New Black Sabbath, er Heaven & Hell The Devil You Know |
In case you were living under a heavy metal rock, the closest thing to hearing brand new Black Sabbath music came out last Tuesday, April 28 courtesy of Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice under the name Heaven and Hell.
This same line-up was responsible for arguably the last respectable Black Sabbath album Dehumanizer. A few of those tracks are my favorites from the Dio-era Sabbath.
Many have argued that Black Sabbath without Ozzy and Bill Ward on drums isn’t the Black Sabbath. I’d love to see Ozzy and Ward get together with Iommi and Butler and make at least one more Sabbath album but I’m not sure Ozzy has the vocal chops left. Also, this kind of sniping from former bandmates won’t help.
There’s no doubt musically it could happen. Also from the first and last time I’d seen them together at Ozzfest Ozzy seemed to be going through the motions rather than pulling some surprise songs from their legendary catalog. We’ve all heard War Pigs and Paranoid, but what about something less predictable?
At any rate, the Heaven & Hell lineup, quite wisely, are ensuring they won’t meet Sharon Osbourne’s wraith by using the name of their greatest Black Sabbath hit for the new music.
Whatever they want to call themselves officially it’s still Black Sabbath to me. When they toured as Heaven and Hell a couple years back and released a live album, they played almost all old Sabbath stuff and you can bet the tour with the new album satanically titled The Devil You Know there will be Dio-era Sabbath songs.
That all aside, the new album sports a modest 10 songs:
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW Track Listing
1. “Atom And Evil”
2. “Fear”
3. “Bible Black”
4. “Double The Pain”
5. “Rock And Roll Angel”
6. “The Turn Of The Screw”
7. “Eating The Cannibals”
8. “Follow The Tears”
9. “Neverwhere”
10. “Breaking Into Heaven”
Wal-mart has two exclusive covers of the CD, according to the Heaven & Hell official website:
offers an alternate cover featuring the traditional Black Sabbath devil logo. While choosing the album artwork, the band narrowed it down to two covers, both of which will be available exclusively at WalMart.
Meanwhile, Best Buy, where I went to buy my copy of the CD is including an exclusive DVD showing unreleased video of the making of the CD. The suggested retail price for the CD is $18.99 while the digital version is already available on AmazonMP3 for $9.99. I almost pulled the AmazonMP3 trigger, but decided I’d rather have the CD version. I eagerly waited for Best Buy to open at 10am so I could be there making the purchase.
To my surprise, Best Buy was running a sale for the CD for the same price as the digital version, $9.99.
As I drove around throughout the day, I’ve listened to the album and here are the various tracks, organized by heavy to mellow, not by the track line-up listed above.
Heavy
“Atom and Evil” – catchy verse riff that reminds us why Tony Iommi is known as a riff master in rhythm circles and by Ozzy.
“Fear”
“Double The Pain”
“The Turn Of The Screw”
“Follow The Tears”
“Neverwhere”
“Eating The Cannibals”
“Breaking Into Heaven”
Mixed heavy and mellow
“Bible Black” – I wish we’d hear more Iommi acoustic guitar music. How about an unplugged Sabbath album someday?
“Rock And Roll Angel” – more nice acoustic work in what might be the most mellow song on the album and yet it’s not a ballad.
Overall this album is just OK. It’s no Dehumanizer and a long way from the Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules albumes. It’s not bad, but it’s not that great either and have already replaced the CD in the player with something else. I’m glad they put out an album but with the exception of Bible Black and Rock and Roll Angel, I’m not super excited about any of these songs.
Grade: C+
Did this post make you go hmm?
(Hmm, no ratings yet)
Loading ...Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)
- Cashier power at Best Buy for Black Sabbath The Dio Years, go armed with web prices
- Sabbath Superfan
- MSN Sympatico streams entire Ozzy Osbourne Black Rain album for free
- Zakk Wylde more involved with new Ozzy album
- Original Black Sabbath lineup complete — with Ward on drums — for Ozzfest
- Ozzy lets Black Rain fall in stores on May 22 on Epic records
For me, this album is one of the best heavy metal albums of all time. I wrote about the album some time ago, would like to share it here, even if we would differ with the perception of looking into the music made by this band.
Comment by MixMax — May 5, 2009 @ 5:59 am PST
Hi MixMax - just followed the link in your sig to your review of The Devil You Know and I’m curious by this quote:
No, it’s not a disappointment like I had with Journey’s new album over past ones but …
You really liked this album that much? You didn’t compare this work to their past works? These are the same guys behind Heaven & Hell (ok, not Appice on this one) and Mob Rules and you think this album holds up against those? I found when I went back and listened to the live Heaven & Hell from Radio City playing those songs that it was a better replay experience than The Devil You Know. Even a few tracks on Dehumanizer had more replay traction for me than this one.
I realize reviews are subjective and I’m not trying to pick on yours as ‘wrong’ but just being able to create a heavy sound with attractive riffs doesn’t make great music for me. Does it for you? Why? Why not?
Comment by TDavid — May 5, 2009 @ 6:23 am PST
Hi TDavid, I am glad with you response, never ever would be offended having different opinions. More fun to that is your comment/comparison to past releases of this great band. Black Sabbath is one of my all time favorite bands (along with Iron Maiden and Deep Purple topping the list). One thing I personally do when I listen to new music is to try to avoid comparing with past work, and put my judgment based on the music made on the new release, if you know what I mean. check the latest Uriah Heep album, for example, I never compared it to Magician Birthday because it is not the same album.
Each of Sabbath album with Ozzy is different from the other - Sabotage has nothing in common with Vol.4, for example, and the same applies to the Dio-Era albums… “the Devil you know” follow suit, it has its own sound, but by the same people who did previous albums under a band/musician name.
I don’t know if I make sense here, but part of enjoyment of listening to a new album of a favorite band is to avoid comparison with previous release… Having this mind, I could say that I hated “Forbidden”, even that I liked one or two songs from that album. Many say “born again” is a piece of garbage in the history of Sabbath, but to me, in spite of the crappy production, still and will remain one of the most powerful albums
I think that is the reason I will never be able to answer the question “which Sabbath album is your best”
Comment by MixMax — May 5, 2009 @ 7:00 am PST
Born Again is a great album and only one with Purple frontman at the pipes. Would like to see him make another album with Iommi, Ward and Butler someday too. You raise a curious point that albums shouldn’t be compared to prior ones when the same band members are involved? I have to think more on that one.
At the end of the day, I am glad to see Heaven & Hell release a new album. It’s the closest thing to a new Black Sabbath album we’re able to see. Maybe it will grow on me over time or something, but usually if an album doesn’t grab me right away, it doesn’t hold.
And while we’re making wishes for the future, Ozzy needs to cut another album with these guys while they all are still alive. Just one farewall Sabbath album with the original members. Not sure that will ever happen because Ozzy seems infatuated with TV, but we can always dream.
Comment by TDavid — May 5, 2009 @ 8:12 am PST