Black Sabbath - Mob Rules

For some reason I had a craving in my ears to hear this album today. I crank it every so often. It's a good album. I actually prefer "Heaven and Hell" from the Dio era ... but this album is actually quite solid.

Anyone else think this is a good album? Let's talk about this classic from 1981. Almost reaching the 35th year anniversary mark!

It's my 2nd favorite Sabbath album.

Temple of Blood wrote:It's my 2nd favorite Sabbath album.

Cool! What's your favorite?

RavenWolf wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:It's my 2nd favorite Sabbath album.

Cool! What's your favorite?

The debut.

It's my favorite non-Ozzy album and my third favorite behind Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Mine is Paranoid but my exposure to Sabbath albums as a whole is limited

I do like 

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Dirty Women
Heaven & Hell

This is one of my all time favorite albums (along with Heaven and Hell)! It's hard to beat Dio era Sabbath! I actually saw them on the Heaven and Hell tour (yes, I'm that old) but got grounded and didn't get to go when they came through on Mob Rules.

Benny4SR wrote:This is one of my all time favorite albums (along with Heaven and Hell)! It's hard to beat Dio era Sabbath! I actually saw them on the Heaven and Hell tour (yes, I'm that old) but got grounded and didn't get to go when they came through on Mob Rules.

Oh wow! That would have been great to catch them on the Heaven and Hell tour!!! Who were they touring with? They were the headliners right?

RavenWolf wrote:

Benny4SR wrote:This is one of my all time favorite albums (along with Heaven and Hell)! It's hard to beat Dio era Sabbath! I actually saw them on the Heaven and Hell tour (yes, I'm that old) but got grounded and didn't get to go when they came through on Mob Rules.

Oh wow! That would have been great to catch them on the Heaven and Hell tour!!! Who were they touring with? They were the headliners right?

Yes, they were the headliner. Sammy Hagar was the opening act. He was on the Danger Zone tour (also a great album).

Absolutely fantastic album.  I have to confess that I liked Dio fronted Sabbath even better than Dio fronted Rainbow (not that Dio fronted Rainbow is bad by any means).

Staybrite wrote:Absolutely fantastic album.  I have to confess that I liked Dio fronted Sabbath even better than Dio fronted Rainbow (not that Dio fronted Rainbow is bad by any means).

I would have to agree with you about that! Rainbow is great - but Dio fronted Black Sabbath is better! Dio the band - best.

RavenWolf wrote:

Staybrite wrote:Absolutely fantastic album.  I have to confess that I liked Dio fronted Sabbath even better than Dio fronted Rainbow (not that Dio fronted Rainbow is bad by any means).

I would have to agree with you about that! Rainbow is great - but Dio fronted Black Sabbath is better! Dio the band - best.

Agreed! 

One of my favorite BS albums. After Heaven and Hell...of course.

I love anything Dio over Ozzy generally though. The exceptions might be Blizzard and Diary though.

Excellent album, I like it better than Heaven And Hell, which I'm sure is akin to some sort of blasphemy but oh well. 

Love this album..I always thought that the song Mob Rules was one of the best metal riffs ever...If someone asked what metal sounds like that is the song I would play for them...

35 years ago today!

Benny4SR wrote: but got grounded and didn't get to go when they came through on Mob Rules.

I had a similar issue, Back in High School I had front row tickets when they came through Atlanta on the Seventh Star Tour with W.A.S.P. as the opener. We skipped school the day of the show and were out doing stupid things and got pulled over by the cops. When they realized we had been drinking they made us call our parents and explain what we were doing. Needless to say I was grounded and missed the show.

Love it. First heard it on the movie Heavy Metal.

I usually don't like slow, plodding metal, but Sign of the Southern Cross is one of the exceptions.  His vocals are so naked and vulnerable in the song where there's hardly any backing music, its gotta be one of his career highlights.  A lot of styles and tempos are represented on this record and some of Iommi's greatest riffs are contained on here.  NWOBHM is at its height during this time and this album is a fine, almost perfect, representative of the metal of the day.

Mob Rules>Heaven and Hell

I love the title track, but it’s not even close to my favorite Sabbath album. I prefer Heaven and Hell over it. I even like Dehumanizer more! Dehumanizer is so underrated. It’s very dark and heavy!

Master of Reality and Vol. 4 are my favorites.

I think all the Dio albums are great but I listen to H & H the most. Sabotage is my overall favorite and I like the ones with Cozy a lot.

Black Rider wrote: Sabotage is my overall favorite.

I bet it's your all-time favorite album cover too...

Love Black Sabbath. Mob Rules was an attempt at Heaven and Hell part 2 template. Dehumanizer is perhaps Sabbath's most doomster album and very overlooked.

All roads paved in metal all lead back to Black Sabbath.

Dustofyears wrote:Love Black Sabbath. Mob Rules was an attempt at Heaven and Hell part 2 template. Dehumanizer is perhaps Sabbath's most doomster album and very overlooked.

All roads paved in metal all lead back to Black Sabbath.

I agree Dusty. 

Dehumanizer was the darkest and most doom sounding album Sabbath created with Dio.