Seventh Star
| Seventh Star | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Black Sabbath | ||||
| Released | 28 January 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Studio | Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California Cheshire Sound Studios, Atlanta, Georgia |
|||
| Genre | Heavy metal, hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 34:55 | |||
| Label |
Vertigo Warner Bros. (US/Canada) |
|||
| Producer | Jeff Glixman | |||
| Black Sabbath chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Tony Iommi with Glenn Hughes chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Classic Rock |   |
| Martin Popoff | |
Seventh Star is the twelfth studio album by British band Black Sabbath, released in January 1986. The release came at a difficult time as the group had just finished a highly contentious tour, experiencing conflicts within the band. With guitarist and songwriter Tony Iommi being the sole original member left, musicians Geoff Nicholls, Eric Singer, and Dave Spitz contributed to the album, playing keyboards, drums, and bass, respectively. Glenn Hughes, ex-Deep Purple bassist and vocalist, was the lead singer on this album. Musically, it features a blues rock influenced sound that moved from the group's traditional heavy metal to a more eclectic style. Additionally, it was the first Black Sabbath album to feature the band as a quintet, as keyboardist Geoff Nicholls was confirmed as an official band member the year prior.
The album was the group's first release without bassist Geezer Butler, who left the band in 1984 after the aforementioned Born Again tour. It was originally written, recorded, and intended to be the first solo album by Iommi, as shown by the musical experimentation. However, due to pressures by Warner Bros. Records and the prompting of band manager Don Arden, the record was billed as Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi. Later releases label the album as simply by Black Sabbath.
Despite the issues behind the release's production, it earned major commercial success, reaching #78 on the Billboard 200 chart.
As was the case with its predecessor, Born Again, this album was not originally intended to be a Black Sabbath record. It was last-minute pressure from Warner Bros. to stamp the Black Sabbath name onto it due to the belief that it was more likely to sell records with the already famous name. Because of this, its sound is a drastic (and intentional) departure from the trademark Sabbath sound. Many of the songs have a very hard rock sound, while some contain a bluesy feel (especially "Heart Like a Wheel"). Seventh Star was the first album to feature long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls as an official band member.
...
Wikipedia