Dehumanizer
	Produced by Mack (track 11 by Black Sabbath)
	Released on June 29, 1992
	UK CHART POSITION #28 . . . US CHART POSITION #44
	Find it at GEMM
W2 26965 cover

F or one dark, brilliant moment, Black Sabbath was back. Not the Ozzy-era lineup (that reunion was still some years away) but the next best thing: Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice. If you were worried how these early metal icons would fare in the modern metal scene of Metallica, Megadeth, etc., you needn’t have. To paraphrase one of Ronnie’s old nuggets: They Rock. Dehumanizer turned out to be one of the best metal albums from the early ‘90s: crunching riffs and melodic hooks, it’s the best parts of Sabbath and Dio distilled and served in a contemporary setting. Right from the opening “Computer God,” Sabbath plays like they’ve got something to prove: Tony pushing his fingers to get maximum speed, Ronnie dampening his sometimes screechy voice to capture a deeper shade of menace, Geezer squeezing an amazing number of notes from his bass, and Vinny unflappable in the midst of this musical maelstrom like the second coming of Bonzo. However, while the melody/metal mix was always part of Dio’s music (with and without Sabbath), Dehumanizer isn’t interested in nostalgia; this is all about strutting their stuff for the second generation of metal heads. And what stuff it is: “Time Machine,” “Master of Insanity,” “Letters From Earth,” “Sins of the Father,” “Too Late.” These tracks outshine anything Sabbath or Dio have done lately, proving that two heads (or horns) are better than one. If you lost sight of the dark lords after Dio’s departure, Dehumanizer is the lighthouse you’ve been looking for. Unfortunately, it was a one-shot deal; Ronnie and Vinny returned to Dio after this effort, a high-water mark in the band’s mature metalwork.

W2 26965 booklet back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. COMPUTER GOD    6:10
2. AFTER ALL (THE DEAD)    5:37
3. TV CRIMES    3:58
4. LETTERS FROM EARTH    4:12
5. MASTER OF INSANITY    5:54
6. TIME MACHINE    4:10
7. SINS OF THE FATHER    4:43
8. TOO LATE    6:54
9. I    5:10
10. BURIED ALIVE    4:47
11. TIME MACHINE (WAYNE'S WORLD VERSION)    4:18
    
    All songs written by Geezer Butler/Ronnie James Dio/Tony Iommi

CREDITS

VINNY APPICE -- drums
GEEZER BUTLER -- bass
RONNIE JAMES DIO -- vocals
TONY IOMMI -- guitars
Geoff Nicholls -- keyboards
Mack -- engineer, mixing
Wil Rees -- cover illustration
Mark "Weissguy" Weiss -- photography

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