Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know - guest review
Heaven And Hell - The Devil You Know - guest review
Tracklist
01. Atom And Evil02. Fear
03. Bible Black
04. Double The Pain
05. Rock And Roll Angel
06. The Turn Of The Screw
07. Eating The Cannibals
08. Follow The Tears
09. Neverwhere
10. Breaking Into Heaven
Guest review by
Doc G. August 03, 2009
OK, you can rename it anything you like, we all know this is the resurrection of Dio-era Black Sabbath. This album really makes up for any shortcomings the albums Dehumanizer, Mob Rules, and Heaven & Hell may have had. Whether you enjoyed the albums or not, its hard to deny that the signature depressive guitar work of Tony Iommi wasn't as present as it was in previous albums. Ironically this album sounds more Sabbath-y than when they were using the Black Sabbath moniker.
But enough about the past, here we have a fresh new album. Tony & Geezer continue to prove to be the core of the band with crushing, plodding riffs, and bass-lines capable of causing earthquakes that read somewhere at about a 9.5 on the Richter Scale. Mix these kind of abilities with some thick, top-notch production and what you've got is some pure, solid heavy metal. What about the vocals? Regrettably enough its easy to overlook Dio for once when we have such incredible riffs presented to us. That doesn't mean the vocals are lacking, in fact they are great, Ronnie puts forth his haunting, foreboding tone for this album which makes the perfect fit, but all in all this album is dominated by Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler.
The Devil You Know does have its lacking points, few as they are. Basically the album has its inconsistent parts. With the crushing doomy songs like "Atom And Evil", "Bible Black", and "Follow The Tears" the band seems to have unmatchable chemistry, its the more upbeat tracks that hold the album back. They aren't terrible, but a little bit of that signature sound is lost, sounding more like Dio's backing band than a collaborative effort.
Definitely one of the must have albums of 2009, damn near perfect in this reviewers honest opinion. Tony and Geezer are back, baby!
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 10 |
Written by Doc G. | August 03, 2009
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
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| davidharris
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davidharris
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For me (compared to their potential and other 2009 albums too): Performance: 7 Songwriting: 5 Originality: 1 Production: 9 But your review was good 
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Posts: 4920
I don't want to sound repetitve but even if I liked the review, I found the album a bit bland, sometimes boring and uninspired.
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Posts: 40071
I am with Elio for some parts. It has a couple of great songs but quite a few are uninspired. The more doomy songs are the stand out tracks and the rest is just boring albeit non-flowery power metal at most. Shame. @Rock, I did like your review though.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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Posts: 3857 Written by [user id=42131] on 04.08.2009 at 16:13 What the hell? What were you expecting this album to be like? It's Sabbath... playing Sabbath. In terms of originality, you can't compare them to anyone else. They are one of the pioneers of heavy metal. :/ Nice review. Describes the album well. I really enjoy this release. Classic metal ftw. >:[
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Posts: 21306
Not the biggest Dio fan, but my manager played a live recording of "Follow the Tears" on Youtube and it's definitely a song I can appreciate. As for davidharris rating their originality a 1: that's just moronic. This band isn't some extreme progressive sludge / avantgard doom-inspired thrash metal with post-jazz influences. It's Heaven And Hell. The band's genre is listed as "heavy metal", and that's exactly what they play. Great shit for people into old school metal with a modernized production, as stated by Doc. On a side note, shouldn't you at least be considered like a semi-staff reviewer? The "guest review" tag seems kind of...harsh. Elite review disclaimer! Do it! 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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Posts: 9726 Written by Troy Killjoy on 23.01.2010 at 05:34 It was written before I became elite.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Posts: 21306 |
Posts: 21306
Ah I just checked your Darkology review and there's no guest review disclaimer. That's cool then. I didn't realize this was published back in August '09.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Slinky666
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