Tyr (album)
| Tyr | ||||
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| Studio album by Black Sabbath | ||||
| Released | 20 August 1990 | |||
| Recorded | February–June 1990 | |||
| Studio |
Rockfield Studios, Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales Woodcray Studios, Berkshire, England |
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| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 39:16 | |||
| Label | I.R.S. | |||
| Producer | Black Sabbath | |||
| Black Sabbath chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Tyr (/ˈtɪər/;) is the fifteenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in August 1990 by I.R.S. Records.
The album title, and several song titles, allude to Norse mythology, which led many to call Tyr a concept album, although bassist Neil Murray dispelled that in 2005, stating that while many of the songs may seem loosely related, very little of the album has to do with mythology and it was not intended to be a concept recording.
In Norse mythology, Týr is the god of single combat and heroic glory, and the son of Odin.
The album's departure from the darker lyrics of Headless Cross was discussed by Tony Iommi in his 2012 autobiography Iron Man: "For our next album, Tyr, we went back to the Woodcray Studios in February 1990, with me and Cozy producing it again. On Headless Cross, Tony [Martin] had just come into the band and he assumed, oh, Black Sabbath, it's all about the Devil, so his lyrics were full of the Devil and Satan. It was too much in your face. We told him to be a bit more subtle about it, so for Tyr he did all these lyrics about Nordic gods and whatnot. It took me a while to get my head around that."
This album represents possibly the most dramatic departure from Black Sabbath's traditional sound, with only traces of it found in the occasional riff. The production has been criticised by some (who claim Cozy Powell's drums drown out most of the other instruments) and praised by others, who note that this is one of Sabbath's heaviest albums and perhaps the most prominently reliant on keyboards by the perennial fifth member, Geoff Nicholls. As a result, much of the music is a lot darker than previous Sabbath works, closely resembling the previous album Headless Cross.
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