vinylfanatics.com

**Black Sabbath - TYR**
★★★☆☆

By 1990, Black Sabbath had already died and been resurrected more times than a comic book superhero. The godfathers of heavy metal had weathered the Ozzy years, survived the Dio era, and somehow managed to keep shambling forward like the undead creatures that populated their lyrics. Enter *TYR*, an album that finds the band in perhaps their most peculiar incarnation yet – a Norse mythology-obsessed outfit fronted by Tony Martin, their third vocalist in a decade, backed by the ever-reliable Tony Iommi and a rhythm section that included bassist Neil Murray and drummer Cozy Powell.

The backstory reads like a heavy metal soap opera. Ronnie James Dio had departed (again) after creative differences during the *Headless Cross* sessions, leaving Iommi – the band's sole constant member and riff wizard supreme – to soldier on with Martin, a vocalist who possessed the pipes but lacked the iconic presence of his predecessors. Geezer Butler was long gone, and Bill Ward was nowhere to be found. This wasn't your father's Sabbath, or even your older brother's. This was something altogether different, and *TYR* would prove to be both the culmination and swan song of this particular lineup's ambitions.

Musically, *TYR* finds Sabbath diving headfirst into Viking mythology with the enthusiasm of metalheads who'd discovered a dusty copy of Wagner's Ring Cycle in their local record shop. The album opens with "Anno Mundi (The Vision)," a sprawling nine-minute epic that immediately signals this isn't going to be a collection of three-minute bangers. Iommi's guitar work remains the album's north star, his riffs as heavy and hypnotic as ever, but there's an almost progressive rock sensibility creeping into the arrangements. Keyboards courtesy of Geoff Nicholls add atmospheric layers that would have been unthinkable during the band's early days of pure, uncut doom.

The title track "The Law Maker" (with "TYR" being the Norse god of war and justice) showcases Martin at his most commanding, his voice soaring over Iommi's churning riffs with conviction that almost makes you forget you're not listening to Ozzy or Dio. Almost. Powell's drumming is thunderous throughout, providing the kind of backbone that makes you wonder what might have been if this lineup had found its footing a few years earlier. "Jerusalem" stands as perhaps the album's finest moment, a haunting meditation on faith and conflict that builds from whispered verses to crushing choruses, proving that even this iteration of Sabbath could craft moments of genuine power.

But *TYR* is also an album that suffers from its own ambitions. The Norse concept feels more like cosplay than conviction at times, and tracks like "Odin's Court" and "Valhalla" veer dangerously close to Spinal Tap territory. When a band that once wrote "War Pigs" is singing about Viking mythology, you can't help but feel they're trying too hard to recapture magic that was always more about attitude than subject matter. The production, while clean and powerful, lacks the raw menace that made early Sabbath so dangerous. This is heavy metal as high fantasy rather than urban nightmare.

The album's legacy remains complicated. *TYR* would be the last studio album to feature this lineup, and in many ways, it marked the end of Sabbath's attempts to move forward without their classic members. Within a few years, Iommi would be reuniting with Butler and exploring other collaborations, while the original lineup would eventually reform for their farewell tour. Martin, despite his undeniable talent, would become a footnote in the band's history rather than a chapter.

Yet *TYR* deserves recognition as more than just a curiosity. It's the sound of master craftsmen refusing to go gentle into that good night, of Tony Iommi proving once again that his riffs could make even the most unlikely lineups sound like Sabbath. It may not be essential listening, but for those willing to accept it on its own terms, *TYR* offers glimpses of what this incarnation of the band might have achieved with more time and fewer ghosts haunting their legacy. Sometimes even the gods of metal need to explore new mythology to remember who they are.