Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol (1987)

June 2, 2021

Ever onwards I go through the Sabbath catalogue. Admittedly, on first listen, The Eternal Idol is a shock, even after Seventh Star. Nothing about this looks or feels like a Sabbath record, from the bizarre, 80s-as-fuck art that wouldn’t be amiss on some sort of dark vaporwave cassette, to the crooning stadium rock that fills the disc.

Honestly, I don’t understand why Sharon’s legal team seems so intent on wiping out the post-Ozzy (or even post-Dio) records from existence. These are so NOT Sabbath that the damage that Iommi et al continued to do when using the Sabbath name unnecessarily was surely more than enough to help push the band into obscurity which each passing release. Troubling stuff.

Another low point in a time period where the bar was already low to begin with.