Never appreciated this album when I was in my teens, but listening to it now, it's amazing. Children Of The Sea is such a great song.

Slowly changing my mind on this album.

This absolute masterpiece of heavy metal turns 40 today. Timeless and essential in any metalhead's collection; in dictionaries they could have its cover art to portray the word "classic".

Written by nikarg on 25.04.2020 at 15:53

This absolute masterpiece of heavy metal turns 40 today. Timeless and essential in any metalhead's collection; in dictionaries they could have its cover art to portray the word "classic".

IMO musically it has higher value as latest few whit Ozzy , if there would be thing as true HM, I would add to Dio era BS such thing as true HM. I love all 3 his works in BS

Written by nikarg on 25.04.2020 at 15:53

Timeless and essential in any metalhead's collection

So fucking true.

Already swung 3-4 times during my home from work sessions today. As a matter of fact, concentrated more on this than on my reports.

This is one of the best rum we can ever have.

I remember first listening to this thinking, this does not sound typical Black Sabbath to me, I was pleasantly surprised tho, sounded like one of Dio's very own solo albums, he brought new life and direction to Sabbath, and it's proven to be one of their finest albums, every song is enjoyable and Dio's vocals are on top form. The title track is probably the best title track to an album I've ever heard, and Children of the Sea defenitly deserves a mention too. Tbh I like every song on the album.

Every song is a classic

Different from Sabbath's early doom metal, this album has a lot of energy (Neon Knights), emotion (Heaven and Hell), and also softer moments (Lonely is the Word). Every song is fantastic - the pinnacle of Dio's magic; a great balance of the emotion of Rainbow, the riffs of Black Sabbath, and the energetic and operatic voice of the one and only Dio!

My third favourite Sabbath album after Paranoid (9.7/10) and Master of Reality (9.5/10). I remember buying this CD in HMV and listening to it in the car on the ride home thinking how amazing Dio (RIP) sounded (especially on the title track).

9.3/10 for me - 'Neon Knights' and 'Heaven And Hell' are the standout tracks. 'Children Of The Sea' and 'Die Young' are both also great.

Robb Flynn's acoustic solo cover of 'Die Young' is worth checking out. I believe he recorded this when Dio died as an honoring of his legacy:

Written by nonZero on 21.09.2022 at 12:42

My third favourite Sabbath album after Paranoid (9.7/10) and Master of Reality (9.5/10).

How do you differentiate a 9.5 from a 9.7, what's the real difference between the two ? I always see you give these extremely precise ratings and it got me curious

Written by Roman Doez on 21.09.2022 at 18:11

Written by nonZero on 21.09.2022 at 12:42

My third favourite Sabbath album after Paranoid (9.7/10) and Master of Reality (9.5/10).

How do you differentiate a 9.5 from a 9.7, what's the real difference between the two ? I always see you give these extremely precise ratings and it got me curious

Average rating of songs on the album (full list).

Goes without saying, but this album is a masterpiece. Listening to it still makes me feel just like the first time, like I'm experiencing something truly special and out of this world. The production by the legendary Martin Birch is on point and I love it, the nice clean melodic bass, the perfect guitar tone, the powerful vocals by Ronnie James Dio, that small break in Die Young just before the climactic solo kicks in... I love this album.

Written by Roman Doez on 21.09.2022 at 18:11

How do you differentiate a 9.5 from a 9.7, what's the real difference between the two ? I always see you give these extremely precise ratings and it got me curious

I also use a first digit in my books for all albums I rate 7 or higher. But the first digit only has a relative meaning for me, there is no absolute interpretation. So, say for example, I have as of now rated 286 albums 8/10. Now, I have a list offline in which I rank these 286 albums (among all other albums I rated 7 or higher) in order of preference. The album with 'my highest 8' gets a rating of 8.4 and the album with 'my lowest 8' gets a 7.5. In between these two albums I allocate numbers from this range as evenly as possible.
Does that make sense?

Written by Redel on 08.06.2023 at 19:50

I also use a first digit in my books for all albums I rate 7 or higher. But the first digit only has a relative meaning for me, there is no absolute interpretation. So, say for example, I have as of now rated 286 albums 8/10. Now, I have a list offline in which I rank these 286 albums (among all other albums I rated 7 or higher) in order of preference. The album with 'my highest 8' gets a rating of 8.4 and the album with 'my lowest 8' gets a 7.5. In between these two albums I allocate numbers from this range as evenly as possible.
Does that make sense?

It does and I really like that idea, I'd like to do something like that but I have too many ratings now haha

Written by Roman Doez on 08.06.2023 at 21:01

I'd like to do something like that but I have too many ratings now haha

Your distribution of ratings looks good to me. You could start with ranking all albums rated 8 or higher, that seems manageable. Once you feel comfortable with these numbers, go over to your 7s, they might take a bit more time. Then you might decide to leave all albums rated 6 and lower alone because they dont really deserve to be ranked in detail.

Written by Redel on 08.06.2023 at 19:50

I also use a first digit in my books for all albums I rate 7 or higher. But the first digit only has a relative meaning for me, there is no absolute interpretation. So, say for example, I have as of now rated 286 albums 8/10. Now, I have a list offline in which I rank these 286 albums (among all other albums I rated 7 or higher) in order of preference. The album with 'my highest 8' gets a rating of 8.4 and the album with 'my lowest 8' gets a 7.5. In between these two albums I allocate numbers from this range as evenly as possible.
Does that make sense?

Over the last few months I've been working on revisiting my old favorites (rated 9 or 10) and ranking them based on the average of song ratings (nonZero-style). Sometime I'll publish the result in a list here

Written by Redel on 08.06.2023 at 21:12

Your distribution of ratings looks good to me. You could start with ranking all albums rated 8 or higher, that seems manageable. Once you feel comfortable with these numbers, go over to your 7s, they might take a bit more time. Then you might decide to leave all albums rated 6 and lower alone because they dont really deserve to be ranked in detail.

My MS profile is the tip of the iceberg, I have twice as many ratings over on RYM haha

Wow, after Paranoid this is their second highest rated album. Not sure I remember it always being like that.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 14.02.2024 at 15:45

Wow, after Paranoid this is their second highest rated album. Not sure I remember it always being like that.

Yeah, what happened to Master Of Reality? I'd say some time back that one had the second highest rating here.

Second best Sabbath album after Paranoid. One of greatest Dio records, compete only with Rising and Holy Diver. "Die Young", "Neon Knights", title track, "Children Of The Sea" and "Lady Evil" is so, SO DAMN GOOD!!!