-- Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 16.98 Amazon Price $ 16.98 Savings $ 0.00 | |  Release Date: 12 May, 1987, Warner Bros.
TRACK LISTING - Neon Knights
- Children of the Sea
- Lady Evil
- Heaven and Hell
- Wishing Well
- Die Young
- Walk Away
- Lonely Is the Word
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | Dio`s first album with Sabbath, and it`s superb | With Ozzy out of the band, soon to start his solo career, Ronnie James Dio came on board. Released in 1980, "Heaven and Hell" is Dio`s first album with Black Sabbath, and it`s a stunner.
The album proves that Dio was a hell of a hard rock vocalist at this point--he sounds great throughout. However, he also brought more to the band than just a new voice. Dio wrote all the lyrics here, and he brought his already patented "dungeons and dragons"-style lyrics to the Sabbath mix. Although some folks seem to find the lyrics vomit-inducing, I really don`t see the big problem. Admittedly, he does get a little carried away at times as on "Die Young" or the chants of "fool fool" on the title track, but it`s not a major gripe. He brings a certain theatricality to the album, and his vocals are arrestingly passionate and forceful.
Musically, it`s very much a straightforward hard rock album, and that`s a positive thing, because the songs are pretty much all great, with infectious guitar riffs piling up along the way--the driving "Neon Knights" opens the album with exciting surge of energy; the infectious "Wishing Well" is a hook-fest with irresistible drum rolls throughout from Bill Ward; and the title track is an excellently-sequenced multi-part epic with Tony Iommi laying down a stately opening riff that is simply masterful. "Children of the Sea" starts off mellow with nice ringing guitar before transforming into a slow-paced rocker with a crunching riff. "Lady Evil" is a highly catchy mid-tempo rocker with cool wah-wahed lead guitar. The fast-paced "Die Young" has an effectively atmospheric intro and is really catchy, despite the pomposity of its airy bridge section and Dio`s non-stop repetition of the title. "Lonely Is The Word" is a powerful album-closing epic with excellent, emotional soloing from Iommi. "Walk Away" reeks a little of filler compared to all of the greatness that the album offers, but it`s still a solid, fun rocker in its own right.
In closing, "Heaven and Hell" clearly demonstrates that bringing in Ronnie James Dio to join Iommi, Butler, and Ward was a great idea that worked big time--this is an awe-inspiring, must-have album. | | |
-- zzzz
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