Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal
Label - Self Released (available through iTunes)
Track listing:
01 - Leaf Killers
02 - Accountable Beasts
03 - Katastrophic World
04 - D.O.T.H.
05 - First Day Back
06 - As It Is In Heaven
07 - Ashes
08 - Straws
09 - The Wall OF Death
So without warning or fanfare, Black Sabbath's legendary original drummer releases his third, and first in eighteen years!), solo album up on the world.
And to be honest, the album sounds exactly as you would expect, with a sound that fits somewhere in between that of his debut (Ward One - Along The Way) and its follow up (When The Bough Breaks).
Opener, Leaf Killers begins with a heavy chugging riff, before piano and orchestration kicks in. A great opener and more importantly a great song.
The albums title track follows, Accountable Beasts. This song really picks up the tempo, and has a loose feel to it, in fact the entire album has a raw garage feel to it, with Bill avoiding the trappings of over producing the tracks, which really brings out the quality of the songs.
Katrastrophic World follows with its menacing atmospheres and doomy riffs. This could have been worked up into a great Sabbath track had the reunion gone to plan!
D.O.T.H is a track that could have fitted well on Ward One - Along The Way. A great song in its own right, but in my opinion the weakest one so far into the album.
Next we have First Day Back, a song with a strange beginning to say the least, funky guitars and sound bites. A great if quirky (in places) song that again would have easily fitted on Ward One.
AS It Is In Heaven is I guess the albums ballad. Its a great song, but as with most tracks on Bill's solo albums, its not quite what you are expecting. I love this song!
Ashes follows with its chugging riffs, but slow melodic vocal. Another great song, that morphs through many tempos and changes before it reaches its conclusion.
Straws is a track that some fans may have heard previously, as I am sure it was made available a few years ago whilst Bill was working on his shelved Beyond Aston project (A project that I pray will one day see the light of day!). Still its a great if rather dark song, another of my favourites.
Finally we have the albums mighty closer, The Wall Of Death, which clocks in at around the ten minute mark. Its a monster, a really great song.
Despite all the recent claims about Bills health issues he plays drums on seven of the nine album tracks, playing alongside long time collaborators, guitarist-keyboardist Keith Lynch, bassist Paul Ill, drummers Ronnie Ciago and Walter Earl and a number of vocalists, including his daughter Emily.
This album proves that there is plenty of life in the Black Sabbath legend, along with vast amounts of creativity it would seem too.
Accountable Beasts is a good honest old Hard Rock album that is well worth checking out.
Vary Highly Recommended!!
Rating - 10/10
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