This isn't just a result of 13's raw production values it's also that the band is clearly grasping for the same dire emotions (soul-deep malaise, reaper-fearing horror) that fueled their early work, emotions that from the mid-'80s on- as Iommi carried on under the Sabbath banner with a Wiki-nightmare's worth of collaborators- have shared album space with less weighty, more pedestrian hard rock. The doomy passages in the first two tracks, "End of the Beginning" and "God Is Dead?", sound stupendously heavy. The record's greatest strength is how well it captures the apocalyptic trudge that Sabbath nailed from the very first downbeat of their 1970 debut.
But 13 does offer many of the primal joys that helped immortalize Sabbath in the first place, while documenting the spark that still unites Osbourne, Iommi, and Butler, all three of whom sound about as vital here as anyone could've hoped. No amount of good intention could recapture the black magic of the band's narcotically enhanced glory days, and while Wilk's performance is sturdy enough, no sub could eclipse Ward, one of the most distinctive rock drummers of the last 40 years and the engine behind Sabbath's signature sludge-blues cadences. Does 13 measure up to classics such as Paranoid and Vol. As with most Rubin ventures, the goal from the outset was to help the band recapture their original mojo, the chemistry that made their initial 1970-78 run so brilliant. That it's cohesive, engaging, and even fun is a near-shock. That 13 isn't an out-of-touch embarrassment is a surprise.
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