~Neurotica
perfectly insane
- Mar 27, 2006
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Favorite Black Sabbath Singer
- Thread starter Vitor
- Start date
Thoth-Amon
Hypochondriac
- Apr 4, 2006
- 6,821
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Yes though I associate Black Sabbath with Ozzy's voice for obvious reasons.
AchrisK
Weakling
Dio is definitely my favourite. Not only does he have a terrific voice, but he also recorded 2 of Sabbath's greatest albums in my eyes: Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell.
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Allfader
Kvelding
Dio, easy choice. Ozzy's greatest asset was to be in the right place at the right time. If Dio was their singer on their first albums, there wouldn't be discussion at all.
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
Dio didn't have the grit to do what needed to be done on the early Black Sabbath albums. Him singing "Sweet Leaf" for example? "War Pigs"? I just don't see it.
TechnicalBarbarity
Poser Disposer
lmfao. You cant be serious.
Dio Sabbath will never be or come close to being on the same level as any of their first 5 albums. Yeah, Dio was technically a more skilled vocalist. But what the fuck does that have to do with anything? Ozzy's voice was and is still a huge part of the defining sound of Black Sabbath.
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
Oblivious Maximus
I am the worm
From a technical singing standpoint, Dio with Tony Martin following close behind. All around though, Ozzy all day. The perfect vocal accompaniment for that music that played a major hand in making that first album sounds as eerie as it does.
Interesting considering that he can do grittier sounding vocals on albums like Dehumanizer and Strange Highways (and sound fucking awesome, by the way). I'm listening to a live version of "War Pigs" as I type this and it's a bit weird sounding.
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
That's not really the kind of grit I was thinking of. You mean how Dio is singing with more strain on those albums? When I listen to Ozzy sing in those earlier days you can hear the dirt and muck of their surroundings whereas Dio to me was always a more purifying and epic presence. I mean, they're quite literally heaven vs hell.
I dunno, I just can't imagine Dio not only replacing Ozzy on those early records but doing them better? Allfader is out of his mind.
TechnicalBarbarity
Poser Disposer
Master_Yoda77
Juggalo
Oblivious Maximus
I am the worm
I was just thinking of "grit" in the generic sense but I totally get what you mean about being able to hear the surroundings. Ozzy and Dio's voices each bring wildly different vibes.
One thing I find interesting is that Ozzy is the only Sabbath singer to exclusively sing the songs from his era in the band live whereas Dio/Gillen/Hughes/Martin were tasked with doing their own era's mixed with the others. As much discussion has been had over the years about the post-Ozzy singers doing Ozzy songs, I haven't seen much speculation as to how Ozzy would have sounded signing songs from those who came after him. Would his voice fit in with the music on a Mob Rules or Headless Cross?
CiG
Harbinger of Metal
TechnicalBarbarity
Poser Disposer
Atomic Tide
Active Member
- Nov 24, 2013
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I immediately imagined Ozzy singing Disturbing the Priest after I read this!
The Ozzman
Melted by feels
Glenn Hughes is a more versatile vocalist than Ian Gillan and Ian Gillan apparently sounds like shit now while Glenn Hughes still sounds like he did in the 70s.
crimsonfloyd
Active Member
To start off, I think all five singers they have had were good. The thing that makes it tricky is Black Sabbath's music drastically changed when Dio joined. I think most of the Ozzy era Sabbath albums really compliment his vocal style, and the same thing is true for the Dio era albums. Ultimately, Dio is one of the greatest metal singers ever. His combination of strength and vulnerability so I think he's an easy winner. Then you have Tony Martin, who really grew on me over the years. Really strong, clean voice with lots of range. I think the songwriting in his era was far less consistent (though Headless Cross is a straight up classic album).
Ian Gilian has some excellent moments of Born Again, but also has some songs where his performance is pretty forgettable. I like Glen Hughes performance on Seventh Star, but it is pretty generic 70s/80s AOR sound.
1. Dio
2. Ozzy
3. Tony Martin
4. Ian Gilian
5. Glen Hughes
Ian Gilian has some excellent moments of Born Again, but also has some songs where his performance is pretty forgettable. I like Glen Hughes performance on Seventh Star, but it is pretty generic 70s/80s AOR sound.
1. Dio
2. Ozzy
3. Tony Martin
4. Ian Gilian
5. Glen Hughes
Oblivious Maximus
I am the worm
I might actually prefer Hughes more mature, seasoned voice on Iommi's '96 DEP Sessions and Fused, though he's singing his ass off on Seventh Star.
Ultimately I think it all boils down to all the singers being appropriate for the type of music Iommi was writing during their respective time in the band, though Dio would have probably sounded right at home on some of the Martin stuff. I could totally hear him singing something like "Evil Eye" or "Kill in the Spirit World" (though Martin's performance on that one is straight up hair-raising).
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