Tony Martin
Back Where I Belong

Tony Martin a.k.a. The Cat, from a complete unknown to the singer of Black Sabbath after Ray Gillen's sudden departure, faced the monumental task of ensuring his illustrious predecessors wouldn't be missed: declared rock icons and extraordinary vocalists like Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, and Glenn Hughes.

Unfortunately, in 1987, Black Sabbath's star was dimmed by emerging bands and sleazy circus acts, and Martin's work with Tony Iommi & Co. didn't receive even a fraction of the attention it deserved. However, this is irrelevant to our discussion: with grit, humility, and a melodic yet incisive, versatile, and very personal vocal timbre, capable of adapting to hard rock as well as to the darker and massive style of Black Sabbath, Tony Martin established himself as a permanent frontman for Tony Iommi's musical creation, offering countless vocal performances to open applause: "The Shining," "Ancient Warrior," "Hard Life To Love," "Devil & Daughter," "Nightwing," "Anno Mundi," "The Sabbath Stones," and "Feels Good To Me", just to name a few. Yet, despite this, he had to swallow the bitter pill of being ousted from the band in favor of the more renowned R.J. Dio; without breaking his stride, and while waiting to return as the Black Sabbath vocalist, The Cat, in the same year his band released the solid but monotonous and uninspired "Dehumanizer," made his solo debut with a product of great personality and top-notch quality, "Back Where I Belong."

Setting aside the powerful and imaginative hard rock of "The Eternal Idol," the horror themes of "Headless Cross," and the elegant and magnificent epic of "Tyr," Tony Martin solo, a musician and composer of great class and an extraordinary singer, proposes, with the valuable collaboration of the great Brian May and bandmates Neil Murray and Geoff Nicholls, plus Zak Starkey’s son on drums, an excellent AOR album: clean, catchy, and highly inspired, without the slightest concession to the Bon Jovi-style pandering typical of this genre.

It's really hard to find a weak point in "Back Where I Belong," ranging from classic rock mid-tempos like the title track and the opener "If It Ain't Worth Fighting For," to the funk rock flavor of "It Ain’t Good Enough For," featuring prominent sax, to the bluesy sorrow of "Why Love," introduced by the atmospheric instrumental "Ceasefire" and the enjoyable '80s patina of "India" and "Angel In The Bed,” reaching its peak with the stunning "Sweet Elyze," energetic and compelling at just the right point, and concluding with the epic "Jerusalem," replayed with a smoother approach compared to "Tyr," and introduced by a typically Sabbath-like keyboard instrumental, "The Road To Galilee."

Besides this straightforward rock, Tony Martin also offers two great rock ballads, the classic "If There's A Heaven", extraordinary for the moving vocal performance, beautiful introductory arpeggio, and a solo where you can sense the unmistakable hand of Brian May and the majestic "The Last Living Tree,” a triumph where all the band members give their best in this song, reaching a peak in an engaging choral finale; more generally speaking, the entire album "Back Where I Belong" gives the impression of being in front of a team of musicians in a state of grace, always perfectly in sync: especially Neil Murray, a great bassist who does an immense job here, leaving his mark on all the songs of the album, but also Nicholls' keyboards, although without reaching the character of John Lord in Deep Purple, always manage to add something more, and Zak Starkey, especially in "Sweet Elyze," performs his work on the drums excellently. Beyond being an excellent album, deserving full marks, "Back Where I Belong" is also a personal victory for Tony Martin, being a product, albeit with a notable difference in style and musical offering, far superior to "Dehumanizer," as well as the definitive artistic affirmation of its author, showing with facts that he can shine with his own light even outside of the Black Sabbath context.