Chris Townsend

If the album cover is any indication, the months that Heaven and Hell (aka - Dio fronted Black Sabbath) spent toiling in hell recording The Devil You Know was well worth the trouble…. and third degree burns.

The Grand Wizard of Heavy Metal and his fellow Sabbathians are back and as sinisterly dark as ever with their first studio recording together since their 1992 release Dehumanizer.

From the first 30 seconds of the title track Atom and Eve, it’s clear what the listener is in store for here; fist pumping, double devil horns raised on high, fire and brimstone metal. Listening to this record makes you yearn for the days of hunkering down for concert tickets at the local sports arena with a Coleman full of Olympia and a couple of doobies your older brother scored for you in woodshop.

All of the key components of Sabbath and Dio’s solo career are evident on this recording. Iommi’s signature riffing is omnipresent and the music is seriously heavy considering the collective age of the band is over 230 years old. On such tracks such as Rock and Roll Angels, Iommi even seems to take a slight nod at the procession of alt rockers and guitar gymnasts who have followed in his footsteps some 40 years after he wrote the book on how to write heavy riffs. Iommi’s playing is youthful, fresh and crisp without losing the trademark sludge that inspired millions of kids to take up a paper route in order to save up for their first electric.  

Heavy metal music must have some inherent potion that allows a 67 year old singer to sound as if they had just recorded their first album. Ronnie hits on all cylinders on this record. A remarkable achievement for a man whose body of work and years in the industry are often overlooked and under appreciated. Known more for bringing the devil horns into popular culture and being one of metal’s more diminutive vocalists, Dio’s work fronting bands with such rock luminaries like Ritchie Blackmore and Iommi often overshadowed his tall tales of sorcery, sociological discontent and chaos. While many singers with Dio’s portfolio of work might just rest on their laurels and come off as a sad caricature of themselves, that’s certainly not the case on this record.

The pounding rhythm section of original Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice provides a monolithic, if not slightly methodical, dynamic to Dio’s street opera singing and Iommi’s “armageddon is coming”  riffage. Never is this more apparent than on the frantic track Eating the Cannibals, the one track on the record that represents the template the band laid down on their classic records Heaven and Hell and the Mob Rules. Listeners who are skeptical of any new material conjured up by men who could command the senior discount at the local AMC Megaplex need only listen to this track to realize that just because you’re eligible for social security doesn’t mean you do not know how to lay down the gauntlet.

Is this record going to help turn Dio bashers and those who snub their nose at heavy metal race down to Sam Goody to purchase their back catalog? Certainly not… But, for those who do like heavy music, this will be a welcome spin while you decide whether or not to break out your blacklight Mob Rules poster in dutiful salute to the masters.