Black Sabbath : Heaven and Hell. review

Sometimes, I like to write reviews in my spare time, And felt like reviewing a classic - Black Sabbath: Heaven and Hell. Please, give me some feedback.






Black Sabbath: Heaven and Hell

When Ozzy left Black Sabbath, neither the people nor the band could possibly
see how the band would survive. Then, fresh from his walking papers from
Rainbow, Ronnie James Dio was assigned the job to fill the shoes of one of the
greatest front men to ever grace a stage. So...did it work? Hell, yes!

This album is an awakening. Suddenly, the band had a singer that could do
things that Ozzy could not, and a lot of doors opened up. This is pretty much
Black Rainbow, basically. The album starts off with one heck of an anthem,
entitled "Neon Knights"...once you hear that opening riff, you knew
that this album was a winner - Neon Knights is certainly one of Black Sabbath's
fastest and heaviest songs.
Next up is "Children of the Sea"...it is just an amazing song, with
acoustic interludes and one hell of a main riff (all the songs on this album
features riff-work of the highest class!). There is not one weak song on this
album. "Lady Evil" is probably the most Rainbow-like song on this
album...even the lyrics are straight out of that campus. When you listen to it,
especially in the chorus, it really sounds like a good ol' Rock 'n' Roll song,
reminiscent of bands like Grand Funk Railroad - I like it!
Then, there is of course the classic title-track - Again, extremely cool and
catchy main-riffs from Iommi, and Ronnie's signature, ultra-cool vocal
harmonies. Also, a lot of the lesser-known songs like "Wishing Well"
and "Lonely is the Word" are tracks of the highest class. This is really
a ground-breaking album for the Sabbs. Ronnie James Dio sure opened up to the
band, and saved them from falling off the edge of the earth.

cool review it made me go and listen to it on vinyl straight away and it still kicks ass

Thanks, man. Yes, it is a timeless classic!

youre welcome

Great review man. Love that album. Dio is great on both this album and Mob rules with Black sabbath. I bought the Heaven and hell dvd awhile back, and they still are kickin ass to this day.

they kicked ass when i saw them for sure

I prefer the Dio era.

Back in January I saw a Sabbath tribute band called Sack Blabbath. I wasn't sure if they'd be doing Dio stuff, as the band is fronted by an Ozzy impersonator. From the start of the set, I kept screaming in between songs MOB RULES!!! After a few songs, the singer mentioned how Sabbath was more than just those early 5/6 albums, pointed to me, and dedicated Mob Rules to me! The opening of that song was actually the most intense head-banging I've ever done! The power of the Dio material is outstanding.

Unusual twists to that show: they played "Zero the Hero", "Bark at the Moon", and "Crazy Train", but they, a Black Sabbath tribute band, didn't play "Black Sabbath".

thats bizarre not to play black sabbath as its one of their best songs.

i have been listening to live evil a fair bit recently and it is very good but i only have the one disc edition woth none of dios spoken word to the crowd but oh well

Very good review of a quite stunning album.

As much as I love the Ozzy era Sabbath I have actually always prefered post Ozzy Sabbath as I just love the singers, Dio, Tony Martin and Ian Gillian and they were all far superior singers to Ozzy.

My one true sadness is that the Dio era broke up just as they were getting in their stride. I am sure that If Dio had stuck around and sung on about 5/6 albums without a break then Sabbath would not only have been bigger than they were in the 70's but also I don't think people would talk about the Ozzy era with such rose tinted specs.

Still lets hope the current Heaven & hell line up record a new album.

UltraMagnus007 wrote:

Still lets hope the current Heaven & hell line up record a new album.

I'm in the camp that is wishing strongly against this. No reason to tarnish what is a great legacy with a lackluster album.

spectrefate wrote:

UltraMagnus007 wrote:

Still lets hope the current Heaven & hell line up record a new album.

I'm in the camp that is wishing strongly against this. No reason to tarnish what is a great legacy with a lackluster album.

Why do you automatically assume it would be a lacklustre album. The new songs recorded for the Black Sabbath Dio years compilation sound pretty good and is a good hint that an album will be good.

Dio's last few albums have been pretty good and the Iommi/Hughes albums have also been pretty good and show Tony Iommi can still right a good riff.

I haven't caught the heaven and Hell tour yet and hope they continue touring so i can see them and it would be nice to have some new material other than the existing 3 albums.

Why lackluster? Dehumanizer. If you say that album was anywhere as good as the first 2, then you are lying to yourself.

Take the same 4 men who produced Dehumanizer + 16 years= YUK.

Dehumanizer is the only Black Sabbath album I ever threw away

spectrefate wrote:

Why lackluster? Dehumanizer. If you say that album was anywhere as good as the first 2, then you are lying to yourself.

Take the same 4 men who produced Dehumanizer + 16 years= YUK.

Ok fair point, Dehumanizer was nowhere near as good as the first 2 albums but I actually liked that album. After reading this post I dug it out and gave it another listen and found it was not bad.

I think both Dio and Iommi (the only 2 of the group who would have any say in writing material) still have a lot to offer. As I previously said both Dio and Iommi's musical output since Dehumanizer has been quite good.

I really dig this album. Any Dio Sabbath is great btw.

the song heaven and hell is on grand theft auto IV

spectrefate wrote:

Why lackluster? Dehumanizer. If you say that album was anywhere as good as the first 2, then you are lying to yourself.

Take the same 4 men who produced Dehumanizer + 16 years= YUK.

DeathCult wrote:

Dehumanizer is the only Black Sabbath album I ever threw away

I dislike you with great intensity.

Schbopo wrote:

DeathCult wrote:

Dehumanizer is the only Black Sabbath album I ever threw away

I dislike you with great intensity.

i like that album but i rarely listen to it

IMO Dehumanizer is the best Sabbath album to date.

akeldama wrote:

IMO Dehumanizer is the best Sabbath album to date.

Here, maybe these will help.

spectrefate wrote:

akeldama wrote:

IMO Dehumanizer is the best Sabbath album to date.

Here, maybe these will help.

What's so wrong with Dehumanizer? It's very underrated

akeldama wrote:

spectrefate wrote:

akeldama wrote:

IMO Dehumanizer is the best Sabbath album to date.

Here, maybe these will help.

What's so wrong with Dehumanizer? It's very underrated

the stuff from it sounds better live such as I

Heaven and Hell was a nice breath of fresh air after the latter Ozzy-led albums

you can say that again