Newcomer Tony Martin steps up to the plate vocally, and what a performance it is: basically following Ray Gillen's demo vocals note-for-note, as he's been quoted. Overall, a rifftastic voyage from the doom master Tony Iommi himself, who proves he can still rock harder than ever.
Opener "The Shining" starts the with a great, driving rhythm. "Ancient Warrior" continues in a slower fashion, with a sinister riff and great chorus. More chops compliment the rest of the album, with a fantastic solo in "Glory Ride". The sobering look at a hard life "Hard Life to Life", the fist pounding "Born to Lose," the creepy "Nightmare" and the foreboding "Lost Forever" are all highlights. The album closes with the monumental "Eternal Idol," one of Sabbath's darkest and most haunting songs. I wish "Nightmare" somehow incorporated the intro keyboard into the rest of the song as it's very dark and sinister. Also of note is that the evil laughter in the song is Ray Gillen's, the only piece of him that remains in the released version of the album, although there are demos with him on vocals out there.
"Scarlet Pimpernel," like many Sabbath instrumentals, is nice when you listen to it, but isn't very memorable. Overall, this album is a strong comeback for the band, especially after 'Seventh Star' (which was meant to be an Iommi solo album), and if you think it's late 80's Sabbath's pinnacle, wait until you hear the next album...

TRACK LIST:
1. The Shining
2. Ancient Warrior
3. Hard Life to Live
4. Glory Ride
5. Born to Lose
6. Nightmare
7. Scarlet Pimpernel
8. Lost Forever
9. Eternal Idol

Review by Bryan Aguiar