HEAVEN & HELL — The Devil You Know (review)

HEAVEN & HELL — The Devil You Know album cover Album · 2009 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
voila_la_scorie
So I was watching this video on YouTube with Ronnie James Dio talking about all the albums he'd appeared on up until around 1994. He didn't always have kind words for everyone he'd ever worked with (Ritchie Blackmore, cough, cough) but he did have some fine opinions about most of the albums. I was glad to hear him say that "Mob Rules" was a severly underated album. It was the first Black Sabbath album I ever had and I loved it then and still love it now.

I wondered what Dio had been up to since that interview and went to Wikipedia and was reminded that the "Mob Rules" line-up had recorded an album together under the name "Heaven & Hell". Perhaps I ought to track it down was my thought. Not so easy. All post 2000 Dio recordings seem to be really expensive. I found this album as a used CD in near mint condition, imported from France, for nearly $35!

From the first track "Atom and Evil" I believed I was going to hear exactly what I had paid so much for: Black Sabbath with Dio on vocals. The riff was hugely heavy and Dio sounding as great as always.

As the CD played on, a basic soundscope began to become clear. Each song was mostly mid-tempo with ultra-heavy riffs (how does Iommi keep coming up with these?). Each song was an excellent example of doomy heavy metal. Had anyone let me listen to "Double the Pain", "Follow the Tears" or "Breaking Into Heaven" and then the first minute of several of the other songs, I would have been like, "Unholy fornicate!!! I need to get this album!"

Yes, the initial impact was that good. The issue I have with this album is that every song is more or less similar. There's no "Children of the Sea", no "Sign of the Southern Cross", no "Voodoo". One thing I love about "Mob Rules" is that hardly any two songs sound the same, and "Heaven and Hell" the 1980 album had some wonderful songs on it too. "The Devil You Know" doesn't want to tread much outside the heavy riff rockers. "Rock and Roll Angel" and "Bible Black" have some nice acoustic guitar and "Follow the Tears" gives us some organ. But everything is about heavy and ominous riffs. Any one song is impressive. And surely the album is consistent. But it lacks the variety that Black Sabbath are capable of delivering.

Soon after hearing this the first two times through, I put on Black Sabbath's "13" and found a big difference. That album seems to try to recreate the vibe of 1970 and it does so very well. There the music is more creative and more, well, progressive almost. "The Devil You Know" is all about the doomy bombast. Whump you over the head again and again. Well, it sounds good. But it isn't as good as I expected it could have been. Still, as a heavy metal album it does the job.
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voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Fair enough, UMUR. :-)
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I think I prefer this one over 13 for all the same reasons that you feel the opposite way :-)

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