The Devil You Know

Performer: Heaven & Hell
Engineer: Wyn Davis; Mike Exeter
Producer: Geezer Butler; Ronnie James Dio; Tony Iommi; Mike Exeter
Distributor: n/a

Notes: Personnel: Ronnie James Dio (vocals); Tony Iommi (guitar); Vinny Appice (drums). Audio Mixer: Wyn Davis. Recording information: Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, Wales. Photographer: Chapman Baehler. Some things are immune to trends, and Ronnie James Dio's golden voice is one of them. The alleged inventor of the devil-horns symbol (as it pertains to metal) had a memorable stint as the singer of Black Sabbath after St. Ozzy's departure, leaving behind two classic albums in MOB RULES and HEAVEN AND HELL. Though the rest of Sabbath has mainly focused on working with Ozzy in the 2000s, a 2007 tour with Dio whetted their appetites for a fresh collaboration as Heaven & Hell. The result, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, stands proudly beside the band's prime material. Like anything associated with Dio, the music is unapologetically operatic, with almost every song clocking in at around or over five minutes. The singer wails his tales of darkness and mystical evil over Tony Iommi's trademark doom-inflected chords, heavy as a marble tomb and churning like a witch's cauldron.

Rolling Stone (p.61) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Here and there, gothic-dirge effects and emotionally spent choruses shine through." Billboard (p.63) - "The first single, 'Bible Black,' speaks of religious addiction and guilty pleasure. It's definitely tight." Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The tempo is usually slow and majestic and, as a result, the album has a languid, epic feel reminiscent of 1972-75 Sabbath..."

Heaven & Hell is the modern restoration of the classic Black Sabbath lineup that existed between 1979 and 1982, featuring Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Dio), Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice (Dio, Erik Norlander). (Original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward declined to join the group.) The band takes its name from Dio's 1980 debut album with Sabbath, so as not to confuse fans, since the Ozzy Osbourne lineup of Black Sabbath is not considered defunct. The music can be described as adventurous, progressive doom metal, which essentially picks up where the band had left off many years ago. While Heaven & Hell claims to be a part-time band, it has performed on several worldwide tours and released the critically acclaimed album THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.

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