I have always had a soft spot for Dio's vocals ever since he was frontman for Rainbow plus a lifetime affection for Black Sabbath, so when Dio, Iommi, Butler joined forces with Appice who I first encountered on an album shared with Jeff Beck, I knew that we should expect something decent and with a bit of luck something memorable.

Heaven and Hell and the bands debut album The Devil You Know was a time inwaiting after countless shows over the past two years. Well, we got treated ok, to huge melodic riffs, flowing guitars all stitched together in smooth pain free gear changes and tiny licks. Song by song we were indulged with gentle head nodding and a rolling thunder of power that only the combined experience of over a 100 years of rock & metal could produce.

Ronnie sounds as magnificent as ever, Appice perhaps doesn't get the chance to display his full repertoire while Iommi and Butler work tightly in tandem to produce a solid bedrock of operatic metal, nothing to fast here that would encourage you to slip a disc but more suited to the old skool connoisseur. Iommi's guitar has lost his dripping evilness but to be fair that only seemed to follow Ozzi about and wouldn't suit the bands current lyrics.

The album has ten tracks that will not disappoint the true fans but don't expect to find anything fresh here to inflame the world, this is a collection of songs that will sit happily amongst your old Rainbow, and later Sabbath release's and like a vintage car be brought out on sunny afternoons for a little spin while keeping a boyish grin on your face. There are several songs that stand out and are worthy to be lifted and added to your
favourite Ipod playlist, so all in all add this to your buy list if your a fan because you will not be disappointed. tracks that stand out for me are 'Fear, Eating the Cannibals' and Neverwhere.


1. Atom And Evil
2. Fear
3. Bible Black
4. Double The Pain
5. Rock And Roll Angel
6. The Turn Of The Screw
7. Eating The Cannibals
8. Follow The Tears
9. Neverhwere
10. Breaking Into Heaven


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Live show review and photos of Heaven and Hell can be found here