Well the answer to that question is a resounding “pretty good.” The riffs are doomy and heavy. The bass is classic geezer and the drumming by Brad Wilk is definitely a good enough fill in for Ward’s presence. "The End of the Beginning" to me sounds like a clear throwback to the track "Black Sabbath", you know the one that basically is responsible for the beginning of metal.
So the band is clearly trying to get back to the evil, doomy, metal that they pioneered in the early 70s. Can’t knock 'em for that. To be fair Ozzy still doesn’t sound that great and the two songs released have been on the long and repetitive side. Also the album cover and title suck but whatever. All in all the album is looking pretty good for a bunch of aging metal legends who released their best material (at least according to me) and were most relevant about 40 years ago. “13” may not be top notch, but like Metallica’s 2009 album “Death Magnetic”, it’ll serve as a celebration of past metal masterpieces.
If you're interested in some Sabbath, pre-order the album from their official website or on iTunes \m/
-Trisolino
