eyes of the public. The wretchedness of the situation was sharpened and deepened by the starkly contrasting fame enjoyed on the other side by none other than Ozzy.
Going back to 1987 for a moment: in an environment of shaky stability, the final material on »The Eternal Idol« still held up very well, even though Iommi suffered some nasty attrition within the band’s ranks before he could even finish the album. But the main thing is that Iommi kept Martin at his side, since Martin played an essentially integral role in this era of the band, keeping it together and carrying on credibly. By the time of »Headless Cross«, Iommi had finally found a lineup formula that let him sleep a little easier.
So on the next album, Iommi was surrounded by the same lineup again. That means exceptional musicians who brought their best to the shape of the songs. Besides Martin, Cozy Powell handled the drums, Neil Murray wielded the bass, and Geoff Nicholls played keyboards. Iommi asked Martin to write somewhat more “cheerful” and “bright” lyrics compared to its predecessor »Headless Corss«, which leaned on dabbling in the occult, black magic and devilry. Martin, who always loved reading history books, found inspiration in Norse mythology. »Tyr«, titled after the Norse god of war, is far from a concept album that would primarily deal with Norse deities and their adventures, apart from the trilogy that opens the B-side of the vinyl edition (The Battle Of Tyr, Odin’s Court, Valhalla). Still, Martin’s themes fit the songwriting hugely well, which built further on what Iommi created on »Headless Cross«. The lead guitar phrases delivered striking depth and crushing punch, and the songs remained steeped in Iommi’s instantly recognizable, distinctive soloing, the kind that only this one-of-a-kind musician can deliver. An atmosphere loaded with longing and melancholy and the theatrical doom of dark vistas was thus carried over to the epic »Tyr«. At the same time, the album develops a distinct musicality that steers clear of “doom” moments, or of the phrasing style that in the seventies evoked ominousness and deep mourning through its semitone wail. »Tyr« is the album on which Black Sabbath moved furthest away from their seventies era. That era can be sensed in crumbs, thanks to the essence of Tony Iommi’s guitar sorcery. It doesn’t even matter. The style, the magic, the chemistry and the essence are completely different, and it’s neither worth nor possible to compare them with the Ozzy era. The band cranked up its level of pomp especially hard on »Tyr«.
You can read an in-depth analysis of the musical substance of the album Tyr« in the vivid review that Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik wrote for RockLine a long time ago.
Let’s instead run through a few other facts about »Tyr«. The band returned to the studio in February 1990 to record the follow-up to »Headless Cross«. Worth adding: on the tour promoting »Headless Cross«, the band played Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana on 9/27/1989. Support on that leg of the tour came from the Germans Axxis. After »Headless Cross«, »Tyr« was the second album for I.R.S. Records. It came out on 8/20/1990. It reached number 24 on the UK albums chart, while failing to break into the Billboard 200, which had never happened to the band before in its career. The band released one single, for the song »Feels Good To Me«, which also has a video (the B-side featured a live version of Paranoid from the November leg of the 1989 “Headless Cross” tour). That song only made the home, i.e. British, singles chart, where it took a modest and quickly forgotten 79th spot. Just how far the band had fallen out of favor is also shown by the fact that Black Sabbath were forced to cancel the last seven dates of the UK leg of the tour supporting »Tyr«. The reason was too few tickets sold, and for the first time in their career the band didn’t even tour the US.
In the “Tyr” period, Black Sabbath kept scraping along on the edge precisely because of the relentlessness of music critics and an audience that simply wouldn’t accept either the music or the musical direction of Black Sabbath without Ozzy. That did the band a great injustice, since all three albums from the second half of the eighties, released with Tony Martin on vocals, are very high-quality and, immodestly put, superb achievements, ones the band in the mid-seventies, or with Ozzy in the lineup, could never have created in their wildest dreams, in terms of development. The unjustly overlooked »Tyr« is a very high-quality album in every respect, full of highly vibrant moods, distinctive Iommi phrases, phenomenal singing from Martin, the piercing, crushing blows of Cozy Powell and the gravitating bass lines of Neil Murray. “Tyr” is probably best understood and appreciated by everyone who discovered Black Sabbath first through the records released outside the seventies. On the other hand, there’s a fair crop of fans who, unlike those betting only on the Ozzy era, barely touch the seventies Black Sabbath albums. Globally speaking, they’re certainly a tiny minority, but still good enough proof to conclude that »Tyr« is nothing to sneeze at.
Sadly, the short period of stability and hopes for further artistic growth and consolidation of the crew that recorded both »Headless Cross« and »Tyr« was cut short by the renewed reunion of Iommi with Butler and Dio for the next album, »Dehumanizer«, with which Black Sabbath failed to meet the high expectations in 1992. Ronnie once again gave the band the boot, and Iommi turned once more to Tony Martin for help. Martin swallowed his pride, tamed his (probably wounded) ego and showed a lot of heart by returning one last time to the stormy deck of that era of Black Sabbath.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
