The album Tony Iommi said was Black Sabbath “at its best”
Black Sabbath never had the greatest reputation with the critics of the world. Many people would gladly prop them up as the originators of all heavy metal and the high priests of an entire new wave of music, but considering the heaviest thing that came out during their prime was Cream, Tony Iommi’s guitar was simply too dark for some people to take at the time. But even after they had been around for years, Iommi knew when they needed to prove to everyone that they could still be a kickass rock and roll band.
But despite being known as one of the biggest names in heavy metal music, Iommi never saw it that way. For him, he was a blues based guitar player in every sense of the word, and even though things went in different directions on albums like Sabotage back in the day, it wasn’t that hard to see him returning to his favourite Clapton licks when listening to later albums like The Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes.
If there was one moment where everything changed, it was when Ronnie James Dio came into the picture. It was impossible for them to work with Ozzy Osbourne a day longer in the early 1980s, but with Dio behind the mic, the band not only had a great singer but a musical thinker as well. They could easily show Osbourne how one of the songs went in the studio, but after their meeting, writing something like ‘Children of the Sea’ showed the potential right off the bat.
Although the Dio lineup is still among the finest Sabbath material ever released, it would always be a bit strange whenever the band reunited. Osbourne would always talk about his love for his old bandmates, but whenever they went on tour with the old lineup, it always felt like they were working around what Osbourne could do. So when they brought Dio back for an album, they knew they wanted to stretch their muscles again.
They may have had to change their name for legal purposes at this point, but Iommi felt that the newly christened Heaven and Hell went beyond their capabilities when making their comeback album The Devil You Know, saying, “We’re really happy with the record. We had to try and represent the band at its best. With Ronnie, we’re capable of a lot more musical stuff than we did with Ozzy. It’s more involved. And right now, I’ve got riffs coming out of my ears. We’ve got enough for another bloody record!”
For a band that hadn’t been together for years, though, you’d swear that Dio hadn’t lost a step in the meantime. Still as howling as ever, the band couldn’t have reunited at a better time, with Dio already riding high after having a cameo in Tenacious D’s movie The Pick of Destiny and artists like Dave Grohl shouting the praises of the Dio lineup as well. But as much as the frontman is a powerhouse, what makes it a Sabbath album has everything to do with Iommi’s guitar.
His chops never went away, but his strength on this record lies in him being able to make his guitar sound like a giant monster stampeding across the landscape. ‘Bible Black’ might be the big hit from the record, but the minute that the album starts, ‘Atom and Evil’ comes roaring out of the gate sounding as menacing as the terrifying demon on the cover, surely ready to lay waste to the scorched Earth at the end of days.
Although Sabbath’s legacy will forever be tied to Osbourne’s influence on the band in their early days, The Devil You Know is the best case for why the Dio-fronted lineup of the group should never be forgotten. It might not have the same iconic riffs as ‘Iron Man’, but anyone ever interested in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal got every trick they learned from what Iommi did in this era.
