Whether you call them
Black Sabbath II or their true name,
Heaven and Hell is no 'oughties' group of newbies to the metal scene. This is the big leagues! After
Ozzy Osbourne returned to his solo band to produce new material, Tony and Geezer got
Dio and Vinny back together and brought out The
Dio Years, featuring the three new tracks. In support of their reunion,
Heaven and Hell went out to show the horns and spread the good news of heavy metal to the nations. This live album, recorded in Radio City Music Hall in the Big Apple, is their eternal gift to us all.
I've always held that musicians only get better with age, because they've been playing for so long that they can now perform their art in their sleep. Such is the case for these four 'geezers' (no offense meant, Mr. Butler). The band moves from one fast moment to another, and even the 'slower' songs like "
Children of the Sea" or "
Sign of the
Southern Cross" still feel as powerful as they did in the 80s.
Musically, Vinny Appice's time with
Dio and 3 Legged Dog have made him much better than when we first saw him on
The Mob Rules. Geezer is once again doing what Geezer does best, playing break-neck bass-lines with his fingers (vegans ftw!) and grooving on the classic "
Lady Evil." Tony has finally gotten the brains to tune his guitar into D standard, and every single track basks in the glory of its new live tuning. All the best riffs you've ever enjoyed, "
The Mob Rules", "
Heaven and Hell", "Neon Knights", "I", "Falling off the Edge of the World" and many more, have more life in them now than, possibly, they did before.
As for the '
Rainbow Elf' Ronnie James
Dio, well, at the time of this recording, he only had 3 years left to live. However, his voice is still as powerful as ever. On "
The Mob Rules" he delivers a hair-raising shriek towards the beginning, the likes of Rob
Halford or
Bruce Dickinson - keep in mind that he's probably in his late seventies at this time.
Because it's just so awesome, the song "Falling off the Edge of the World" once again gets a paragraph all of its own. This was the second original
Heaven and Hell song that I heard (and from this album nonetheless), which helped get me even more so into this band.
Dio's voice is hair-raising, and Geezer's bass groove towards the end of the intro are sweet as hell. Every time I look out at the Pacific
Ocean and realize that beyond that lies 'the east', I hear
Dio's line "It's the edge of the world!" which he improved while the heavy passage played. Suddenly, the main riff comes to life and you can't get enough of it. It grabs you by the throat and drags you through the rest of the song, eager to hear more of it. Even as the song begins to unravel itself towards the end, the momentum doesn't stop there. The last lines sung by
Dio, "It's the end...of the world!" are perfectly delivered. Take that, Rolling Stones magazine!
As far as
Heaven and Hell is concerned, the older they got, the better they were. Fortunately there is a DVD of this glorious event, so we can all watch these four titans of heavy metal 'sailing across the seas of light' to 'the edge of the world' on 'the shadow of the wind.'
And we lost 'children of the sea', whom
Dio said will always be, in his eyes, "Neon Knights", are invited to partake in this epic event. There's no question, get it!
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