It is really is too bad that the majority of people who think of Sabbath reflect on the Ozzy decade.. The 80's version of Sabbath is different but very intriguing if given the attention it deserves. This album in particular is in my opinion very underrated. The overall atmosphere of "The Eternal Idol" is very vivid and dark, A perfect combination.
This work was enjoyable in 1987 but it took 20 years for me to truly understand the impact that this album should of had.

A totally underrated album. I don't understand why metal fans don't value Black Sabbath with Ozzy or Dio, this was an awesome achievement and Tony Martin stands up with a consistant vocal range. This album is dark, very well written and in my opinion is in the top 3 of 1987.
Only true metal fans and appreciators of good music would understand the detailed composition, particularly the self-titled track, which is dark, epic and if Dio or Ozzy would have done the vocals for it, I guarantee would have been a classic. So listen to it with no preconseptions and enjoy the album. 10/10

Probably the most under rated work from a band, which I feel, has many great albums, but also many over rated works as well. This is easily my favorite of the Martin era, eclipsing the mysteriously over rated Headless Cross album. Some really great obscure, forgotten Sabbath tracks on here.

Written by scennkah on 11.06.2012 at 12:36

A totally underrated album. I don't understand why metal fans don't value Black Sabbath with Ozzy or Dio, this was an awesome achievement and Tony Martin stands up with a consistant vocal range. This album is dark, very well written and in my opinion is in the top 3 of 1987.
Only true metal fans and appreciators of good music would understand the detailed composition, particularly the self-titled track, which is dark, epic and if Dio or Ozzy would have done the vocals for it, I guarantee would have been a classic. So listen to it with no preconseptions and enjoy the album. 10/10

agree , I explained it but someone delete my post what I posted when I was listening this 2 years ago

Criminally underrated gem. I love how they got a little experimental here and mixed some newer 80's metal influences into it. Doesn't sound like anything they had done before or did later. Tony Martin has ridiculously great voice, I just can't get enough of it.

Edit. This album actually sounds a little bit like something Conception did in the mid 90's.

Written by Metal Diogenes on 05.03.2020 at 02:04

Criminally underrated gem. I love how they got a little experimental here and mixed some newer 80's metal influences into it. Doesn't sound like anything they had done before or did later. Tony Martin has ridiculously great voice, I just can't get enough of it.

I agree it classic 80s influenced, they add all elements there what 80 music Lovers wanted to hear, soecially keyboards,

This is such a brilliant record... the atmosphere, the hooks, the production, the riffs. It gets me EVERY time. It's not a record with single highlight songs, instead it's the entire piece. I still remember that this was one of the first vinyls I bought, and I spinned it like crazy

I must admit I'm listening to the Tony-Martin-era Black Sabbath for the first time. - and I'm impressed! Enjoyable

I like this album, but not as much as their next album The Headless Cross, but it still has it's good moments, eventhough it does have a fairly generic 80's hard rock sound to it, compared to what they have produced in the past, for me this sounds very much like they were trying to go for another Dio era sound, as that worked very well in the past for them.

Unfortunately Dio was irreplaceable imo, and although Tony Martin was a great vocalist, he was certainly no Dio, but despite that, he still took to the role very well.

This is nothing new, but it has to be said that the quality is very high.