‘From the first evil night, when a black flash of light / Cut the crucifix half to the ground,’ Martin sings, unlocking arch new levels of melodrama.
Layering up the synths and OTT '80s arena-rock production, the title track’s (apparently true) medieval tale of the titular small town where the inhabitants would pray to the dark lord of a headless cross on the hill to be spared from the rampant pestilence of the time is brought thrillingly to life. Or if he moves will he fall Is he live or dead (Has he / Icy) thoughts with in his head Well just pass him there, Why should we even care. It was his follow-up offering Headless Cross, though, which sticks out in many fans’ minds. Black Sabbath’s lyrics, soaked in occult imagery, and coarse musicianship were reviled by critics and shunned by radio programmers, but constant touring turned them into stars, and songs such as Paranoid, Iron Man, and War Pigs became metal classics. The arrival of relatively unheralded vocalist Tony Martin for 1987’s The Eternal Idol changed all that. As they entered their third decade as a band, with Tony Iommi the sole remaining founding member, there were concerns that Sabbath had burned through their remaining reserves and were destined (like so many of their '70s contemporaries) to stall and spiral into nostalgia-act blandness.
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