The Devil You Know

Lyrics
add a review/comment
Add an audio file
17/20
Band Name Heaven And Hell
Album Name The Devil You Know
Type Album
Released date 28 April 2009
Recorded at Rockfield Studios
Music StyleHeavy Metal
Members owning this album352

Tracklist

1.
 Atom and Evil
 05:15
2.
 Fear
 04:48
3.
 Bible Black
 06:30
4.
 Double the Pain
 05:25
5.
 Rock and Roll Angel
 06:25
6.
 The Turn of the Screw
 05:02
7.
 Eating the Cannibals
 03:37
8.
 Follow the Tears
 06:12
9.
 Neverwhere
 04:35
10.
 Breaking into Heaven
 07:03

Total playing time: 54:52

Buy this album

 $13.84  6,66 €  12,86 €  £11.05  $18.06  10,99 €  10,15 €
Spirit of Metal is reader-supported. When you buy through the links on our site we may earn an affiliate commission

Heaven And Hell


Review @ vikingman369

29 March 2012

A seriously under-rated album

It is said that all good things must come to an end. So was the case for Heaven and Hell, the titanic group of heavy metal musicians from Rainbow and Black Sabbath. About a year after this album came out, the world of heavy metal lost its strongest voice. So here we are, The Devil You Know and the memory of the late Ronnie James Dio, what have we now?

As much as I'd love to heap praises upon this album, this isn't as powerful as it could be. Having heard the Live at Radio City CD and DVD, the bar is set high for these performers. Unfortunately, on this album, the fast songs don't deliver as much as the slow or mid-paced ones, which can make the album a chore listening to all the way through.

The album's beginning is a slow one, but "Atom and Evil" is a decent effort nonetheless. It is slow and crawling, like the spider in its song. Furthermore, here on this album, more than an entire career of Dio, Rainbow and three other Heaven and Hell albums, the 'evil-ness' of Dio comes out. No longer singing about rainbows, he comes off as the voice of hell incarnate, especially on this track.

Possibly the biggest track on this album is the "Bible Black", which, by the way, has nothing to do with the anime of the same name. This song is about a man who finds a grimoire and slowly becomes possessed by it, until he is taken at last to hell. Dio's voice and Tony's guitar really bring this blood-chilling tale to life, just as well as any tale of rainbows and trolls.

As said before, the mid-paced and slow songs are the really good ones on this album. "Rock and Roll Angel", unfortunately, gets ignored in favor of the album's big single "Bible Black". But that opening riff is epic: you can just imagine the angel's steel wings unfurling to a great span as Tony Iommi proves that even now, years and years since the 'good old 70s', he can still produce amazing riffs...with two fake fingers, I might add. Harkening back to the days of Black Sabbath, this song, like "Symptom of the Universe", ends soft and acoustic, in sharp contrast to the crushing heaviness.

If singing about your feelings and how much you've failed is the mark of an emo band, please explain "Follow the Tears" to me. It is heavy as fuck, possibly the only time in Tony Iommi's career with Heaven and Hell that he's turned his guitar back to the old Black Sabbath C-sharp tuning. Of course, it's even heavier and better live. Perhaps the most chilling part of this song is the verse: "The consequences of conscience is that you'll be left somewhere, swinging in the air." No matter who you believe in or what side of the political spectrum you hail from, this is sure to resound with just about everyone.

The rest of the album really isn't that remarkable, except for the last track. Here is where the evil and epic-ness gets flushed out one last time before we bid farewell to Heaven and Hell forever. "Breaking into Heaven" is Milton's Paradise Lost, coupled with the satanic image of Satan defeating God, a la the Norwegian black metal scene, all brought together by Ronnie James Dio's old but epic voice and Tony Iommi's crushing guitar riffs. Unfortunately, this one is doomed to be the song that was never played live and receives almost no recognition from the fans of Dio. That ends now: it is too evil, heavy and fucking amazing to be ignored!

All in all, this deserves 17 or 18 of 20. When you've only got one enjoyable fast track, "Fear", and Geezer gets only one big moment to shine, "Double the Pain", Vinny is being Vinny and Dio is on his last leg, well, the results will never be another Heaven and Hell album. All that aside, this album still kicks major ass, and as we hear Tony's guitar fade out on "Breaking into Heaven", we can only wish that Ronnie James Dio, if he went to hell, clawed his way out and is Breaking into Heaven now as we speak, to earn his rightful place as a god of rock and roll and heavy metal.

0 Comment

0 Like

Share
    You must be logged in to add a comment

Comment @ mtgman

25 May 2009
The monsters of rock and heavy metal are back. With other name that is also well known. Heaven & Hell has no other official albums, so this is their debut album. Dehumanizer, Heaven & Hell (the album), Live Evil, The Dio Years and Mob Rules are deticated as unoffical Heaven & Hell albums, but they are under the name of Black Sabbath. That makes you think, is this album called "The Devil You Know" also Black Sabbath album, or Heaven & Hell or even both. Officialy it is Heaven & Hell.

This album was good but it wasn´t that great as some people may think. First song called "Atom And Evil" is very dark, darker then other songs, typical doom metal song but it got "Sabbath kick ass power" in it.

Bible Black is probaly gonna be a great hit. Dio has a great voice work in this album and in this song. Geezer Butler shows that he still got skills in bass. Tony is in good shape in this album too, as always. Vinny Appice is probaly one of the best drummers in a world, and that makes me sad because drums are not so good in this album. But they still kick ass.

But no matter. Also this album is slow, just like Doom metal is supposed to be. I think that this is Doom metal album even that I like fast Sabbath/H&H songs, but there is "Eatin The Cannibals" and "Neverwhere" those are little faster songs then the others.

But this album is one of the best albums I know, and I know many bands and albums as a HC metal fan. I give 4 out 5 stars to this album, they could have done better work, but it is still good "Sabbath"/Heaven & Hell album.
 
 

0 Comment

0 Like

Share
    You must be logged in to add a comment