Black Sabbath - Seventh Star (1986)

Country: UK
Year: 1986
Line-up: Glenn Hughes (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitars), Dave Spitz (bass), Eric Singer (drums), Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)

Track Listing:

1.	In for the Kill	3:42
2.	No Stranger to Love	4:30
3.	Turn to Stone	3:29
4.	Sphinx (The Guardian)	1:11
5.	Seventh Star	5:21
6.	Danger Zone	4:27
7.	Heart like a Wheel	6:37
8.	Angry Heart	3:07
9.	In Memory	2:38
10.	No Stranger to Love (alt version)	4:01

Fletchanator's comment: What's this? A Black Sabbath album on House of Hairspray? Surely this is a mistake, right? Well, if you're unfamiliar with this album you might think that, but if you know this album you know that it fits into the theme of this blog perfectly. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Black Sabbath's melodic hard rock album.
Initially recorded as a Tony Iommi solo album, this one ended up having the Black Sabbath name slapped on it by the record company, who naturally wanted to cash in. Boy did long-time Sabbath fans get a shock when they gave this one a listen for the first time expecting something akin to the Ozzy-fronted doom metal or the Dio-fronted power metal, or even the heavy metal of Born Again with Ian Gillan. Instead what they got was a sometimes-bluesy, sometimes-glammy hard rock album, with former Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes behind the microphone. At times this gets downright AOR-ish, such as with the song No Stranger to Love.
If you've never heard this album, you need to hear it. Forget the Black Sabbath name, this is just great mid-80s hard rock, sounding like Dokken or Y&T in places (see the song Danger Zone). And whether he's chugging out gloomy metal riffs or more radio-friendly guitar work like here, Tony Iommi is one of the greatest axemen of all time. Plus you get current-KISS drummer Eric Singer on the skins and Dave Spitz (who has played with Great White and White Lion) on bass.

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