Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know

A couple years back, I believe 'twas, the Ronnie James Dio-era incarnation of Black Sabbath (i.e. 1979-1982) got together to pimp Rhino's freshly-released The Dio Years compilation. The two-disc set included some of the best musical finery from the line-up's two early-80s sets, Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules, as well as a few things from the Dio-fronted obligatory live album (Live Evil) and their "reunion" misstep, 1992's Dehumanizer.

The Dio Years also included three honkin' new tunes recorded specifically for the set, the foursome of Dio, guitarist Toni Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice using the band name Heaven & Hell (after their first album together, geddit?) because, allegedly, Sharon Osborne refused them the use of the holy, and seemingly priceless Black Sabbath name. The new tunes fell on receptive ears, Heaven & Hell went out on tour in support of The Dio Years, and they found a modicum of acceptance from hidebound Sab fans, subsequently squeezing out a well-received live album.

Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to The Devil You Know, the first "official" Heaven & Hell studio release and a fine collection of riff-driven doom-metal, ya know. There's no reason, at this point in the game, to believe that you're going to receive much of anything different from Dio, Iommi, and the gang, and that's just fine by me. The album opens with the plodding, seriously downtuned "Atom And Evil," the intro itself worth the price of admission. Featuring one of Iommi's best sludge-metal guitar lines and Dio's slow-as-cough-syrup vocals, the song stomps along ungracefully and lets the listener know exactly what to expect from this latest Black…er, Heaven & Hell album.

The proggish "Bible Black" opens with a piercing guitar line thrown against an acoustic guitar strum, Dio's slow-boiling vocals evolving from an initial menacing growl into his typical full-blown wail as Appice's drums explode and Iommi's fretwork grinds and howls. "Rock & Roll Angel" is the album's best bet for a radio-ready single, with a sledgehammer riff marching like an angry carnivore behind Dio's over-the-top vocals and a matching suit-and-tie of martial rhythms. The unrelenting doomishness of "The Turn Of The Screw" is gussied up with some uncharacteristic Dio vocal gymnastics that evoke memories of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in their inflection and flexibility.

Dio is know as an arcane lyricist, a fanciful songwriter whose head is filled with dreams of dragons and witches and darkness, and The Devil You Know is filled with Dio's typically oblique imagery, words that seem so much more frightening when spit at the listener with Dio's usual power and glory. The songwriter can have a little fun now and then, however, and "Eating The Cannibals" is Dio's tongue-in-cheek stab at humor. A locomotive rocker with screaming six-string and fast-paced rhythms, Dio's vocals run at a pace similar to Bruce Dickinson's, while Iommi's lightning-quick fretboard runs prove that the man can shred with the best o' them.

The stunning "Follow The Tears" strides the razor's edge between Sabbath's typical doom-and-gloom sturm-und-drang and Euro-styled Goth-metal. The song's strident, unyielding rhythms are paired with crunchy guitar riffs, predatory six-string solos, and Dio's best lyrical cynicism and dark-hued cathedral vox. The Devil You Know closes out with the same sort of retro-cool, dino-stomp tarpit rock as it opened with, "Breaking Into Heaven" allowing Dio to cut loose with his most frenetic vocals yet, which are themselves layered above Iommi's assaulting guitarplay and the Butler/Appice rhythmic cyclone.

No matter what you want to call it – Heaven & Hell, Black Sabbath, or the Archie & Jughead Good-Times Soda-Pop Quartet, the result is exactly the same – this is The Devil You Know. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still gonna eat yer Granny, and Messrs. Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice are always going to blow your face off. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, indeed. (Rhino Records)

Related: Sabbath's Dio Years Revisited

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Devil You Know from Amazon.com)