h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know he usually ranks as the third guy on the totem pole for most Sabbath fans, but with FIVE albums with them, I'd think that Tony Martin really rates a mention here.

Martin took over lead vocals for Sabbath in '87 with "Eternal Idol", stayed on through '89's "Headless Cross" and '90's "TYR" before being replaced by a briefly returning Dio on '92's big Wayne's World comeback "Dehumanizer".

Dio didn't stick around long, and Martin was brought back in '94 for the excellent "Cross Purposes" album and then finally '95's somewhat strange "Forbidden".

In my opinion Martin's voice suits Sabbath really well and fits nicely with the gloomy themes. "Cross Purposes" is an excellent album with quite a few highlights, like "Immaculate Deception", "I Witness", and "Virtual Death".

TYR's also a pretty solid album - "Anno Mundi" and "Valhalla" stand out there, but the album as a whole, with a Norse mythology theme, is worth a listen.

The other 80's albums - "Eternal Idol" and "Headless Cross" are both decent albums with some good tracks, but "Eternal Idol" is pretty "eh". "Headless Cross" is better than Eternal Idol but in my opinion still doesn't hold up as well as "TYR".

Finally, "Forbidden" is possibly the heaviest disc Sabbath made other than Dehumanizer, but Ernie C's (of Ice-T's Body Count) production takes things deep and very gritty. Ice-T's guest spot on the "Illusion Of Power" track is kind of strange and gets the album off on the wrong foot, but there are still a couple Sabbath gems to come -- "Rusty Angels" especially is a Martin/Sabbath highlight.

Sadly it always seems to be a case of fans only knowing the Ozzy albums because he's the guy on MTV. Tony Martin is a truly excellent singer, a sort of mature version of Ronnie James Dio (who is fantastic as well). Headless Cross is definately one of my favourite Sabbath albums, everyone go check out the title track, Call Of The Wild and Nightwing if you don't believe. It doesn't sound like 'classic' Sabbath but bugger boo. They lost that sound about 30 years ago anyway.

Why is it no-one is mentioning the brief encounter that Ian Gillan had with the band?
OK it was not as good as Dio or Ozzy but he still made a good album with Sabbath.