To Hell and Back: Black Sabbath’s Dio Years

By Adrien Begrand

Ronnie James Dio's original three-year sojourn with Black Sabbath was mercurial, but it completely transformed and re-energized the band. [28 August 2008]

Part 2: Janis Ian to Jimi Hendrix (1966-1970)

By PopMatters Staff

Music truly is the universal language. The best songs of protest are passed around, from movement-to-movement, era-to-era; its singers gaining multilingual fluency along the way. [17 July 2007]

Into the Void: John Darnielle on Sabbath, Extreme Metal, and Indie Rock

By Adrien Begrand

Begrand dives into metal fandom with the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, who discusses the Mighty Riff, the uneasy relationship between indie and metal camps, and the life experiences behind his new book on Black Sabbath's Master of Reality. [18 April 2008]

(more Blood and Thunder)

Out of Shadows, Shining Ever-Bright

By Adrien Begrand

After catching the reunited '80s-era, Ronnie James Dio-helmed Black Sabbath on tour in Canada, Begrand looks back on an oft-neglected period in the metal titans' career. [26 April 2007]

(more Blood and Thunder)

Black Sabbath: The Dio Years

By Adrien Begrand

Ronnie James Dio's tenure in Black Sabbath was brief, but it resulted in some of the greatest songs in heavy metal history. [24 April 2007]

Black Sabbath: Greatest Hits 1970-1978

By Roger Holland

Does Ozzy want a special prize for helping to invent the power ballad? Because I've got a bullet with his name on it right here, if so. [17 May 2006]

Black Sabbath: Past Lives

By Michael Christopher

Together, the two discs compliment each other well in an odd and circular way. Both are representative of what Sabbath was in the ‘70s; if they weren’t on, they were off and on the verge of destruction.