HEAVEN & HELL - THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

"The Devil You Know" is the debut full-length studio album by heavy metal act Heaven & Hell. The album was released in April 2009 by Rhino/ Roadrunner Records. Heaven & Hell is actually the Dio-led Black Sabbath lineup that recorded the Black Sabbath albums "Heaven and Hell (1980)", "Mob Rules (1981)" and "Dehumanizer (1992)". Well... Bill Ward played the drums on "Heaven and Hell" but other than that it's the same lineup. That means Ronnie James Dio on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitars, Geezer Butler on bass and Vinnie Appice on drums. The name Heaven & Hell was chosen to differentiate the project from the Ozzy Osbourne-led Black Sabbath, which were still active at the time.

Now these guys can change their name to whatever they want, but the music on "The Devil You Know" is through and through unmistakably the sound of Black Sabbath. Tony Iommi's signature heavy, powerful and at times doomy riffing leads the way and with the strong and distinct vocal delivery by Dio and an extremely well playing and tight rythm section, this is Black Sabbath when they are best. With tracks like "Atom and Evil", "Bible Black", "Eating the Cannibals", "Follow the Tears" and "Breaking Into Heaven", "The Devil You Know" should prove to be a dream come true for every fan of the Dio-led Black Sabbath albums.

The production is warm and powerful and it suits the music very well.

"The Devil You Know" is one of those albums that are able to grab you by the balls and make your head bang, but at the same time provoke a nostalgic reaction to make you cry. This is heavy metal/ doom metal like our momma made it. The delivery is extremely convincing and the material is generally very strong and memorable. I don't ask for more and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.