Mob Rules (album)

Recording

After finishing Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath’s first new piece of music was a version of “The Mob Rules” for the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack. Another track, “E5150,” shows up in the film but didn’t make it onto that soundtrack. Guitarist Tony Iommi’s autobiography says the band started writing and practicing for the album at a rented house in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles. They wanted to cut costs by recording in their own space and bought a mixing desk, but Iommi recalled they couldn’t get a decent guitar sound no matter where they tried—studio, hallway, anywhere.

They ended up recording at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. This was the first Sabbath record with drummer Vinny Appice, who took over for Bill Ward partway through the Heaven and Hell tour. Bassist Geezer Butler said the switch wasn’t hard because Appice was a big fan who knew Ward’s parts and Butler’s bass lines, and he fit in perfectly. Butler named “The Sign of the Southern Cross” his favorite song on the album, since it let him play around with bass effects.

Mob Rules marked the last time the band worked with producer Martin Birch, who later teamed up with Iron Maiden until he retired. Iommi told Guitar World that both the band and Birch were dealing with drug issues at the time, and he believed that hurt the record’s sound.

Artwork

The album cover for Mob Rules uses a 1974 painting called "Dream 1: Crucifiers" by Greg Hildebrandt, part of a series he created with his brother. The paintings came about after a planned documentary on world hunger, guided by the Catholic Church, fell through, leaving Greg with a strained relationship with the church. This led to the dream series, which was published in 1978 by Ballantine Books in The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt. For the album, the artwork was modified: a hook on the left side of the torture device became a cross, and a central blood stain was reshaped to look more like a devil's head.

Release and reception

Mob Rules was released on 4 November 1981 to mixed reviews. In the US it went gold, and in the UK it reached the Top 20 and spawned two chart singles: the title track and "Turn Up the Night". AllMusic's Greg Prato called the album underrated and noted that Martin Birch gave it a punchier mix after his work on Iron Maiden's Killers album, though he criticized the sequencing for mirroring Heaven and Hell. Tony Iommi acknowledged this criticism in his memoir, admitting frustration at being accused of making Heaven and Hell part two and speculating that the band would have been criticized regardless.

Seven of the album's tracks were played live on the Mob Rules Tour; "E5150" was used as an intro tape, and "Over and Over" was not featured on the tour. The title track was the only song regularly played by Black Sabbath on subsequent tours, while "Falling Off the Edge of the World" was performed live by Heaven & Hell and "Sign of the Southern Cross" occasionally by Dio. J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone gave a negative review in 1986, but Bryan Reesman noted that the title track's menacing cover and lyrics actually caution against mindless mayhem.

Modern re-evaluations are generally favorable, with Rolling Stone awarding three stars and reviewers such as AllMusic's Fred Thomas observing that Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell work as companion pieces.