HEAVEN & HELL - THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

This particular Dio fronted BLACK SABBATH lineup changed their name to HEAVEN & HELL for legal reasons. And sadly this would be Dio's last studio album with Iommi, Butler and Appice. That is one crazy album cover though. I actually got this for Christmas last year from my oldest daughter and played it a couple of times over the holidays but was left feeling pretty disappointed. This is slow moving, doomy music for the most part and I guess I was expecting something more like "Mob Rules" or "Heaven & Hell" . Each track seems to feature a short Iommi guitar solo along with dark, sludgy music and vocals.

"Atom And Evil" starts things off on the wrong foot for me,my least favourite track right here. Again it's heavy and doom-like as the vocals join in. A guitar solo 2 1/2 minutes in then back to the sludge. "Fear" is a little more uptempo but it's still dark and heavy. A guitar solo after 3 minutes this time. "Bible Black" is probably the hightlight. It's laid back early on with reserved vocals but when it picks up it's much better. The guitar solo before 4 minutes is the best one so far. "Double The Pain" has deep sounds to start then it kicks in. METALLICA comes to mind. A good heavy rocker for the most part. "Rock & Roll Angel" is where Dio shines. A calm 3 minutes in with a relaxed guitar solo then the sound builds.

"The Turn Of The Scew" picks up quickly. This is actually catchy. "Eating The Cannibals" is the only uptempo track. We get a guitar solo after 2 minutes. "Follow The Tears" has heavy riffs with the vocals coming in at 1/2 minutes. Some nice guitar after 4 1/2 minutes. "Neverwhere" is one like the opener that just doesn't click with me at all. "Breaking Into Heaven" has some eye rolling lyrics (at least for me) but it isn't too bad overall. Another doomy tune though.

I can muster up 3 stars but that's it unfortunately.

It was a huge surprise to hear the announcement of a new Black...*sorry*... Heaven & Hell-release! I got even more hyped after hearing the first samples that were released for the upcoming reunion of the classic Dio-fronted lineup.

When I finally got my hands on the new release my thoughts were mixed. Yes, there were quite a few memorable songs but I had a hard time digesting the slow tempo throughout most of this album. If you're like me and expect the album to kick off with an up tempo track, resembling Neon Knights or Turn Up The Night, then you're bound to be disappointed with Atom & Evil. The opening track is really heavy featuring one of the most extreme guitar sounds from Tony Iommi and it has managed to grow on me over time. The rest of the album follows the same heavy and slow pattern which sends a clear message to modern metal bands implying that you don't necessary have to be fast in order to play metal music.

The only two compositions that really stick out of the bunch are Eating The Cannibals and Neverwhere due to their faster tempo approach. I did eventually grow to enjoy The Devil You Know over time but it's still nowhere as great as Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules or even Dehumanizer. The idea of a Dio-fronted reunion album was, in retrospect, much better than the final result but at least this album kick-started a tour which gave fans an opportunity to see one final tour before the passing of Ronnie James Dio.

***** star songs: Eating The Cannibals (3:37)

**** star songs: Atom & Evil (5:15) Bible Black (6:29) The Turn Of The Screw (5:02) Follow The Tears (6:12) Neverwhere (4:35)

*** star songs: Fear (4:48) Double The Pain (5:25) Rock & Roll Angel (6:02) Breaking Into Heaven (6:53)

"The Devil You Know" is the debut full-length studio album by heavy metal act Heaven & Hell. The album was released in April 2009 by Rhino/ Roadrunner Records. Heaven & Hell is actually the Dio-led Black Sabbath lineup that recorded the Black Sabbath albums "Heaven and Hell (1980)", "Mob Rules (1981)" and "Dehumanizer (1992)". Well... Bill Ward played the drums on "Heaven and Hell" but other than that it's the same lineup. That means Ronnie James Dio on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitars, Geezer Butler on bass and Vinnie Appice on drums. The name Heaven & Hell was chosen to differentiate the project from the Ozzy Osbourne-led Black Sabbath, which were still active at the time.

Now these guys can change their name to whatever they want, but the music on "The Devil You Know" is through and through unmistakably the sound of Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi's signature heavy, powerful and at times doomy riffing leads the way and with the strong and distinct vocal delivery by Dio and an extremely well playing and tight rythm section, this is Black Sabbath when they are best. With tracks like "Atom and Evil", "Bible Black", "Eating the Cannibals", "Follow the Tears" and "Breaking Into Heaven", "The Devil You Know" should prove to be a dream come true for every fan of the Dio-led Black Sabbath albums.

The production is warm and powerful and it suits the music very well.

"The Devil You Know" is one of those albums that are able to grab you by the balls and make your head bang, but at the same time provoke a nostalgic reaction to make you cry. This is heavy metal/ doom metal like our momma made it. The delivery is extremely convincing and the material is generally very strong and memorable. I don't ask for more and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

It was never meant to be a serious project after being asked to record three songs for a compilation about SABBATH during the DIO years, but Tommy Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinnie Appice had such an easy time writing new songs that they decided to release a whole album's worth. Although this is the exact same line-up as the BLACK SABBATH albums MOB RULES and DEHUMANIZER, they decided to name the band after the first album DIO did with SABBATH in order to differentiate it from the Ozzy era of the band.

This album is everything you could possibly want from a SABBATH album of the DIO era. The songs are catchy traditional doom metal and the production is modernly recorded but the fuzzed out metal sound makes these feel nice and dirty as well. DIO's vocals are as good as ever and the songs are very well written showing that the band really had some music makin' mojo left in them after years of mediocre albums apart from each other. The result of this reunion is more than just a nostalgic trip into the past, but this album succeeds in sounding very good in a modern sense as well being not just a carbon copy of their previous releases together.

This is my favorite album by SABBATH since the album HEAVEN AND HELL and in my humble opinion the best DIO album since his debut HOLY DIVER and if you count this as a side-project (which I don't) then it is my favorite in that department. A very welcome blast from the past and that album cover has to rate amongst my very favorite in all of metal with that totally wicked beast in the depths of hell brandishing its three-forked tongues. Sadly this was DIO's last album he performed on before he passed away from stomach cancer. RIP Ronnie James. What a great way to go out with this one.