Opinions on Osbourne Vs. Dio In Black Sabbath?

[act]

As some may know, Black Sabbath has on many occasions swapped out their members, sans Tony Iommi - the writer of some of the most famous and best guitar riffs known to music. Tony Iommi is generally considered by people who dive deep into how Black Sabbath songs were developed to be the "true Black Sabbath", not only because he was the only consistent member of the band, but also because of his work creating the riffs were key to creating a unique sound in tone and pitch alone. This idea was shared by Iommi's record label, where Iommi intended to release it under his own name and not Black Sabbath. "Seventh Star" was named under the band, as opposed to work done by Iommi separate from Black Sabbath.

However, the key thing even the average listener can notice is the different singers. From Heaven and Hell up until 13, the singer for Black Sabbath was Ronnie James Dio - which is considerably different to the original singer, Ozzy Osbourne. There's a bit of a debate that used to be way more passionate about which singer was better.

Although yes, Black Sabbath's rather objective best works in songwriting to most hardcore fans is under Dio; especially Heaven and Hell, which is considered by a lot of fans who even believe Osbourne was better was Sabbath's best album.

My opinion on the matter is that voice matters. When I hear Dio sing, I'm thinking that some buff 6'3 Conan the Barbarian type is singing a song about glorious victory in the face of death or something. But Black Sabbath, in my opinion, isn't about that. Black Sabbath is defined by it's dark, brooding, generally a "Damn it's scary but it's not 2010 creepypasta around video games wannabe-scary" type mood. Dio's voice shatters that feeling to the song with his powerful, warrior-like voice. So, for the "Black Sabbath from the beginning" perspective, Dio's voice takes away from the tones the band was supposed to embody. That's a belief I share. I wish personally after Heaven and Hell were released, Black Sabbath maybe changed it's name or something, so that there could be a larger distinction, allowing way more leeway in what I'd judge as good or bad.

[Midnight_00]

59 minutes ago, act said:

From Heaven and Hell up until 13, the singer for Black Sabbath was Ronnie James Dio

Not sure if intentional or not, but this is wrong.

 

To me, Heaven and Hell is a natural evolution from what preceded it. Black Sabbath isn't just one thing, even with Ozzy. Never Say Die sounds nothing like the first album. As far as quality goes, I like both. No doubt Ozzy's style influenced a lot of the darker side of metal in the 80s and 90s.

[Swordofdanu]

Yeah I used to prefer Ozzy but grew to love Dio just as much (Holy Diver is amazing)

Tony Martin is pretty good on Headless Cross and Tyr too, basically any Sabbath is pretty decent.