Review by Sonny for Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy (1976)

I really don't think this album get's as much credit as it deserves. I will admit to being more than a little biased, as it was not only the first Sabbath album I bought, as a naive 14 year-old in 1976, but the first metal album I ever bought, so maybe I will always see it through rose-tinted spectacles. Yes, it was a departure from previous album Sabotage and a couple of tracks were a bit of a misfire (She's Gone and It's Alright aren't great) but the rest of the album kicks ass and has three of my favourite Sabbath tracks - Gypsy, You Won't Change Me and Tony Iommi's finest ever solo on stormer of a closing track, Dirty Women. Beyond that, compared to the following album, Never Say Die and all the output between Dio's Mob Rules and Dehumanizer it's a fucking bona fide classic.