The Geezer Butler Band's version is available as a download on Butler's website. "Computer God" was the title of an unreleased song by The Geezer Butler Band, in 1986 – only the title made it to Dehumanizer. These songs can be found, along with other demos and untitled songs, on the Complete Dehumanizer Sessions bootleg. Initial demo sessions with Powell yielded numerous recordings, including two unreleased songs – "The Night Life" (also called "Next Time"), the riff being later used for "Psychophobia" on Cross Purposes, and "Bad Blood", which sounds very similar to "I" on Dehumanizer. During the recording session for the album, Tony Martin made a short comeback when invited by the band members to try the songs out but stayed just for a couple of days and the band then continued with Dio. They subsequently recruited Vinny Appice, who had served as Black Sabbath's drummer during most of Dio's previous tenure with the band, from 1980–1982. Dio initially wanted to replace Powell with Simon Wright, from AC/DC and his own band, but Butler and Iommi rejected him. The record was originally to be done with drummer Cozy Powell, then Black Sabbath's current drummer, but he was immobilized by a broken pelvic bone he had sustained in a horse riding accident. The album was recorded in Wales, at Rockfield Studios, where Queen had recorded A Night at the Opera. Lyrical themes vary from a computer worshipped as a god, to televangelists, to individualism and doubts about the afterlife. Instead, Dio split when he refused to open shows for Ozzy Osbourne's retirement tour they used Judas Priest singer Rob Halford for a few shows, and then everyone left but Iommi and Butler, who stayed on to paste a new lineup back together for the marginally better Cross Purposes.Both lyrically and musically, it is considered one of Sabbath's heaviest albums. Dehumanizer isn't terrible, but it should have been the sign for the band to call it a career. At least he doesn't sing about dragons, but it wouldn't be that much worse than what is here. "Computer God," "TV Crimes," and "Master of Insanity" are all decent songs that are tanked by his cheesy "contempt for humanity" lyrics. And instead of Butler's classic doom-laden lyrics making their triumphant return, Dio takes on the writing duties and manages to pen some true stinkers. The bandmembers do craft enough good riffs to make songs like "Time Machine" and "After All (The Dead)" at least sound interesting, but they don't deliver a "Heaven and Hell" or "E5150" like they could have. "Sins of the Father" is a good example they attempt a "Children of the Sea"-type slow jam with the same ringing guitar and up-tempo vocals, but the hook is just not there and the band sounds like its creative wheels are spinning in place. But they cannot seem to overcome the challenge of crafting classic Sabbath material, and it is this issue that haunts the recording from moment one. Ronnie James Dio delivers his strongest performance since the early '80s, and hearing Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi play together after nine years is inspiring. But with ten-year-old internal tensions still gnawing away at the band, they hastily created Dehumanizer, a weird side note in their long history. In a perfect world, they would have created a monster of an album and shot back into the limelight with a vengeance. Sabbath and Dio were dealing with a dwindling fan base, unsuccessful albums, and a longstanding creative rut when they decided to reunite the Mob Rules lineup.
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