HEAVEN & HELL - THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

This particular Dio fronted BLACK SABBATH lineup changed their name to HEAVEN & HELL for legal reasons. And sadly this would be Dio's last studio album with Iommi, Butler and Appice. That is one crazy album cover though. I actually got this for Christmas last year from my oldest daughter and played it a couple of times over the holidays but was left feeling pretty disappointed. This is slow moving, doomy music for the most part and I guess I was expecting something more like "Mob Rules" or "Heaven & Hell" . Each track seems to feature a short Iommi guitar solo along with dark, sludgy music and vocals.

"Atom And Evil" starts things off on the wrong foot for me,my least favourite track right here. Again it's heavy and doom-like as the vocals join in. A guitar solo 2 1/2 minutes in then back to the sludge. "Fear" is a little more uptempo but it's still dark and heavy. A guitar solo after 3 minutes this time. "Bible Black" is probably the hightlight. It's laid back early on with reserved vocals but when it picks up it's much better. The guitar solo before 4 minutes is the best one so far. "Double The Pain" has deep sounds to start then it kicks in. METALLICA comes to mind. A good heavy rocker for the most part. "Rock & Roll Angel" is where Dio shines. A calm 3 minutes in with a relaxed guitar solo then the sound builds.

"The Turn Of The Scew" picks up quickly. This is actually catchy. "Eating The Cannibals" is the only uptempo track. We get a guitar solo after 2 minutes. "Follow The Tears" has heavy riffs with the vocals coming in at 1/2 minutes. Some nice guitar after 4 1/2 minutes. "Neverwhere" is one like the opener that just doesn't click with me at all. "Breaking Into Heaven" has some eye rolling lyrics (at least for me) but it isn't too bad overall. Another doomy tune though.

I can muster up 3 stars but that's it unfortunately.