UMUR
Iommi is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. The album was released in October 2000 by Divine Recordings. The album of course features Tony Iommi on guitar, but the interesting thing about the album is the cast of guest vocalists and other collaborators that Tony Iommi has gathered for this project.
The music on the album is a bit more alternative/ grunge oriented that you´d normally expect from Tony Iommi but don´t worry there are still plenty of brick heavy guitar riffs on the album. Most songs on the album are accessible vers/ chorus oriented with strong melodies and memorable choruses. Most of the guest vocalists do a great job and I´d like to mention Peter Steele ( Type O Negative), Skin ( Skunk Anansie), Dave Grohl ( Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Phil Anselmo ( Pantera...etc.) and Ian Astbury ( The Cult) as some of the highligts among the vocals performances on the album. The only two performances I´m not too fond of are the performances by Henry Rollins who sings on Laughing Man (in the Devil Mask) and oddly enough Ozzy Osbourne who sings on Who's Fooling Who?. The latter sounds tired and uninspired while the former is probably not as guilty as he sings on what is arguably the weakest track on the album.
The production is warm and well sounding. Very professional.
Honestly I usually don´t enjoy these kind of solo albums with various guest vocalists. Many of those projects have a nasty tendency to stick out in every direction to cover as much ground as possible, which usually makes for a very incoherrent listening experience. Fortunately that´s not the case with this album. Tony Iommi has managed to write an album that´s very coherrent in style and sound even though the various guest vocalists of course put their mark on each of the tracks they contribute to. A very succesfull release IMO. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.