Black Sabbath: Dehumanizer (2LP) [REPRISE / RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This deluxe 2LP set on 180g vinyl comes in a gatefold, limited to 3,500 copies, with a second disc of B-sides, the Wayne's World version of "Time Machine" and live 1992 tracks. Lyrically and musically, it's counted among Sabbath's heaviest albums.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Deluxe edition
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Limited to 3,500 copies
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Dehumanizer was meant to have Cozy Powell on drums until a horse riding accident left him with a broken pelvis, so Vinny Appice came back, and the band found themselves with the Mob Rules lineup for the first time in more than a decade. They spent two weeks writing and six weeks demoing at Monnow Valley in Wales, recorded at Rockfield Studios and mixed in Munich with producer Mack.

Dio's lyrics range far and wide, and Iommi and Butler match them with some of the slowest, heaviest grooves of their career. "Computer God" imagines a machine worshipped as a deity, "TV Crimes" takes aim at televangelists, "I" is a hymn to individualism, and "After All (The Dead)" crawls along with Iommi's riffs at their most crushing. "Master of Insanity" and "Letters from Earth" are prime Dio, and "Time Machine" got an extra life in Wayne's World.

The same four would reunite in 2006 for The Dio Years and again as Heaven & Hell. Bonus points to the Wayne's World version, the rare Black Sabbath recording to have been headbanged to in a small car.

Also at Kops: more Black Sabbath on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Reprise / Rhino (cat# R1 599496), a reissue of the 1992 album.