"From the very start of the album, most Black Sabbath fans will be comforted by the way the band sounds. Because it IS Iommi and Butler after all, and they are the very basis of Black Sabbath’s sound. The opening track “I Witness” starts exactly like you would expect a Dio-fronted Sabbath song to sound, so following on the heels of exactly that with their previous album, it is great to hear. Tony Martin returns on vocals without missing a beat, awesome from the outset, on top of a wonderful Geezer Butler bass line and the ever-present Tony Iommi riff, and that always solid beat of Bobby Rondinelli drums. The song has a great groove and gives the album the start it needs to have the fans know that Black Sabbath is still alive. It’s a great track, and certainly ranks as one of the band’s best post- “Mob Rules”."

On this episode we are going to talk about “Cross Purposes” by Black Sabbath, the band’s 17th studio album released 30 years ago this week, on today’s ‘eyewitness’ episode of Music from a Lifetime.