"On a small world, west of wonder. Somewhere, nowhere at all. There's a rainbow that will shimmer when the summer falls."
Ronnie James Dio, my favorite vocalist in any genre in any time - spoke those words on his sophomore album for Black Sabbath. On that song - The Sign of the Southern Cross - I knew I had come across something special, something magical.
I did not know much about the Dio era of Sabbath for many years. I only really listened to the Ozzy era of the 70's and one day decided I was going to look into some of the later stuff. I had never heard Dio before I picked up Mob Rules and my opinion of the band was forever changed after I did.
You see Dio got something out of this band that was never able to be replicated. There is a magic to this and Heaven and Hell that was never recaptured, never see again... even on Dehumanizer. These two albums are holy ground for me, some of the best music ever recorded... again in any genre.
Mob Rules has an energy to it, a majesty... a royalty to the music. This isn't just metal, this album is divine. The riffs from Tony, the way that they interact with Geezers bass and the playfulness that comes from that. Listen to Country Girl and how fun that riff is, and how playful the bass is. On the aforementioned Sign of the Southern Cross when the guitars do the full open chord and the bass does a little jam underneath during the chorus. It's epic.
The drums are powerful and drive the music forward definitively, while still allowing the other instruments to take the lead. And then there is Ronnie.
This man is a legend. The emotion that he portrays through his voice, every single note - low, high, mid - is dripping with passion. His signature rasp only adds to the allure. In one word: perfection.
Mob Rules is my favorite of the two holy albums of Black Sabbath, but Heaven and Hell is a very close second. There isn't anything else to say about this. This is what good music is. This transcends genre. This is divine.
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