Released: 2013

Genres: Heavy Metal, Doom Metal

The Musiquarium’s 13 Review Score: 8.5 out of 10

Black Sabbath hadn’t released an album with their original singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978, let alone any albums in 18 years. Their last release was 1995’s Forbidden, which was considered the worst album of any iteration of the band, from its cheap-looking artwork, to its ill-conceived Ice-T feature. With that in mind, it was surprising to see (most of) the original Black Sabbath reform one last time (though drummer Bill Ward was replaced by Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), especially since Ozzy was still a major solo draw and didn’t need the Black Sabbath brand to tour successfully.

This album could have easily sounded phoned-in, or sounded like any run of the mill, late-era Ozzy solo albums, but instead, it mostly recaptures the magic that made the 1970-1975 band so compelling, with Tony Iommi still conjuring up incredible riffs like some kind of heavy metal wizard. Rick Rubin encouraged the band to write and record like they had just finished their first album, ignoring Paranoid and everything that followed, so that they could strip everything back to the basics, and while this might sound regressive, perhaps it helped to transport the band back into the mindset of their younger, pre-cocaine selves.

Hearing lead single God Is Dead? on the radio felt surreal. The idea of Ozzy getting back together with Tony and Geezer seemed too good to be true, but sure enough, it wasn’t just some fever dream — it was really happening, and it was a great track.

The album opener, The End of the Beginning, proves that Sabbath still has it in them to conjure up doom unlike anyone else, even though waves of disciples have followed the framework they had set up back in 1970. Zeitgeist is a mellower track, much like a spiritual successor to Planet Caravan. The final track Dear Father, ends with rain and thunder, bringing the Black Sabbath story full circle to where it began on their self-titled song from their self-titled album.

13 doesn’t get enough credit for being as good as it is, especially considering that other similarly long-awaited reunion albums failed (The Stooges, Black Flag). 13 might not best any of Black Sabbath’s albums from 1970-1975 or even the first two Dio era albums, but it’s still one of the best comeback albums from a dormant legendary band, helping to bring the godfathers of metal into the modern times, showing the youngsters how its done, one last time.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Black Sabbath on Discogs.

Back to the 2013 Album Guide or the Black Sabbath Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard