Just as soon as Ronnie James Dio returned to Black Sabbath for the Dehumanizer record, he just as quickly departed again to make room (also again) for the return of Tony Martin. Given the spottiness (to be generous) of previous Martin led Sabbath albums we were skeptical and not necessarily excited about diving into Cross Purposes however, our concerns were quickly alleviated. From Track One / Side One, "I Witness” on, the might and heaviness of Black Sabbath is back and there is now a seemingly newly discovered restraint in Martin’s vocal performance. Most of it all, Cross Purposes sounds like a capital “S" Sabbath album. While the constant across every album is Tony Iommi, the constant across all the great to good Sabbath albums is Geezer Butler. The Geez is the special Sabbath sauce!      Recommended Listening:    Video The Genius of Bill Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkL05mggaCM   HHPP Playlist Track: “Virtual Death”  https://open.spotify.com/track/2Pbg8jdEqHmtxxCowGKKZB?si=c543ff85a66e4b25   HHPP Spotify Playlist:  https://open.spotify.com/user/1298220429/playlist/4gy1wWwypkoFS2lUztvZ44?si=waSq07DBQlq3x9G1_nK0pg   Contact us at:  [email protected]   Our Music manhuntsman:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tFBWn0UFkdOEMf67TRD6W?si=vzllkbDwSEmfZFlj02GLRw Academy O.C:  https://academyoc.bandcamp.com/album/academy-o-c   Omertà 68:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/6dfiCa0qTlbPQUrqtIkStS?si=6SCjNtXbSO2xRBDuBKJelQ MidCityThree:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/2LW7wWSHd9bi3n3Q5N8i35?si=4UnUthYNR4K9FMv2dqFOVw   huntsmanhill.com instagram.com/huntsmanhill https://twitter.com/HuntsmanHill