Black Sabbath’s “Born Again” (1983): the most unhinged lineup gamble they ever pressed to vinyl #blacksabbath

Album Description

"Born Again" (1983) is Black Sabbath doing the least polite thing possible: swapping singers and still kicking the door off its hinges. Ian Gillan turns up as the one-off studio voice, and suddenly the band sounds like it’s arguing with itself in real time—classic rhythm section muscle underneath, a frontman who can grin and bite in the same line. This West-German 12" LP pressing (Vertigo 814 271-1) is the kind of copy that feels like it was built to survive teenage bedrooms and bad ideas.

The record doesn’t glide; it lurches. Big riffs, big moods, and a sound that’s famously not everyone’s favourite—muddy in places, blunt in others—but it keeps moving. “Trashed” hits like a hangover confession, “Disturbing the Priest” goes full gothic panic, and “Zero the Hero” just plants itself and refuses to budge. No tidy redemption arc. Good.

References

"Born Again" Album Artwork Controversy

That sleeve doesn’t “arrive” so much as it ambushes. One second you’re expecting sober, doom-classic seriousness; the next you’re holding a red devil-baby with horns and fangs like it’s daring you to keep a straight face. Record shops didn’t need a listening booth to start arguments that week. Just lean it on the counter and watch people flinch.

Early ’80s heavy metal already had the usual crowd clutching pearls and hunting for Satan in the cereal box. This cover didn’t help. It’s not subtle, it’s not elegant, and it sure isn’t trying to be liked. That’s the point: it looks like someone took a perfectly normal band meeting and set it on fire for entertainment.

References

Album Production Information:

The album: "BLACK SABBATH - Born Again" was produced by: Robin Black and Black Sabbath

Robin Black - Producer

Robin Black – Producer, Sound Engineer

Studio-hardened behind-the-glass operator: early ’70s Tull detail, mid-’70s Sabbath grit, back again in ’83. Read more...

Robin Black is the kind of behind-the-glass operator who made loud bands sound dangerous without turning them to mush. In the early 1970s he helped capture Jethro Tull’s tight, woody dynamics—the era when arrangements actually breathed and you could hear air move around the flute. Mid-1970s he was in the trenches with Black Sabbath, engineering "Sabotage" (1975) and mixing/engineering "Technical Ecstasy" (1976), keeping the riffs sharp while the room tried to fall apart. By 1983 he’s back on the Sabbath ledger as engineer and co-producer on "Born Again"—a reminder that he could wrangle chaos, tape, and egos with the same steady hands. Seeing his name on credits still makes me trust the faders.

Steve Chase - Sound Engineer

Ross Halfin - Photography

Ross Halfin – Photographer

The guy who made hard rock look like it smelled: sweat, flash powder, and backstage neon. Read more...

Ross Halfin is the British lens-slinger who turned loud music into evidence, not decoration. Late 1970s had him cutting his teeth for Sounds, stalking the punk spill—The Clash, The Jam, the Sex Pistols—fast, close, no mercy. From 1980 onward he became Kerrang!’s chief photographer and stayed in that trench for about two decades, which says plenty about stamina. The 1980s pushed him deeper into heavy metal: Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath—tour buses, arenas, and the occasional glamour that still looked slightly dangerous. Since then the circle widened and hardened: Metallica and the big hard-rock orbit, shot with the same blunt honesty. Trust the timing, trust the grin, distrust the posing.

Ross Halfin Wiki

Steve Barrett - Artwork

Steve Joule - Artwork

Steve Joule – Album Artwork Artist

Sleeve-surgery specialist: freelance from 1976, Kerrang! art director from 1982, and never shy with ink. Read more...

Steve Joule, Steve Joule is the sleeve-art mechanic who knows a record needs a face before it needs a slogan. Working freelance in the music industry since 1976, he moved through late-’70s and early-’80s rock with sleeves and layouts for names like AC/DC, Deep Purple, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, Robert Plant, Gary Moore, Blondie, Japan, Magnum, Praying Mantis, Anthrax, Sammy Hagar, Girlschool, and even the Sex Pistols. In 1982 he stepped into the hotter seat as Art Director at Kerrang!, shaping that whole era’s loud visual language. Best-known flashpoint sits in 1983 with Black Sabbath’s "Born Again" cover—proof he could make a band’s mood visible, even when it made people wince.

Music Genre:

Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Record Label Information

Vertigo 814 271

Packaging:

This album "BLACK SABBATH - Born Again" includes the original custom inner sleeve with album details, complete lyrics of all songs by and photos.

Media Format:

Record Format: 12" LP Vinyl Stereo Gramophone Record. Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 230 gram

Year & Country:

1983 Made in West Germany

Band Members and Musicians on: BLACK SABBATH - Born Again

Ian Gillan - vocals
Ian Gillan – Vocals
Fun bit: the guy who hit those stratospheric notes also played Jesus (1970) before he went full purple thunder. Read more...

Ian Gillan, the razor-throated storyteller who helped turn Deep Purple into a stadium engine (1969–1973), then came back for the 1984 reunion and later tours. Before the purple thunder I cut my teeth in Episode Six (1965–1969). In 1970 I also sang Jesus on the original "Jesus Christ Superstar" album—pure theatre, no cape. I went jazz-rock with the Ian Gillan Band (1975–1978), cranked it harder with Gillan (1978–1982), and even took a wild detour fronting Black Sabbath on "Born Again" (1983). Solo records and guest spots followed, but that operatic scream and sly phrasing always gave the game away, whether I was whispering a blues line or detonating a high note over a Marshall stack.

Ian Gillan Wiki
Tony Iommi - guitar, flute
Tony Iommi – Guitar
The riff inventor who turned missing fingertips into a whole new genre. Casual flex. Read more...

Tony Iommi is Black Sabbath’s riff architect, the guy who turned a factory accident into the sound of heavy metal. From 1968-2017 he was the constant in Sabbath’s many shapes, anchoring the classic Ozzy run (1968-1979) and then dragging the name through every storm that followed. When the Dio-era core rebranded as Heaven & Hell (2006-2010), he proved the same hands could still summon fresh thunder. Iommi’s down-tuned, fingertip-adapted chords don’t "shred"; they loom, like machinery waking up in the dark, and that’s why every doom riff owes him rent. As a collector, I’ll take one Iommi chord over a hundred flashy solos. He stepped out solo with "Iommi" (2000) and "Fused" (2005), but the Sabbath pulse never left his fingers.

Tony Iommi Wiki
Geezer Butler - bass guitar
Terry "Geezer" Butler – Bass
The low-end philosopher who wrote the nightmares so the rest of us could hum them in public. Read more...

Terry "Geezer" Butler, Terence "Geezer" Butler is Black Sabbath's low-end brains trust, the bassist who made the riffs feel like factory machinery and wrote the words that haunted your bedroom wall. From 1968-1979 he anchored the classic lineup, then returned for the big reunion runs (1997-2006, 2011-2017). His lyrics leaned into war, paranoia, and sci-fi dread - think "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" - but he always sounded more human than theatrical. He also powered the Dio-era revival as Heaven & Hell (2006-2010) and even jumped into Ozzy's solo camp for the 1988 tour, because why not keep it in the family. Mid-90s he went off-grid with G//Z/R, proving he could sound modern without asking permission. I collect these records, but Geezer collected the nightmares first.

Terry "Geezer" Butler Wiki
Bill Ward - drums
Bill Ward – Drums
Jazz-blooded thunder behind the doom: the swing in Sabbath’s sledgehammer. Read more...

Bill Ward is the heartbeat of early Black Sabbath, a drummer with jazz instincts who made heavy music breathe. From 1968-1980 he powered the classic run, then returned for key chapters: the 1983 "Born Again" era, and the full-force reunion years 1997-2006, when the original engine room roared again. Before Sabbath, he and Tony Iommi crossed paths in Mythology (1967-1968), and you can hear that chemistry later in the way Ward swings inside riffs that should be too heavy to move. He even stepped out front with "Ward One: Along the Way" (1990) and "When the Bough Breaks" (1997). For me, Ward is the secret weapon: without his loose-limbed punch, Sabbath would be heavy, sure - but not alive.

Bill Ward Wiki
Geoff Nicholls - keyboards
Geoff Nicholls – Keyboardist
Black Sabbath's secret keyboard weapon, hiding in plain sound. Read more...

Geoff Nicholls was Birmingham's ghost-in-the-amps keyboardist, making Black Sabbath sound wider without turning it into prog theatre. I first clocked him in late-1960s/early-1970s Brum bands (including World of Oz), then Quartz, before Sabbath drafted him in 1979. Hired as a second guitarist, he even covered bass briefly when Geezer Butler stepped out, then settled on keys once the lineup reset. From "Heaven and Hell" (1980) to "Forbidden" (1995) he's on the studio run; live he doubled parts, sometimes grabbed rhythm guitar, and stayed with the band until 2004. Officially, he was a member in 1986-1991 and again 1993-1996 - proof you can be essential and still get filed under "etc."

Geoff Nicholls Wiki