Never Say Die!
by Black Sabbath

It’s not a great album, with the band sounding tired and uninspired however, that’s not to say that it does have its good moments.

I really like the title track which would have fitted into Sabbath Bloody Sabbath very well. Great guitar towards the end of the track and great vocals from Ozzy.

Juniors’ eyes also has a place in my heart. Bill’s drumming is infectious and the almost jazzy, distorted guitar I really like. I don’t think that these are the best vocals from Ozzy though.

Despite these two standout tracks, the rest of the album is pretty average to poor in my opinion. Geezer labelled the album their worst and I think that I would agree with that. It really was a downhill trajectory from Sabotage, through Technical Ecstasy to Never Say Die!

All in all, it’s disjointed with a couple of standout tracks but overall, a disappointment.

I’m really glad that this wasn’t the final album that Ozzy did with Sabbath as NSD! would have been an unsatisfactory way to end

Junior's Eyes, Shockwave, and the title track are the best songs. The rest isn't bad, but just not that interesting. Everything here could have benefited from some editing as well. 5-7 minute songs are fine if the songs are great, but when they are just mediocre then they feel like a drag. I've heard worse, and I've heard better. For me, this album is just, meh?

From Jboy56 10/31/2023 10:19 | #299709

Not a required listen.

From poppmusic 03/06/2021 18:28 | #267026

Big improvement over Technical Ecstasy, it feels like their interest in making innovative metal music has returned. Of course, in various ways some of the songs fail slightly to majorly (the final track) to make that high standard, but this is still a fun listen because there's a lot to discover.

If it wasn't a Black Sabbath album some of the tracks may be considered decent. However when it closes out an era of the band that included those first 6 albums it does not come close to meeting expectations. There is no classic Sabbath song here. It was clearly time for them to part ways with Ozzy as was proven by the new success each had following this release. I would probably only give it a listen while doing a marathon of all the Sabbath albums. Otherwise it is nonessential.

From UofTBlues 12/18/2019 19:18 | #245789

The album starts off fine w/ title track however the band doesn't seem enthusiastic. Ozzy's drug/alcohol abuse was now taking it's toll on the band.

I know that this album was always considered by many to be Black Sabbath on the downward slope but personally I don't hear that. I like the slightly less heavy more melodic arrangements and the permanent keyboard addition with some great piano work from Don Airey on 'Air Dance' and I love it when it almost breaks into jazz. I can understand how hardcore Sabbath fans struggled with this but for me it is a definite like. A saxophone even puts In an appearance!

From Goliath 04/02/2018 14:43 | #212170

There are 5 good tracks on this album, the first 4 plus the over-looked Air Dance.

great album. sounds like a sabbath that locked themselves inside for a few weeks with nothing but a bunch of cocaine and pop records. favorite songs are johnny blade, junior's eyes, and of course - never say die.

From Fischman 12/15/2016 16:37 | #180227

You can tell the group was starting to really come apart on this one. Neither the songwriting nor the presentation are up to the standards of the previous seven albums. A good album overall, but not so good by Sabbath standards.