Everything that seemed to go so magically right with Black Sabbath’s recruitment of Ronnie James Dio for 1981's 'Mob Rules' went disastrously wrong when Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler (and a briefly reinstated Bill Ward) hired their next, already legendary, singer -- former Deep Purple belter Ian Gillan. It was a match made in heavy metal hell that resulted in 1983’s cursed ‘Born Again.’

Simply put, Sabbath’s thunderous dinosaur stomp and Gillan’s bluesy wail (never mind his quirky, often humorous lyrics) were chalk and cheese, leaving listeners stumped as to whether they should laugh, cry, run for the hills or hail Satan when faced with the clumsy, offensive and head-scratching double entendres muddling ‘Disturbing the Priest,’ ‘Digital Bitch,’ ‘Keep it Warm’ and the lone winner ‘Trashed,’ which was fast and infectious enough to get the job done.

Even before the towering Stonehenge monoliths commissioned for Sabbath’s stage set proved too large for most venues to handle during the supporting tour (with ex-Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan taking over for Ward), ‘Born Again’ had become, at best, a natural punch line for Spinal Tap (yes, ‘Born Again’ features a useless instrumental called ‘Stonehenge’) and, at worst, belated revenge for Ozzy Osbourne's belated revenge. The album put Sabbath’s long career out of its misery ... or did it?

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