Vinyl Record
Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes (2024 Remaster)
Black Sabbath - Cross Purposes (2024 Remaster) on LP vinyl. A 1994 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
LP ยท 1994
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 1994 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
Cross Purposes is one of the strangest and most rewarding documents of Black Sabbath's 1990s survival instinct. Originally released in 1994, it brought Tony Martin back after the Ronnie James Dio-led Dehumanizer and placed him inside a lineup that included Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bobby Rondinelli. The album does not try to recreate the early 1970s; it moves through a darker post-Dehumanizer landscape, where Sabbath's doom grammar meets the harder, more downcast atmosphere of the mid-1990s. I Witness has a direct heavy-rock charge, Cross of Thorns turns sorrow into a broad, shadowed chorus, Virtual Death sinks into slow dread, and Evil Eye closes with the kind of Iommi riff logic that makes even an overlooked Sabbath period feel connected to the root system. The 2024 remastering campaign helped return this Tony Martin-era record to circulation, making it easier to hear as a serious late-catalogue chapter rather than a footnote.
Cross Purposes matters because it shows Sabbath adapting after multiple singer eras without losing Iommi's central authority. It is a bridge between old doom instincts and 1990s heaviness, and it gives the Tony Martin story a tougher, more grounded chapter than casual histories often allow.
For collectors, Cross Purposes is important precisely because it was long harder to encounter than the canonical Ozzy and Dio albums. It belongs in a serious Sabbath run as evidence that the band kept reworking its identity through lineup changes, industry shifts and a darker metal climate.
Dense 1990s heavy metal with doom-rooted riffs, guarded melodies and a darker post-Dehumanizer atmosphere. Tony Martin sings with a dramatic, controlled edge while Geezer Butler's presence pulls the album toward older Sabbath gravity. Best for listeners who want late-period Sabbath with weight, mood and fewer theatrical flourishes than Headless Cross.
Recommended for: Black Sabbath completists tracing the Tony Martin years; collectors of early-1990s heavy metal on vinyl; listeners interested in the band after the classic Ozzy and Dio eras.
What year is Cross Purposes from? Use 1994 for the original album. The 2024 remaster is a later presentation of that album. Who sings on Cross Purposes? Tony Martin is the lead vocalist, returning after the Dio-fronted Dehumanizer period. Where should it sit in a Sabbath collection? It is a key Tony Martin-era album and a useful companion to Headless Cross, Tyr and Forbidden.