Cross Purposes


Cross Purposes is the seventeenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released in January 1994.

Album information

Dehumanizer saw the reunion of Mob Rules-era Black Sabbath, but, after the tour, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice departed. They were replaced by former Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin and former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli. Geezer Butler remained with the group, although he would depart later in the year again before the recording of the Forbidden album. Rondinelli left the recording sessions for Quiet Riot's album "Terrified" to join Black Sabbath.
The song "Cardinal Sin" was originally intended to be titled "Sin Cardinal Sin" but a printing error on the album sleeve caused the first word to be removed. Sabbath simply adopted the title "Cardinal Sin" as the name of the song.
A promo video in black-and-white was shot for the song "Hand That Rocks the Cradle". Tony Martin explains in an interview with Martin Popoff that he wrote this song about Beverly Allitt, a children's hospital nurse in England who was convicted of serial infanticide in 1993. The video features a young girl, assumably in reference to this.
"What's the Use?" was released only on the Japanese edition of Cross Purposes, which also contained a free sticker of the artwork. A nearly identical version of the "burning angel" image was featured on a Scorpions single three years earlier.
Tony Martin explained during the show at Roseland in NYC on February 12, 1995 that "Psychophobia" was about David Koresh, and the Waco, Texas incident.
The album was recorded at Monnow Valley Studio, in Wales.

Critical reception

The album peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200 charts but made it to number 41 on the UK Billboard 200 charts. In both Finland and Sweden, the album hit #9.
In July 2014, Guitar World magazine ranked Cross Purposes at number six in the "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.

Track listing

Personnel

;Band members
Production