The Eternal Idol

This is the only one of the Tony Martin era Black Sabbath albums that can be streamed. It’s a shame the others are still hidden. HOWEVER. This is tied for the best in my eyes. The Shining, Glory Ride, Hard Life to Love, and the Title track are GREAT. Underrated Sabbath Masterpiece.

I love this album, yes it’s a different version of Sabbath. But Tony’s vocals are amazing. If you like 80s metal you should have no problem with this version of Sabbath. But here’s the thing Tony Martin didn’t write any of the music on here, it was meant for a different singer. Which is the reason why it’s even more disappointing that his other Sabbath fronted albums are not on here. The guy had the second longest tenure in the band, I wish the disrespect would end against him. How can younger fans make heads or tails of the era or even show their love for it if you can’t buy it and are forced to listen to albums after this on YouTube. Great first album with Martin though!

Probably the best of the Tony Martin albums, maybe because he had no hand in the writing of lyrics or vocal melodies. Though Martin is easily my least favorite singer for Black Sabbath, I can actually tolerate his singing on this, partly because he sticks to his high register and he doesn’t sing about the devil most of the time. Tony Iommi gets in some memorable guitar riffs on The Shining, Born To Lose and The Eternal Idol. It’s a very good sounding album. And I love that there is an instrumental here. But, it doesn’t sound or feel like a band album...take away Iommi’s riffs and this could be any band. Geezer Butler or Bill Ward would have at least added more personality to these songs, showing that the original Black Sabbath was more than just Iommi. Black Sabbath didn’t feel like a band at this time, it felt like Tony Iommi with a bunch of session players. Still, the story behind the recording of this album is quite entertaining, and Eternal Idol is a notch or two above Seventh Star. I like this album, though I don’t think it’s one of the better Black Sabbath albums.

Is as great as any Sabbath tune, Great Album!

Apple needs to have all the Tony Martin albums on here...cuz he has great range and he sounds better than all the previous singers

I'm sick and tired of people saying that Tony Martin isn't a good singer. Listen to tracks like nightmare, the shining, ancient warrior and lost forever. And you hear how great of a vocalist he is, I still waiting to see if iTunes gets headless cross, tyr, cross purposes and forbidden. Which great albums that Tony Martin sing on, he is the one best vocalist sabbath had.

Astounding how great Sabbath sounded with Tony Martin on vocals. We need more of the Martin era albums! Let’s see TYR and Headless Cross next.

I'm not putting a rating on this album, because I've honestly never listened to the whole thing. I'm just curious why "Headless Cross" and "TYR" are not on iTunes. I really dig those albums, and Tony Martins' vocals are really, pretty awesome. I've been looking for those albums here for a while. Had both on cassette when they were released back in '87 and '90. Hope to see them here someday soon. I think with Tony in vocals, the rest of the band had more freedom than they did with Ozzy and Dio at the helm. I think they open their sound more on these albums, doing more what THEY like, and not just what the 'leader' wants to hear. Nothing against Ozzy nor RJD- but I have read stories of how suppressing they could be with band mates. I was at "Super Rock '90" in Germany, right after Rowan Robertson joined the band, and he did NOT let Rowan do a guitar solo. Instead, he had Jens Johanssen do a keyboard solo. Not sure if there was a reason behind that, but it just seemed odd to me.

A great album. We need the rest of Tony Martin's Sabbath work

Going through the Sabbath discography, the last two albums disappointed. I was growing skeptical of the non Ozzy/Dio era. This album is not without a couple fillers (Glory Ride, Born to Lose, Scarlet Pimpernel) but largely, it is a great album. The Shining is without a doubt the highlight track, and a good starting point if you're unsure about entering this era of Sabbath, but all other tracks, Ancient Warrior, Hard Life, Lost Forever, Title Track, Nightmare... I will revisit all of them on a more regular basis. iTunes still needs the rest of the Tony Martin era though