Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know

2009

Roadrunner

Released on 28th April 2009, The Devil You Know the debut and sole record of Heaven & Hell was met with critical acclaim from critics and long time Sabbath fans alike. Essentially, The Devil You Know is an un-official Black Sabbath record; the band consisting of Iommi, Butler, Dio and Appice had sought to reform and tour with Iommi and Butler in particular keen but in the end finally tired of waiting for Ozzy. Iommi and Butler came to put their differences aside with Dio and even released a best of from the Dio years, recording three new tracks to boot. The newly reunited Sabbath with Dio felt they might even tour under the Sabbath name, however $haron Osbourne had other ideas and the band was instead named for after the seminal 1980 release of Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell, the first of course to feature the late great Ronnie James Dio as vocalist after the departure of a certain Mr. Osbourne. After a successful tour of Japan and over drinks and dinner according to Iommi “someone said “does anybody fancy writing a new album? and everybody replied with “yeah, that’s an idea, why don’t we do that?”. The album was recorded by the band at Rockfield Studios, Wales and was produced by the band. Speaking to Ultimate Guitar after the records release Iommi stated of the writing process; “we just wrote some material at my studio… continued to write some riffs and gather some other ideas placing them onto a CD. The other members did the same. When we finished writing [the record] in L.A. we went into the pre-production stage where we played everything live and just kept on playing that material until we got used to playing each song. When we went to Wales we could just enter the studio and play these songs… we could play them within the first two takes”.

The Devil You Know kicks off with “Atom and Evil” and any doubts longtime time Sabbath fans had of this particular reunion is quickly quashed with an excellent crushing Iommi riff backed by mid tempo drums from Appice and rumbling bass from Geezer. The track marauders along in a fiendish dirgy manner with a dissonant sounding bass underpinning an at odds sounding angelic chorus vocal from Dio before an impressive solo from Iommi. The track sounds rich and vibrant throughout and a memorable opener to the record. Next up is “Fear” beginning with a fairly frantic sounding riff from Iommi with Appice and Geezer laying down a heavy groove and Dio’s typical fantastical vocals and lyrics leading into a strong chorus section leading to another heroic guitar solo. This song screams “Heavy Metal” throughout and epitomizes everything great about the genre, then again, it’s no real surprise given the guitar player is the creator of Metal itself.

“Bible Black” the one and only single from the record follows and it is, perhaps, the track that is most reminiscent of Heaven and Hell era Sabbath. Beginning with spare acoustic guitar and wailing electric overdubs accompanied by a solemn vocal by Dio; the track does a great job of building tension through the initial fist verse before an explosively heavy riff and ominous sounding walking bass leading into a memorable defiant chorus section with another devastating guitar solo from Iommi leading into a melodic bridge section before the tracks pessimistic conclusion. It’s no stretch to say that this is one of the best songs this group of musicians have ever written. Next up is “Double the Pain” beginning with gloriously ominous sounding layered bass leading into an impossibly heavy mid tempo section with a chugging main riff in the verse sections before then leading into a memorable pre and chorus section with Dio in his element (he excels throughout this record) with such fiendish lyrics as “a stab in the back, it worth waiting for tonight, he’s seen enough joy for today, a sudden attack, would just set the evening right and maybe a penance to pain”. This song features yet another stunning solo, a blistering nimble screamer which will destroy your speakers; that’s if they have survived the opening bass. An anthem of sorts for those who have suffered the track is a definite highlight of the record.

Next up is “Rock and Roll Angel” beginning with a semi bluesy almost half time feel with an interesting staggered ballad like chorus section. The track is quite unlike what has come before and perhaps sounds slightly out of place as a result but it is a nice juxtaposition to the much darker material with a very bluesy sounding atmospheric bridge section and in all truth it is a track which doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. “The Turn of the Screw” follows beginning with a suitably doomy main riff before am almost semi poppy verse section then leading into a sing along fists-n-the-air chorus section. It is clear at this juncture that the band wanted to introduce some more experimental aspects to the records sound and they do just that rather successfully with the last couple of tracks. The fast “Eating the Cannibals” follows a track that screams “NWOBHM” and is all the better for it with a gun-metal main riff and it is the shortest track on the record; it’s brevity is a plus point as is it’s guitar solo and it has to be said that Tony Iommi has been on fire throughout this record, the man is just talented beyond belief.

“Follow the Tears” is next up with an intro Slayer would be proud of with a cast iron metal riff anchoring the track throughout. The song feels like the inside of an oppressive metalworks and while the track may not be quite as good as what has come before, it is still a decent track with a beautiful vocal from Dio in the tracks midway point. “Neverwhere” begins with another suitably metal riff, however it is quite samey to what has come before. The track feels more like an extended jam then a fully coherent track and the band, with the previous tracks on the record, has already played these kind of cards before. Still, it’s hardly an awful piece of music and it’s a pretty inoffensive track overall. The Devil You Know ends with the epic “Breaking Into Heaven” a heavily wistful coda to Dio era Sabbath beginning with a heavy lumbering riff with soaring vocals from Dio in the chorus sections with an excellent middle section and solo from Iommi and the heavy doomy riff then relentlessly seeing out the tracks conclusion with Dio’s poignant refrain of “breaking into Heaven” concluding what has been an insanely heavy record.

The Devil You Know is something of an underrated gem. I personally feel the first half of the record is the strongest but the record as a whole is strong if not particularly innovative not that that was ever really the point; it’s a decent slab of traditional heavy metal and frankly anything that has Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio attached to it is going to be a quality product (insert Humanizer joke here if you wish just be glad it wasn’t with Ian Gillen). If you missed out on this record when it was released or just haven’t given it a listen in a while, do return to it again. This record is heavy and a dense listen throughout which requires the listener to pay attention in full. Ozzy may have come back to Sabbath with 2013’s 13 but The Devil You Know is Dio’s swan song; for that alone this record should be mandatory listening.

Works Cited:

Gray, Robert.,(May 2009) Heaven and Hell’s Tony Iommi Discusses ‘The Devil You Know’, Ultimate Guitar.com