Friday, January 9, 2026

Computer God, Black Sabbath

I suspect Paul Kingsnorth isn’t a metal fan but he has an ally in the late Ronnie James Dio. 

“Computer God” opens up the vastly underrated Dehumanizer with a bang. Dio saw what was coming, back in 1992, when he penned these prophetic lyrics:

Computerized God, it's the new religion

Program the brain, not the heartbeat

Onward, all you crystal soldiers

Touch tomorrow energize

Digital dreams and you're the next correction

Man's a mistake, so we'll fix it, yeah

My inconsequential machine rebellion has begun. I picked up this rig on Tuesday. A Yamaha RX-595 receiver with a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers and a DVD/CD measure for good measure. The price was right (zero). It sounds fantastic. I can now play my old CDs again. Remember what it was like to hear an entire album without commercials, comments, and digital distraction?

Name the CD for bonus points...

No internet, no algorithms, no copyright strikes, just metal. Dio would have approved.

Virtual existence with a superhuman mind

The ultimate creation, destroyer of mankind


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The CD appears to be Black Sabbath's Technical Ecstasy

Ian said...

Oops, forgot to select my Google account when submitting the comment

Brian Murphy said...

Despite login issues you got the album right!

BrianTR said...

The irony of “forgot to sign into Google” for replying to this post is not lost on me.

FWIW I spent much of last night perusing an old CD collection of mine while my son riffed on his electric guitar (to metal of last 20y but still). Nevermind the fact I had to pull the various songs up on my phone to play select ones for him.

Hey Brian - most dvd players will play CDs so you can listen to “albums” that way too thru your TV.

Brian Murphy said...

Nice Brian... love that your son is playing guitar! Yeah, I know I could listen to CDs on my DVDs, the problem is location. Both TVs are upstairs in common areas where metal is less appreciated :) Plus these speakers are incredible, even though they appear to be late 90s/early 2000s vintage.

BrianTR said...

Yes, and it's nice having that dedicated system/speakers. I recently set up an old receiver/cd-player/cassette system with some old Pioneer speakers in my shed for the same purpose.

Hey, related topic - in a post a few years ago you introduced me to a great son I had never heard before - "Warriors of the World" by Man o War. My son introduced me to Avenged Sevenfold's "Hail to the King" which is awesome in a similar way. I put Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" together with them in a sort of holy trinity of utterly rocking S&S/Viking/Berzerker songs.

Anything you can suggest I should try in that same vein? I know about Sabaton but nothing I've heard by them approaches the 3 I listed.

Brian Murphy said...

:) Do you want something specifically warrior/Viking related? Blind Guardian has "Valhalla" and "Valkyries." Other songs of quest or combat etc, top of my head: Edguy's "Vain Glory Opera." Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights." Thin Lizzy's "Emerald." Judas Priest's "Between the Hammer and the Anvil."

BrianTR said...

Yeah, the 3 I listed just hit the perfect combination of "rocking" and touching on my nerdy S&S/warrior vibes.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give them a try.

BrianTR said...

Oh, forgot about this - about a month ago I asked Grok the same question (although I forgot to mention Zeppelin). I know I know, Grok but bear with me.
Here's what it suggested:
Hail and Kill - Manowar
Kings of Metal - Manowar
Hearts on Fire - Hammerfall
I want out - Helloween
Eagle Fly Free - Helloween
Emerald Sword - Rhapsody
Heart of Steel - Manowar
The March of the Swordmaster - Rhapsody
Valhalla - Blind Guardian (which you also suggested)
Carry On - Manowar
Shephard of Fire - Avenged Sevenfold

Brian Murphy said...

Ha! Interesting selections from Grok. Manowar of course has many more songs in this vein, I was thinking only of different bands when I gave you my selections. I'd throw "Fighting the World" and "Sons of Odin" in there.

BrianTR said...

More to check out, thanks! Sorry for hijacking your post!

BrianTR said...

Not sure what you think of Linkin Park (I know they're kinda/sorta "nu metal") but a recent release by them "Heavy is the Crown" is in this wheelhouse. Definitely not on the podium with Immigrant Song, Warriors, and Hail, but it is in the race.

Brian Murphy said...

I'll take your word for it... not a fan but I know they have many!