Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know 2LP NEW ROCKtober Dark Orange & Gold Vinyl Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know 2LP NEW ROCKtober Dark Orange & Gold Vinyl

Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know 2LP

NEW. SEALED.

Dark orange and gold vinyl.

Released in 2009 this is a heavier album than any of its three predecessors; whether it's due to the band members' advancing age or the influence of anxieties felt throughout the world outside the studio, it's the closest in spirit to the first two Black Sabbath albums, themselves forged in the psychic darkness that was the tail end of the 1960s. It's not until "Eating the Cannibals," track seven of ten, that the band revs into high gear the way it did on "Neon Knights" and "Turn Up the Night" 20-plus years ago. The songs that begin the album, and make up the bulk of its running time, are like slow-motion avalanches, Iommi's riffs and Appice's drumming punishing the listener like medieval monks scourging unbelievers. Dio's lyrics, too, seem to embody an almost Old Testament world-view, positing a universe of darkness, fire, and despair. His voice is as powerful as ever, but he's no longer offering self-esteem lessons the way he once did; he seems consumed by fear and doubt. This gives "The Devil You Know" a feeling of genuine doom that leaves little opportunity for the catharsis provided by classic heavy metal. While the Osbourne-fronted and Dio-fronted versions of Black Sabbath are, again, very different bands, this is an album that matches its moment every bit as perfectly as Paranoid did back in 1970. This was Dio's last studio album before his untimely passing in 2010.

01 Atom And Evil
02 Fear
03 Bible Black
01 Double The Pain
02 Rock And Roll Angel
03 The Turn Of The Screw
04 Eating The Cannibals

01 Follow The Tears
02 Neverwhere
03 Breaking Into Heaven

Rhino Records