Black Sabbath Album: “The Rules Of Hell [Box]”

I thought people might want to see exactly what's in this essential box set.

I'm glad Warner/Rhino is continuing what they did in 2004 with the Black Box. Here's hoping they don't stop here and go all the way with the Gillan/Hughes/Martin era stuff next. If not, at least scrap up the old masters and get those elusive albums back into print!

I admit that I'm more an Ozzy fan than a Dio fan. Dio had the voice, but the band were simply at their songwriting peak with Ozzy (who went on to prove a thing or two of his own when he went solo). But that doesn't mean this material comes up short. After two disappointing albums, Ozzy left Sabbath and they recruited Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio to help them soldier on. The resulting debut of this new line-up, Heaven & Hell, turned out to be their best album since Sabotage. It rocks in a more straight-forward almost bone-headed way than the earlier material, but there's nothing wrong with that. The band got their fire back. The title track is the epic standout, but there isn't a bad song in the bunch. A five star album that shut a lot of naysayers up at the time. It remains this line-up's best.

The follow-up, Mob Rules, is only a notch or two below. Sabbath repeated the Heaven & Hell formula and wound up delivering another great record. Not much else to say, really. If you like one, the odds are you'll like the other.

Live Evil is where the fans get divided. Personally, I think it's fun to hear someone else try to tackle old warhorses we've heard a million times the same way. And when you've got a voice as good as Dio's, the odds are in your favor. He delivers here. Obviously doesn't sound like the Ozzy versions we all know and love, but, again, I appreciate the fresh take. It goes without saying the band does the newer material great justice. Sabbath's first OFFICIAL live album and the last they'd do with Dio until 1992.

Which brings us to that 1992 album, Dehumanizer. It's not awful, but it's not great. Twenty two years into their recording career, I gotta appreciate the effort they put into it, but it doesn't match the early stuff. It happens with most bands who've stuck around for as long as Sabbath has. I throw it on from time to time so that must count for something, I guess. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a solid three out of five.

So, how does this box set sound? Phenominal. A big boost in the vein of what they did with the original eight albums four years ago that, thankfully, avoids the over-compression nonsense that record companies seem to love so much these days. The old masters sound tinny by comparison. Dynamics count for a lot with a band like Black Sabbath and the guys who remastered these albums kept them intact. Well done, guys.

What I'd love next (aside from a continuation of these Sabbath remasters) is for Dio's early solo catalogue to get the remaster treatment. His band is the only "classic" metal one I can think of that's still riding on the old 80s masters. Listen to the Holy Diver CD and you just KNOW it could sound better. Anyway...

Highly recommended. If you like this particular version of Black Sabbath, this set is essential.

I'm not going to go into the Ozzy versus Ronnie versus Tony Martin versus Ian Gillan etc debut. The simple fact is that each singer brought their own vibe to the band and all of them are great singers in they're own right. However Ronnie seems to fit the Sabbath sound perfectly. His strong vocals and the way he presents them just seem to take the band to new levels.

This little Box Set will give you the listener a new way to enjoy some of Sabbath's best stuff. Heaven and Hell sounds awesome as does Mob Rules. Live Evil is once again uncut and the way it should be and Dehumanize is really good as well. All the disc get a new look which is cool and liner notes and pics throughout. You wont find the three newer tunes on hear which is a bit of a drag and you wont find any hidden gems that have been released for the first time. It's just the original albums remastered to a T and what's wrong with that?

As the others have said, if you've never heard these gems?, you have to pick them up. For those of us who know them well and already have these in our collection, it's still pretty much a must have. Heaven and Hell alone is worth it as it just sounds fantastic!

Good stuff all around here. Now all we need is a Box Set from the Tony Martin years.

This box set is absolutely awesome! I love Ozzy-Sabbath, don't get me wrong, but much of what is in this set is among Sabbath's best. Unlike most Dio-Sabbath fans, I don't think 'Heaven and Hell' is the best of them...I prefer 'Mob Rules.' Wow! That album is stellar from beginning to end and features one of the great rock songs ever made with "Sign of the Southern Cross." Not to say 'Heaven and Hell' is a bad album, it's not. "Children of the Sea" from this album is also among Sabbath's best. Both 'Heaven and Hell' and 'Mob Rules' stand up with any of Sabbath's top Ozzy fronted albums.

'Live Evil' is okay, but the Ozzy songs sound a little akward with Dio singing them. Not that he sings them poorly, it's just that Ozzy's voice is so unique it's hard to replicate it. 'Dehumanizer' is the final disc on here and it is a heavy, very Sabbath sounding album, but the songwriting is not a good as on 'Heaven and Hell' and 'Mob Rules', imo. "TV Crimes" and "I" are standout tunes on that one, though. In fact, for anyone familiar with Dio's solo career, 'Dehumanizer' has a very similar sound to Dio's 'Strange Highways' CD which came out around the same time. Very heavy.

It is unfortunate that the three new songs from 'Black Sabbath - the Dio Years' did not make it in here, as all three of them were very good, especially 'The Devil Cried' which is outstanding. It's also unfortunate that the Heaven and Hell (band name) discs did not make it in here, as both the live one (actually two, now) and the studio album 'The Devil You Know' are fantastic discs. I think it had to do with the legal issues related to the name 'Black Sabbath' which Ozzy now partly owns.

At any rate, if you like Sabbath and/or Dio and don't have these discs...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Get out there and buy them! They rock and will be a welcome addition to your collection.

I had received an Amazon gift card and was kind of stuck on what to buy with it.

Back in 1980, I was first exposed to Black Sabbath by my older cousins and older brother. I was barely old enough to even reach the record player. The power that came from the single channel speaker was unlike anything I had ever heard. It's funny how fast things change. The Sabbath I knew had this really ominous song called Black Sabbath and there was this other one that had what a 5-7 year old kid heard as an evil, robotic voice called Iron Man.

The mid-80s approached, I was still not a huge music fan. I was still under 10 and didn't have my own money to buy albums with. I mainly listened to whatever my brother did. He was the prototype or stereotype, depending on your angle, metal head. He had an older Camaro and always played Ozzy solo, the original Sabbath line-up, AC/DC and Judas Priest. Somewhere in the mid-80s, I'm assuming probably 1985, I took on a few lawn mowing jobs in the summer, to buy myself a Nintendo. I bought the Nintendo, but I also bought a few albums too. One was Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast and the other was Black Sabbath Mob Rules.

It was like metal blasphemy! My brother and cousins all looked at me as if I had betrayed the sacred book of metal. Admittedly, the cover art for the Iron Maiden album got my attention and just the name, Black Sabbath, was still fresh in my head. Well, my brother refused to listen to Mob Rules. In all of his coolness, he was being a punk and I don't mean anarchy punk. "If it's not Ozzy, it ain't Sabbath". I still aggravate him about that though he is well into his 40s now.

He eventually "accidentally" heard my Mob Rules album playing back in 1985. He kind of liked it. He shrouded his head and bought the Heaven and Hell album. Over time maturation set in and he decided to tell our cousins about how good Dio-era Sabbath is. Of course, they kicked his butt.

Fast forward to today. I'm still a pretty big Sabbath fan and had bought the Black Box when it came out. I also, on a regular basis, still listen to Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. I'm willing to put those two against any back to back releases in the Sabbath catalog. I've even tried remastering them myself. I need to hear those drums better and the bass too.

In a way, I was sad to see this, The Rules of Hell, set. Not because of the content, but because I've been so far out of the new releases in music that I had no idea it had been released. The last Sabbath release I had noticed was the Dio Years and was planning on buying it when I happened to see this The Rules of Hell set and grabbed it instead.

I'm not into music for collection purposes so I went for the mp3 version. I just wanted the new remastered versions of the Dio-fronted Sabbath.

The package includes all of the songs from the Heaven and Hell album, all from Mob Rules, all from the 2 album Live Evil and all songs from Dehumanizer, which was a terribly underrated album.

For those that are wondering those Live Evil songs are Dio singing Ozzy/Sabbath songs. Not all, but the old standards from the original line-up. I won't go as far as saying the Dio versions are better, but they aren't bad at all.

These cds represent a different Sabbath than most people know. On Heaven and Hell alone, I would call these songs some of Sabbath's best of any era.

Heaven and Hell standouts - Heaven and Hell, Neon Knights, Children of the Sea, Lady Evil, Wishing Well and Lonely is the Word. That leaves 2 songs that I only thought were okay.

Mob Rules standouts - Turn Up the Night, Voodoo, The Sign of the Southern Cross, Country Girl and Falling of the Edge of the World.

Though Heaven and Hell had more standout tracks; I'm not for sure there is as epic of a song as The Sign of the Southern Cross, maybe Children of the Sea...maybe.

So, give it a few listens on the samples. This isn't your older but eternally immature brother's Sabbath. Ronnie James Dio in all his quirkiness as a solo artist, is one of the top 3 heavy metal vocalists of all-time. The sound quality is much improved. At times, specifically on Neon Knights, you do get the feeling it could have been remastered a bit better, but it still blows the original releases away. With the price of buying just the mp3s this deal is a great value for anyone like me who is into the music just for the music. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting the booklets and pictures. Cover art, as said above, helped me find Iron Maiden as a kid so I know it is important. The amount only averages out to about five dollars a disc and let the fact that I'm still listening to these nearly 30 years after their release tell how well this music has held up over time.