Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 16, 2017

The liner notes included on this new release of what is being advertised as Black Sabbath’s final gig (Cher, anyone?) doesn’t just call the group “the greatest metal band of all time”, but indeed credits Black Sabbath with actually creating the whole heavy metal idiom. Either of those assertions may be debatable hypotheses, at least according to some, but there’s no arguing with the fact that Black Sabbath’s impact on the heavier side of rock music has been formidable and in fact reaches past “mere” musical elements to include things like stagecraft and rock ‘n’ roll personas, which front man and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne obviously developed to something of an art form. This particular concert dates from February 2017, when Black Sabbath returned to their hometown of Birmingham to supposedly end the band’s touring career (though, again — Cher, anyone?). It’s a surprisingly high energy affair with all the requisite arena rock bells and whistles that nonetheless probably has an unavoidable feeling of nostalgia, but it provides a fair amount of head banging energy before a crowd that is obviously enraptured by seeing their idols strutting their stuff one last time (?) on stage.

The End Tour was not in fact a Doors retrospective, but the wrap up to decades of live performing by Black Sabbath, and there’s an obviously emotional undercurrent to the band’s appearance in Birmingham. Ozzy in fact seems downright restrained at times, even touched by the sentiments he’s obviously feeling from the adoring crowd. The band, which includes Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass, Tommy Clufetos on drums (replacing Bill Ward, who evidently still has "issues" revolving around Ozzy) and Adam Wakeman on keys and guitar, marauds through a high energy setlist spanning the group’s history, which includes the following tracks:

1. Black Sabbath
2. Fairies Wear Boots
3. Under The Sun / Every Day Comes And Goes
4. After Forever
5. Into The Void
6. Snowblind
7. Band Intros
8. War Pigs
9. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
10. Bassically / N.I.B.
11. Hand Of Doom
12. Supernaut / Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Megalomania
13. Rat Salad / Drum Solo
14. Iron Man
15. Dirty Women
16. Children Of The Grave
17. Paranoid

Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Sabbath The End is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision, an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment, and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This is one of nicer, more consistent, looking concert videos I've had to pleasure to review recently, one perhaps elevated by its progressive presentation which avoids many of the issues that often hobble these outings, like posterizing and banding. While there's the same kind of lamentable ADHD quick cutting and zooming readily on display throughout the concert, when the cameras do pause for a moment, detail levels are routinely quite high, and there are some rather arresting looking close-ups, often in rather evocative lighting conditions like deep blues or purples, that focus on elements like strumming hands or sweat streaked faces that offer really excellent levels of fine detail. Contrast is also solid throughout, with some very deep blacks, something that helps to create a nicely shadowy look for quite a bit of the concert. That said, the one arguable deficit here is in terms of shadow detail — there are times when the dimly lit stage provides very little in the way of detail, especially toward the edges of the frame, which can occasionally at least look a little murky. Otherwise, though, this is a top flight transfer that will almost certainly please Black Sabbath fans.

Note: This is the rare Eagle Rock release which has been authored so that the concert begins playing automatically at disc boot up. There is a Main Menu, however, which provides access to both the Bonus material as well as the Audio Setup options.

Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Sabbath The End features a forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as a somewhat more focused sounding LPCM 2.0 offering. The surround track has ample energy in the all important low end, delivering really punchy bass and drums while also offering clear accountings of what typically is pretty heavily massed instrumentation in the mid and lower registers. As often seems to be the case in these surround mixes, I at least occasionally wished that Ozzy's voice could have been prioritized a bit better, as it sometimes tends to get slightly buried in the instrumental maelstroms. In that regard, some listeners may find the stereo version more to their liking, but both tracks offer superior fidelity and clarity, with no problems of any kind. As is kind of weirdly the case on many of these Eagle Rock releases, the disc is authored to default to the stereo track rather than the surround track.

Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Angelic Sessions (1080p; 20:26) include:

  The Wizard

  Wicked World

  Sweet Leaf

  Tomorrow's Dream

  Changes

Additionally, this release comes with a Bonus CD. Eagle Rock has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with pictures and some good writing.

For those with a little more scratch to spend, Eagle Rock is also offering a so-called Super Deluxe Edition with additional CDs, a DVD and some non-disc swag.

Black Sabbath: The End - Live in Birmingham Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It just may be my jaded sensibility, but I kind of take a "wait and see" attitude when any given rock legend announces their "retirement" from touring (lest it be forgotten — Cher, anyone?). I frankly wouldn't be surprised to see Ozzy and the boys make some kind of "comeback" announcement should the planets (and/or bats) align, but in the meantime this surprisingly heartfelt and energetic concert should probably fill the bill for many Black Sabbath fans. The band sounds great, and Ozzy is actually kind of a big teddy bear. Technical merits are strong, and Black Sabbath The End comes Recommended.