Rate the Studio Album Covers from Best to Worst

[headlessmatt1983]

Of course we all love Sabbath for the music. But, what about those covers!!!!!!!!! Curious to see what you guys think. Best to worst.

Here's what I think.........

1. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
2. TYR
3. Black Sabbath
4. Eternal Idol
5. Master of Reality
6. Vol. 4
7. Headless Cross
8. Heaven and Hell
9. Mob Rules
10. Cross Purposes
11. Never Say Die
12. Forbidden
13. Technical Ecstasy
14. Born Again
15. Sabotage
16. Paranoid
17. Seventh Star
18. Dehumanizer

[Josef_K]

Hmmm... lets see...

1. Black Sabbath
2. Heaven and Hell
3. TYR
4. Born Again
5. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
6. Cross Purposes
7. Headless Cross
8. Seventh Star
9. Eternal Idol
10. Mob Rules
11. Master of Reality
12. Paranoid
13. Vol. 4
14. Dehumanizer
15. Sabotage
16. Never Say Die
17. Technical Ecstasy
18. Forbidden

Something like that... Actually many of their covers are quite bad compared to many other artists imo, but the debut is one of the strongest I've seen, and the rest of top 5 are really good at least.

[Totentanz]

I think Sabbath covers are excellent overall. I love the first 15 covers I've listed below, they're all classic in one way or another and close together in quality (the order is almost interchangeable). I've included the 2 live and 1 compilation that I think are also worthy, plus TDYK. Numbers 16 - 20 show a significant drop in quality to covers that are average to me. Dehumanizer and Forbidden I'd go so far as to say are fairly terrible. One thing I like is they never got bogged down in a set logo for the band name, that's classy.

1. Born Again
2. Sabotage
3. Technical Ecstasy
4. Never Say Die
5. Greatest Hits (marauding skeletons cover)
6. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
7. Black Sabbath
8. Mob Rules
9. Heaven & Hell
10. Live Evil
11. Live at Last
12. Eternal Idol
13. Paranoid
14. Vol 4
15. Master Of Reality
16. Seventh Star
17. TDYK
18. Cross Purposes
19. Tyr
20. Headless Cross
21. Dehumanizer
22. Forbidden

[Soul Sucker]

1. Black Sabbath
2. Heaven and Hell
3. Cross Purposes
4. Forbidden
5. TYR
6. Mob Rules
7. Headless Cross
8. Eternal Idol
9. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
10. Never Say Die
11. Dehumanizer
12. Paranoid
13. The Devil You Know
14. Sabotage
15. Vol. 4
16. Technical Ecstasy
17. Seventh Star
18. Born Again
19. Master of Reality

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Well this is without checking them all, so I'll group them as Good, Okay and Poor etc

Good
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Mob Rules
Technical Ecstacy
Live Evil
Black Sabbath
Cross Purposes

Okay
Heaven And Hell
Tyr
Eternal Idol
Forbidden
Dehumanizer
Never Say Die
The Devil You Know
Headless Cross

Poor/Bad
Seventh Star
Sabotage
Paranoid
Master of Reality
Vol IV

Embarrasing
Born Again

[Ochlocracy]

Best:
Vol. 4
Technical Ecstasy
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Cross Purposes

Indifferent:
Black Sabbath
Master of Reality
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Never Say Die
Born Again
Seventh Star
Headless Cross
TYR
Dehumanizer

Worst:
Paranoid
Sabotage
The Eternal Idol
Forbidden

[TYR66]

well , difficult to separate the content from the containing but :

Black Sabbath
The Devil you Know
Seventh Star
Cross Purposes
Heaven and Hell
Mob Rules
Born Again
The Eternal Idol
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Tyr
Vol. 4
Master of Reality
Headless Cross
Dehumanizer
Technical Ecstacy
Never Say Die
Paranoid
Sabotage
Forbidden

[KazolOrajia]

Ooh, this will be fun.

Best
Black Sabbath
The Eternal Idol
Cross Purposes
The Devil You Know

Great
Heaven and Hell
Headless Cross

Good
Mob Rules
Dehumanizer
Forbidden

Poor
Paranoid
Master of Reality
Technical Ecstasy
Born Again

Indifferent
Vol 4
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Never Say Die!
Tyr

The Sabotage cover in interesting, because it isn't that good and certainly doesn't fit the album, but I absolutely love it, if not for the pure uniqueness and quirkiness of it.

I'd like to go into more detail about why I like each cover, but I'm lazy and I have a report to finish. Maybe I'll go back and edit it later with some lengthy explanations.