Cross Purposes is the seventeenth studio album by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, first released through I.R.S. Records on 26 January 1994 in Japan, and on 31 January 1994 in Europe, and on 8 February in North America. The album marked the return of Tony Martin as the band's lead vocalist, after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio.
A live album Cross Purposes Live, which was recorded during the tour for the album, was released in 1995. In 2024, a remaster of the album was announced as part of the box set Anno Domini 1989–1995, marking the first time the album has been officially reissued. The CD edition of the album contains the Japanese bonus track "What's the Use?". A stand alone remastered CD with bonus track was released on 15 November 2024.
Background and recording Dehumanizer saw the reunion of Mob Rules-era Black Sabbath, but, after the tour, Ronnie James Dio (vocals) and Vinny Appice (drums) 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 album was recorded at Monnow Valley Studio, in Wales.
Songs Tony Martin explained during the show at Roseland in NYC on 12 February 1995, that "Psychophobia" was about David Koresh, and the Waco, Texas, incident.Live recording February 15, 1994, Youtube.
A promo video in black-and-white was shot for the song "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". Tony Martin explained in a 2011 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.
The song "Cardinal Sin" was originally intended to be titled "Sin Cardinal Sin" (or "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.
"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 the Scorpions single Send Me an Angel three years earlier.
Reception Critical reception
Bradley Torreano of AllMusic rated the album 3 stars out of 5, praising it for bridging various aspects of the band's different eras. He said it was "the first album since Born Again that actually sounds like a real Sabbath record" and "probably the best thing they'd released since The Mob Rules, even with the filler tracks and keyboards." In July 2014, Guitar World magazine ranked Cross Purposes at number six in the "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.
Sales The album peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200 charts but made it to number 41 on the UK album charts. In both Finland and Sweden, the album peaked at number nine.
Track listing
Personnel Black Sabbath Tony Martin – vocals Tony Iommi – guitars Geezer Butler – bass Bobby Rondinelli – drums Geoff Nicholls – keyboards
Technical personnel Leif Mases – producer, engineer, mixing Darren Galer – assistant engineer Dave Somers – assistant engineer Tony Cousins – mastering
Charts Chart (1994) PeakpositionAustralian Albums (ARIA) N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.173European Albums Chart38 Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) 9Japanese Albums (Oricon) 32
Chart (2025) Peakposition Greek Albums (IFPI) 64
Chart (2026) Peakposition French Physical Albums (SNEP) 189 French Rock & Metal Albums (SNEP) 75
Notes
The angel artwork depicted on the cover originally appeared on the 1990 single Send Me An Angel by the German hard rock band Scorpions.
References
External links