Various Artists
Masters Of Misery - Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute

In these years of frequenting the site, I have countless times spent solemn words on Black Sabbath and the record label "Earache Records."

Here I am once again praising these two beastly entities that for decades have been the foundation of my total "obsession" with the metallic matter.

On Black Sabbath, it's pointless to dwell at length; they are the cornerstone, the pillars, and the foundations from which it all began.

In 1992, the Nottingham label gathered a dozen bands to give necessary tribute to the grey band from Birmingham.

At this point in my argument, a necessary premise is needed: nothing and no one can ever match the infernal and demonic musical approach of Ozzy and his worthy companions. Unique and unrepeatable like very few others in Music.

Having said that, the album in question is a great tribute by superb and refined musicians who, in some cases in a very personal way, revisit authentic, malignant gems of black beauty.

It begins with Lee Dorrian's Cathedral, the natural heirs, the only ones of the bunch credited with two tracks: the pure and simple calligraphic revivalism of "Wheels of Confusion" and "Solitude."

The solemn and icy Industrial-Dub hammering of Scorn ("The Wizard" in an unrecognizable and twisted version) and Godflesh ("Zero The Hero").

There are also the hallucinatory Brutal Truth who duly savage "Lord Of This World"; the perhaps too verbose and redundant "Changes" entrusted to Fudge Tunnel.

But in my opinion, the scepter for the best interpretation should be awarded to Confessor, who, led by Scott Jeffreys' crystalline voice, expertly navigate "Hole In The Sky."

A rightful praise to an immortal band...NATIVITY IN BLACK...

Ad Maiora.