How Dio killed Sabbath

Believe it or not, there was a time when Black Sabbath was Ozzy-less and Ozzy just kind of sucked on his own. Ronnie James Dio is the more popular replacement out of the seven different singers Black Sabbath has had from the beginning until now. The Dio Years includes 13 tracks from those years, along with three new ones recorded by the Dio-led Sabbath. It's still Sabbath, but a little cheesier.\nBlack Sabbath led by Ozzy was sinister, dirty, dissonant, droning and pretty damn awesome. Ozzy went on to lead a hit-and-miss solo career, while the remaining members snatched Dio to continue on. Dio's voice is very Robert Plant mixed with Iron Maiden, very different from Ozzy's dying howls. The rest of the band trades in the heaviness for … power metal!\nPower metal … I'm just not feeling it. "Lady Evil" starts out with a low, bassy synth line and flies right into Van Halen-esque guitars and Dio's womanly voice. It's catchy but in a bad way. Lady Evil's queen of the night, by the way.\nMany of these songs slow down the energy and take form of the infamous power ballad, drenched in wailing guitar solos, pianos, synthesizers and wussy vocals. As older Sabbath was hateful and evil, Dio brings, God forbid, emotion into the mix. Ew, get over it. "Lonely is the Word" is cheesy as hell. Vomit-inducing are the words that come to my mind.\nMind you, this is a collection of what should be considered the best of Black Sabbath with Dio. "The Mob Rules" is probably the best track, and it's still pretty cheesy. Black Sabbath with Dio is the epitome of everything bad about '80s metal.\nThe new tracks are a little rawer. The guitars are a lot crunchier and a little darker, but the power metal feel is still intact. Seriously, if you like metal, you either love this style or you hate it. Power metal will be the bane of me.\nIf you loved the self-titled, if you loved Paranoid, if you loved Master of Reality and Sabotage, if you miss Ozzy, then chances are you'll hate this. Dio ruined Black Sabbath. I don't care if their albums went platinum with him; he still sucks.