Alas, I finally received via U.S. mail, on April 29, 2009, directly from Best Buy online, the brand new Heaven & Hell release – “The Devil You Know” – (I pre-ordered the CD/DVD version) and I am simply ecstatic over this Metal! I feel I am exonerated from all the praise and hype I have been giving Heaven & Hell for their embarking on making this new album. Greatness is not enough of a positive adjective to describe the Metal tunes on “The Devil You Know” – and I mean all ten songs are enormously great. My favorite tune on this album is “The Turn Of The Screw” – it sounds incredible with Tony Iommi on guitar, for Iommi seems as if he let his melodic side take over with the leads and solo. Ronnie James Dio sounds like he is thirty years old again on not just this tune, all ten of these tunes!
Am I going too far with the praise so far? In my personal Metal opinion, nope. Anyone, albeit fan or professionally paid music critic, who does not agree that “The Devil You Know” is Metal greatness should go out and start listening to dance club music from the 80’s. Heaven & Hell sound as if they have let out their finest and most creative ideas musically, for this new album. Oh, yes, the vintage Tony Iommi guitar riffs are abundant, with dark and doom ambiance aplenty. Lyrically, the songs are what you can expect from Heaven & Hell, with the legendary Ronnie James Dio leading the way vocally, accentuating each syllable with Metal precision. Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice sound so tight as a rhythm section, I would swear they play & practice music together weekly, for the past twenty five years! The old school Metal meets a current Metal groove is happening on this album, I find it extremely addicting.
By no means has Heaven & Hell released a retrospective Metal album that carbon copies the work they accomplished during the 1980’s, no way. In my Metal opinion, this is as current a Metal sound as any recent Metal album release, by any band. Heaven & Hell did not just step it up a notch, they stepped it up with class and respect for us fans – by writing and creating what I consider the highest quality of Metal I have heard in recent memory. I feel Heaven & Hell did reach back to their roots, yet they combined it with the maturation of their musical talents, giving my ears not what Metal used to sound like but what Metal truly is. “The Devil You Know” has instantly become one of those Metal albums, where I cannot believe how great and intense each song is. No skipping over any tune or quick sampling here. Veteran Black Sabbath – Heaven & Hell fans should be thrilled by this new album, new fans most certainly will be Metal impressed. It is not the cliche’ that Heaven & Hell has become of age, it is more that Heaven & Hell proves they are ageless.
In my last blog, in regards to the new release from Heaven & Hell, “The Devil You Know,” I mentioned I was hoping my CD/DVD version would arrive on the 28th of April, via U.S. mail. Well, gosh, golly, I received a confirmation of shipment email from Best Buy online – it informed me they (at Best Buy), shipped my CD/DVD out on April 27th. Shucks. I am not faulting Best Buy here at all, yet, when I pre-ordered the new Slipknot CD – “All Hope Is Gone” last Summer of 2008, it arrived in my mailbox right smack dab on the release date!! Go figure. I am a patient Metalhead. Always have been, always will be. Great Metal things come to those Metalheads who wait. 
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.