generally very strong and memorable. I don't ask for more and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved. One thing I will say about this album, is that I did not “get it” the first time around. And by that, I mean for the first couple of listens, I was kind of ambivalent towards it. Much the same way I was with Fused. However, after about four listens, I think this may be one of the highlights of the entire Sabbath band catalog and it's solo band offshoots. It's nice to hear Iommi play an acoustic guitar again, which he only has done sparingly for Sabbath songs like “Children of the Sea” and “Nightwing” (the latter is from Headless Cross). Ultratop.be – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 October 2021. Heaven & Hell is ramping up for the April 28 release of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW with a vast array of physical and digital retail exclusive versions, listed below. The album will also be released as double vinyl LP featuring a laser etched design and exclusive poster on May 12. The Devil You Know reached the top 10 in its first week of release, debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, with 30,000 copies sold. [5] It was awarded Best Album at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. [6] Conception [ edit ]

Kaz, Jim (29 April 2009). "Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". IGN. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010 . Retrieved 26 April 2012. You seriously wouldn’t know that this was the bands first album in, hell, how many years? They really are as tight as they were in the hey-day. Each member steps up to the plate and delivers with all their balls. I think Iommi gets MVP for this album though, because the riffs here are definitely on par with his old classics. My personal favourite is Double The Pain, but they’re all fair game. Being a big Dio fan, I was glad to hear that his angelic vocal chords are still in mint condition. The drums and bass are pretty standard, but shine here and there. When all the euphoria over the fact that the CD has actually happened eventually dies down, the cold light of day will reveal that it is not a classic, but that is not to say there is anything disappointing about it. The Dio-fronted Sabbath always set the bar very high, and the fact they have not quite managed to match the amazing quality of their previous works 15 years after their last collaboration is nothing to be ashamed of. Seeking this one out is mandatory.Graff, Gary (25 July 2008). "Heaven & Hell 'Six Or Seven' Songs into New CD". Billboard . Retrieved 27 July 2008. iTunes will offer an exclusive version with previously unreleased live recordings of "Die Young" and "I" from the band's 2007 European tour. Munro, Tyler (27 April 2009). "Heaven and Hell – The Devil You Know". Sputnikmusic . Retrieved 26 April 2012.

It took less than three weeks to finish the album, with most of the songs only needing a couple of takes. “It was good to play them live in the studio. It keeps you on edge,” Iommi says. “I mean, somewhere along the line we were gonna have to play them live; might as well start in the studio.” Butler adds: “We’ve learned from the past that you can kill a song doing it over and over. The first Sabbath albums were done in two or three days. Technically they weren’t great, but vibe-wise they were great. If you capture that feeling, that’s all you need.” Also, for those of you fortunate enough to get the Best Buy Exclusive version with the bonus DVD, I hope you enjoy it. I did not get a copy with it, but usually such bonus content is rare with Sabbath-releases. There's usually not a lot of extra frills on their stuff. So I'll take what you can get. The artwork was based off an image called “Satan”, by an artist from Norway named Per Oyvind Haagensen. Link here. Bergman, Keith. "The Devil You Know – Heaven & Hell". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013 . Retrieved 26 April 2012.There was a man, who would put on a white mask, cover his body in a magical glowing fluid and then he'd get himself buried alive, but only a couple of inches underground. Then, he'd wake up and get out of his grave in a slightly altered reality. He was enjoying it, so he wanted to do the same again. Geezer's time to shine on this album came on the song 'Double The Pain' where he starts the song off with a nice little bass solo and his bass is very audible throughout the song including a break in the middle of the song for another small bass solo. Geezer is on the ball on this album as he usually is. Geezer! Heaven & Hell: New Audio Interview With Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler Available – Mar. 27, 2009". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012 . Retrieved 30 March 2009. If there’s one take I have about the Sabbath discography that’s extremely unpopular, it’s that The Devil You Know under the Heaven & Hell title is the single most overrated album they ever did. Note: not the worst, but the most overrated. I’m obviously a huge fan of the band, I love Ronnie James with all my heart, and doom metal is something that I can dive into from time to time (obviously). But man, I really do not see the huge appeal in this. It’s not bad, but it really is not that great, and I have to wonder how much of it was hype-based on such a massive lineup reuniting in 2009.

As for the other members, Geezer can be heard well in the mix, and he has plenty of sweet bass fills and great rhythm lines. I wonder how much of a hand he had in coming up with riffs for this album, since I know he was more involved with this writing process than he said he would be if it was Ozzy-fronted. I do know he came up with the album title, at least, as well as the 25:41 on the cover (a very pointed reference to Matthew 25:41 from The New Testament of The Holy Bible). And as for Vinny, his drumming is fine. It sets a good rhythm, is in time, and I actually like his fills (I don't understand why he gets ragged on so much). I'm not a big fan of overly complicated drumming, I just like it to fit the music and hold everything together.The songs were written during late spring, early Summer 2008. None were recorded until after the 2008 Metal Masters tour was over.

Tony Iommi 'Putting Riff Ideas Together' For Heaven and Hell Album". Blabbermouth.net. 28 January 2008. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008 . Retrieved 5 June 2008. The mix is powerful and expansive. Everything sounds enormous! The bass is nice and growly. Dio’s vocs are right out front like they should be. I dig the drums on “TDYK” way more than on “Dehumanizer”. If it were me, I’d boost the guitar two or three decibels at 400-500 Hz to give it more bite (it sounds fine as it is, but it’s quite polished). I’m going to echo the sentiment I have heard around here: not enough tempo variation. This was a problem for about the first two-to-three listens, but after I got to know the songs it’s not that big of a deal. Still, a little more variation could have boosted this in my eyes. Honestly, it’s something of a letdown. It is a perfectly good album, but it was a victim of its own hype. The interest in the album had risen to a fever pitch and very few albums could have adequately lived up to that hype. That is not to suggest that it was a bad album, very far from it. It just was not as good as everyone hoped it would be.

Everyone had so much fun playing together that we didn't want it to end," says the group in a press release. "We started writing together and the songs started flowing like we never stopped. We wound up writing and recording an album that stands up to anything we've ever done. We're really proud of the music and excited for people to hear it." Butler is usually the band's word man but when Dio comes to town the elfin one gets the job. When one thinks of Dio images of dungeons, dragons, rainbows, etc but with Sabbath he tends to explore tales of good vs evil and moreso his belief that the life one lives now can be 'heaven or hell'. Songs like "Double The Pain", "Fear", "The Turn Of The Screw" and especially "Follow The Tears" are Dio's way of singing the 'blues', albeit with a fighting spirit.