Mob Rules is Black Sabbath's tenth studio album, released in November 1981. It peaked at number 29 on the U.S. charts. This is the last album to feature Ronnie James Dio until the 1992 album Dehumanizer.
In the UK, it became the fourth Black Sabbath studio-album to attain Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in February 1982.It was the first album to feature Vinny Appice on drums, who had replaced original member Bill Ward in the middle of the tour in support of the previous year's Heaven and Hell.
The cover art is a modified version of artist Greg Hildebrandt's piece entitled Dream 1: Crucifiers from 1971, with Black Sabbath licensing its use for the cover of Mob Rules. The original artwork has been augmented for the album, where not only have the band and album names been conspicuously added to the back wall, but also the hook hanging on the left side of the structure was changed to a crucifix, and the stain in the middle of the structure has been altered to resemble a devil's head. Lastly, Greg Hildebrandt's name has been added to the bottom center of the piece, as the original was rectangular in shape with the artist's name and year in the lower left corner, thus being truncated in the album's square presentation. The lyrical themes are dark, notably on tracks such as "The Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Falling Off the Edge of the World".
The Live Evil album was recorded on the Mob Rules tour. The album is included in the Black Sabbath box set The Rules of Hell. The Mob Rules lineup toured under the name Heaven & Hell from 2006 until Ronnie James Dio's death in 2010. Their only album, The Devil You Know, was released in 2009.