The Illusion of Power, why the hate?

[Brendan]

I always ask myself why people hate this super doomy power song off the Forbidden album. It's really good and the rap in the song is pretty good and creative. In my opinion this is Cozy's dommiest drumming, the riff is my fav. one by Tony Iommi now I ask you the fans, why does everyone hate this song and what's your opinion about it.

[Ellbery]

You forgot to mention Tony Martins god awful shouty vocal! Maybe it could've had potential but aside from Sabbath bandwaggon jumping there was no melody!
Horrible song IMO

[Hell_Awaits]

Love the song. Who else was putting out doom in 95. \m/

[SabbathKing93]

I would nominate this song to be in the top five of worst Sabbath songs ever, to be honest.

[Sphinx]

I don't like the vocals on it. Very average song, plus the production & drum sound are awful.

[LouiST]

Well the rap is good but it doesnt fit Sabbath's sound.

[fondula]

I've always liked the song. The riffs and melodies stick in my head for days. The vocal lines in the verses are something I would liken to mocking a preacher, which I feel is kind of clever. It's not conventionally "musical" per se, but it doesn't hurt my ears like it does to other people.

[racer]

I agree it's a powerful song. Some, however, don't like "change," and Sabbath incoroporating a rap bit sure represents change. What it represented to me was a show of force, the fact that Black Sabbath could utilize modern technique (rap-metal ala lumpy bisquick) and still sound like Sabbath. And the riffage behind the rap is great ... plus it's short anyway.

The hate is misguided, IMO. The tune - indeed, the entire album - is better than critics will have you believe.

[Wicked Cricket]

The only saving grace to this whole Forbidden album is Kiss Of Death, IMO the best song they did in the Martin era, ironically, the last one on the last album. The production on this album is horrendous, worst sounding BS record ever. Totally flat, no dynamics, save for Kiss Of Death, which I wonder if Iommi slipped that one in after the fact. I mean, even the album cover, Iommi with a cast of 9-10 characatures from IceT to his buddy who produced it... I mean my God, all we needed was Madonna and Lady GaGa, could they possibly fit any more people on the Black Sabbath band wagon?

[Never Satisfied]

Not crazy about the song. It's ok. I think it's a real bad choice for album opener. I hate rap, I hate rappers and I hate hip hop culture but Ice T is pretty damn cool. I liked 2 of his songs back in the day.

[H&H]

The only saving grace to this whole Forbidden album is Kiss Of Death, IMO the best song they did in the Martin era, ironically, the last one on the last album. The production on this album is horrendous, worst sounding BS record ever. Totally flat, no dynamics, save for Kiss Of Death, which I wonder if Iommi slipped that one in after the fact. I mean, even the album cover, Iommi with a cast of 9-10 characatures from IceT to his buddy who produced it... I mean my God, all we needed was Madonna and Lady GaGa, could they possibly fit any more people on the Black Sabbath band wagon?

You hit the nail on the head!

[Steve152006]

I love the song. I'm not big on the vocals or rapping but it really shows how versatile Sabbath can be and musically the song is very powerful.

[Axeman77]

It's a OK song but thats it, a really crap opener for a album though, i miss what they used to do; like starting there album with a good straight in your face song, like Turn Up the Night and In For The Kill just to name a few. Mean i love the Shining but not a good opener IMO.

i think it would have been a great song without the rap, just don't like it at all,

, it's not that i dislike the album it's just compare that with say the Mob Rules or Headless Cross it's just not the same is it?

[Rusty Bullet]

I don't hate it, but it sounds like a joke song; more Tenacious D than Black Sabbath.

[Pink Led Rush]

I would nominate this song to be in the top five of worst Sabbath songs ever, to be honest.

My thoughts exactly. I agree with Ellbery too

[paulmelv]

i like it. A good opener for me full of power, don't get too hung up about the rap i mean come on it's only two lines!!!. The official mix is pish however and Cozy was quoted as hating what Ernie C did to his drum sound in particular. Hoping for a deluxe edition that removes the crap mix.

[Josef_K]

I don't hate it, but it sounds like a joke song; more Tenacious D than Black Sabbath.

I agree, even though I would say it is slightly better than Tenacious D. An ok song, but compared to what sabbath usually put out (included the Forbidden album) it isn't worth much.

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I always ask myself why people hate this super doomy power song off the Forbidden album.............

Because it's a load of shite. The tune is ploddingly boring like a geriatric military tattoo, Martin sounds uncharectaristically awful, Ice T suits Sabbath like Tabasco sauce in baby milk formula and to top it all off, Tony decided to use this abomination as an opening track. I can't think of any album that has a worse opening track than this.

Of the couple of hundred cds I have, this album has the worst opening track of all of them. That's quite an achievement.

On another note, the cartoonish cover art reminds me of Beavis and Butthead. Way to go Tony.

[Wicked Cricket]

Martin's voice on the whole Forbidden album sounded tired and rough, scratchy, it sounded like they recorded it just off a long tour... these Martin album's in general, I'm sorry, they sound like homogenized Black Sabbth albums, put out almost once a year to satisfy a contract, which I think probably is what was the case. There's nothing super heavy, original or dark sounding about them, T. Martin is a good singer no doubt, but Sabbath morphed into a pale shadow of itself durring this period. Martin doesn't have the darkness and charachter in his vocals that Dio and Ozzy had, and Iommi got rather lazy IMO in his approach to what they were trying to do. Forbidden on a whole is probbaly the worst of the TM era albums, save for Kiss Of Death which is a truly great song. The mix on this album is a mess, except for KOD... listen to Rusty Angels, a pretty good rocker, Iommi's nice solo at the end is BURIED under the mix, that's what happens when you call in a rap artist to mix a BS album.. all I can say is "what were they thinking?!"

[Epitaph]

I really like the song too. I dig the rapping thing and it's the only song from "Forbidden" i've heard. Waiting for the re-release!

[-E5150 StarWanderer-]

I think most people get too caught up with the rap part and the poor reputation of the album, hence judging the song to be Sabbaths low point. I see the song as a lost gem, the vocal melodies ruin this one for me, or the lack of them Only rather good vocal melody in the song is 'The Illusion of Power' passage in the chorus. But the bases of the song are heavy and doomy, they would fit Master of Reality or Dehumanizer, actually. I would love to hear a new version of the song with new melodies and the rap part left out (not from a purist reasons, I just don't like it). The latter could be replaced with a normal, short speech in the vein of Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Iron Maiden.

[Adam]

I love it. What a lineup:

# Tony Iommi - lead guitar
# Tony Martin - Vocals
# Neil Murray - Bass
# Cozy Powell - Drums
# Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards

[laterite]

Low Fat Diet Plan - Weight Loss For Healthy Living
Diet Plan

[shadow of the wind]

I played this song to my best friend who isn't into Metal and - suprise, surprise - he hated it. He said that one's the absolute epitome of Iommi's creative writing crisis. He hates everything about it: the 'drowsy' riff, the really bad rap parts by Ice T and the whole athmosphere of the track. Well, you might say I shouldn't have played that song to someone who usually doesn't like Heavy Metal Music. That's right, but he liked the Crossover Nu Metal Stuff Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit did (which I really hate) and so I thought he might like this Cooperation as well. Bad luck!

In my opinion "The Illusion of Power" is a really heavy, powerful Song that absolutely fits to open a Black Sabbath album. It's in a way a little too doomy, but hey, this album was called "Forbidden" and you have to cope with this title musicalwise. Although I think this is the worst Sabbath record ever, the opener is great.

[rick1892]

You shouldn't try put rap crap shit into Sabbath. I detest the idea of putting trash genres of music into sabbath. The worst sabbath song ever. I didnt mind the rest of Forbiidden once you get used to the shitty production. I know Cozy complained that he hated the drum sound on the album

[Valhalla]

I love this song. I think it's one of the "doomiest" songs (maybe the dommiest?) songs Tony ever written. The guitar is like a chain in this song and Martin's voice kicks ass!
The only thing I don't like is this stupid rap by Ice-T. Man this part of the song really sucks if you ask me but anyways, the rest of the songs is really amazing and pure doom, I mean just listen to the chorus. And these evil laughs between the lines by this dark voice, haha, just E5150.

[KazolOrajia]

I love it. I think it's a great opener, has a great riff, Martin isn't at his best but still does excellent. I'm not a fan of Ice-T's part either, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the songs.

[Musicman11]

To be honest I'm not that big of a fan of Forbidden all together. Like it was said earlier Kiss Of Death is the best on here, it's not an awful album, but I do think it is Sabbath's worst hour and is especially disappointing considering the fact that it came after the excellent Cross Purposes. But as for the song itself, it has some decent parts, but to me it just seems rather bland and the spoken word/rap (Whatever it is.) just isn't that good in my opinion. The main riff just doesn't grab me like other Sabbath songs do, it's just not that good in my opinion. It may be a statement, but it's a statement I don't care for.

[Wyrdskein]

Love the song. Who else was putting out doom in 95. \m/

Electric Wizard.

[gunman42782]

Rap sucks, end of story.

[Greenstang]

I liked it from day one in 1995. That song is fantastic. It dark, slow, powerful, really great track.