Cross Purposes

Cross Purposes is the seventeenth studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath, released through I.R.S. Records on 31 January 1994. The album marked the return of Tony Martin as the band's lead vocalist, after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio.

Cross Purposes
Studio album by Black Sabbath
Released	31 January 1994[1][2]
Recorded	1993
Studio	Monnow Valley Studios (Rockfield, Wales)
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	47:27
Label	I.R.S.
Producer	Leif Mases Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath chronology
The Collection (1992) Cross Purposes (1994) Cross Purposes Live (1995)

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?".^[3] A stand alone remastered CD with bonus track was released on 15 November 2024.^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]

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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	D[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Select	[11]

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."^[8] In July 2014, Guitar World magazine ranked Cross Purposes at number six in the "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.^[12]

Sales

The album peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200 charts but made it to number 41 on the UK album charts.^[13] In both Finland and Sweden, the album hit #9.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Witness"	Tony Iommi, Tony Martin, Geezer Butler	4:56
2.	"Cross of Thorns"	Iommi, Martin, Butler, Geoff Nicholls[a]	4:32
3.	"Psychophobia"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	3:16
4.	"Virtual Death"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	5:49
5.	"Immaculate Deception"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	4:15
6.	"Dying for Love"	Iommi, Martin, Butler, Nicholls	5:53
7.	"Back to Eden"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	3:57
8.	"The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	4:31
9.	"Cardinal Sin"	Iommi, Martin, Butler, Nicholls	4:20
10.	"Evil Eye"	Iommi, Martin, Butler, Nicholls, Eddie Van Halen[b]	5:58

Bonus track on Japanese edition & 2024 remaster

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"What's the Use"	Iommi, Martin, Butler	3:03

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)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14]	23
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15]	85
European Albums Chart[16]	38
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[17]	9
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18]	32
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[19]	32
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20]	9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21]	41
UK Albums (OCC)[22]	41
US Billboard 200[23]	122

Chart (2025)	Peak position
Greek Albums (IFPI)[24]	64

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.

1. Nicholls is uncredited on the original release of the album but is credited on the 2024 box set Anno Domini 1989–1995
2. Van Halen is uncredited as a co-writer due to restrictions from his label, Warner Bros. Records