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ROCK AND ROLL! => Black Sabbath => The Dio Years => Topic started by: KiloDeltaCharlie on January 05, 2021, 08:03:05 AM
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Peer pressure has forced me to do this one next! ;)
The Devil You Know is the reunion of the Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice era of Black Sabbath, but for various reasons they went with the Heaven & Hell band name.
The opener on this album is Atom & Evil. It's a solid start, but I used to like this song a lot more than I do now, I feel it's a little weak lyrically and the vocal melody is not one of Ronnie's best, musically it's fine though.
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Atom & Evil definitely has a doomy feel to it, but it's not really going anywhere. It was a big disappointment, frankly, when I first heard it. Dio's got that "Catch the Rainbow" thing going on with his voice and I didn't like it back in Rainbow, either. I need more than this track if I'm going to come out liking this album...
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Atom & Evil is a good tune but a horrible opener. Again we're at that slow songs don't work as an opener territory.
Fear should have been the opener...but that's another story...
Anyways Atom & Evil is a very doomy number...but it still does lack a bit of punch. Ronnie's vocal melody is bit too soft for a song this doomy. Would have needed more of that Dehumanizer anger this song to come out better. Musically this is bit careful as well. I know this is one of the songs Ronnie brought to sessions but it still never grabbed me the way it should have...still I think if it would have been placed later in the album it might have been a different story...now it just suffers from being the opener.
I'd go as far as say this is my least favourite of the album.
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Bible Black would have made a great opener for sure, Neverwhere would have too.
I like Atom and Evil but IMO it would have worked better in a different spot.
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I think out of all the songs either Bible Black or Double the Pain probably should’ve been the opener but honestly I don’t think any song was really suited as an opener, they should’ve just wrote a fast track(which the the album severely lacks) specifically to open.
I quite like Atom and Evil, it’s so dam slow and heavy but it’s letdown by the bland vocal melody and stupid lyrics, although I quite like the play on words with the title.
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The next track is Fear.
I didn't much like it when the album came out so I haven't listened to it until this last week when I knew this album would be up for analysis. This last week I've played the album a few times, and Fear is much better than I remember it being. Tony does a great job with the riff, Ronnie is mixed though, the verse has a non-descript melody, but the pre-chorus and chorus are good. The song is also more uptempo than I remember I thought only Eatring the Cannibals and Neverwhere were fast but this is quite quick also.
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Fear has a solid stoner doom groove opening, but it goes from moderately fast to slow back to moderately fast, not what I want to get my album rocking out. It's a lot like The Last in Line in terms of pacing, so it would be better at the end of a side or something like that. I'm just pretty much spending the whole song waiting for it to take off.
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Fear is one of my absolute favourites from the album. The main riff is among Tony's finest riffs ever. Had this one my phone ring tone for a long time too...loved it so much.
Ronnie's vocals here are great and he captures some of the Dehumanizer magic in his voice here I'd say.
A great uptempo song which should have been the opener. I am glad that they chose to play this one live though. A great live track as well.
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Fear is one of the better tracks on the album. Great opening riff and I love the chugging pre chorus riff as well. Ronnie’s verse melody brings the song down though after a promising start but thankfully he’s able to lift it during the pre chorus, Ronnie just blurting out “Fearrrrr” at the end of the chorus is a little lame and unimaginative though. Lyrics are generally cheesy and Tony’s solo is ok but on the average side by his standards.
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The next song is Bible Black... the best song on the album IMO. It's Ronnie's song really, with one of his best ever vocal performances, but the whole band are great on this one. I like the gentle start and then the sudden transition into a heavier, faster rocker.
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I like Bible Black, but I wish it just went further in terms of speed and power. I keep feeling like the band is holding something back on this album.
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Bible Black is a monster track. One of the holy trinity of masterful tracks on the album. The soft intro leading into the heavy and doomy main section.
Ronnie's vocals are monumental on the track and the lyrics are classic Black Sabbath material.
The only complaint I really have about the song is that it could have been a bit longer...to make it a proper epic. This song had the potential for it and could have benefitted from either another verse or a second solo section.
But honestly the song is great as it is and it is one of those songs that goes straight into the best of the best among Sabbath tunes.
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Bible Black is a straight up classic! The arrangements are vintage Ronnie with the mellow tender singing over slow acoustic guitar before launching into a thunderous heavy assault. Every player brings their A game for this song elevating it amongst the best of Dio era Sabbath.
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Double the Pain follows and it's probably my least favourite track on the album. Musically it's not a bad riff, and chugs along nicely, but it is one of Ronnie's worst vocal performances IMO, I really can't stand the chorus.
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Double The Pain is clearly a Geezer song...very bass oriented track...and that is the best part of it too.
What I think this song could have used is a guitar bass play off like on Slipping Away, that would have added a nice touch. As it is now it is maybe bit overly simple.
Ronnie taps into the Dehumanizer style anger a bit on his vocals again which is nice, but I have to agree a bit with KDC about the chorus not being all that good. This is my least favourite on the album as well.
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This is a song that should have started the album out. Double the Pain has a good groove to it and moves along smartly. I'll agree the chorus needs work, but I've been starved for something quick, so I'm all over that riff like a donkey on a waffle.
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Double the Pain feels laidback, but it does have that Geezer vibe which I do love.
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I’m happy to be one out on this but I absolutely love Double the Pain. From Geezers doomy bass intro to Tony’s crushing riff the song is a monster to my ears and in the top 2-3 tracks on TDKN
I also think it’s one of Ronnie’s best vocal melodies with the lyrics he’s singing from the album.
Shocked you’s all don’t rate this song...
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I’m happy to be one out on this but I absolutely love Double the Pain. From Geezers doomy bass intro to Tony’s crushing riff the song is a monster to my ears and in the top 2-3 tracks on TDKN
I also think it’s one of Ronnie’s best vocal melodies with the lyrics he’s singing from the album.
Shocked you’s all don’t rate this song...
I also rate it, but I'll admit that it's one I slept on for the longest. I also wonder if lyrically it's an allusion to Strange Highways (as is 'Fear' in parts).
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I’m happy to be one out on this but I absolutely love Double the Pain. From Geezers doomy bass intro to Tony’s crushing riff the song is a monster to my ears and in the top 2-3 tracks on TDKN
I also think it’s one of Ronnie’s best vocal melodies with the lyrics he’s singing from the album.
Shocked you’s all don’t rate this song...
I also rate it, but I'll admit that it's one I slept on for the longest. I also wonder if lyrically it's an allusion to Strange Highways (as is Atom and Evil in parts).
Interesting take, I’ve never seen that connection. On the surface the lyrics seem to come across as someone that gets off on having pain inflicted on them by others, like a masochist, but that’s probably the simplest interpretation. Who really knows with Ronnie, could be something completely different which is why I would’ve loved him to do a book explaining his own interpretations of his lyrics. I think he liked that his lyrics were open to be interpreted in different ways though.
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@Jack
To be honest I thought I might be the only one who doesn't really like Double the Pain. I'm sure over the years I've only heard good things about it. :)
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Next up we have Rock and Roll Angel. This is one of the best songs on the album, a nice slow heavy riff, a good vocal performance from Ronnie (but the lyrics are little weird). But what makes the song is the solo, gentle start bulding over a chunky riff. Yep great!
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@Jack
To be honest I thought I might be the only one who doesn't really like Double the Pain. I'm sure over the years I've only heard good things about it. :)
That’s cool, I just love the song that much I’m surprised others don’t...
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“Rock And Roll Angel” is a good song and a nice change up from the slow and methodical doom to this point of the album. The lyrics are a bit silly and Ronnie’s vocals a little pedestrian but Tony’s riffing and emotive solo lift the song enough to make it a winner for me.
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Rock 'n Roll Angel is another classic Sabbath sounding track with the tempo changes and the doomy atmosphere.
The main riff is just killer. Ronnie's vocals are excellent on this one...The lyrics are bit overly cryptic, even for Ronnie's standards...I'd love to know what the thought behind the line Caravan to superman was...that has always puzzled me the most.
All in all this is probably the least heavy song on the album and it's still pretty damn heavy....which again makes it classic Sabbath. Tony's guitar solo here is probably the best on the album.
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Turn of the Screw, is one that I've not listened to much since the album came out (along with Fear, Double the Pain and Eating the Cannibles), so the last week or so I've heard them a few times now. TotS is a strange one in that I don't dislike it -- the riff is good, the vocals aren't bad -- but it just feels like a filler track, I guess it's because there is nothing exceptional about it.
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Turn Of The Screw is a bit of an odd one cause it has a fantastic riff and the song moves along very nicely and has some good lyrics but Ronnie's vocals aren't 100% right on it for some reason. Can't really put my finger on it though...
Might be my second least favourite on the album...still a good song, but just not quite up there with the rest of the brilliance...just like Double The Pain.
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Turn of the Screw is one of my least favourite tracks on the album. Musically it’s ok I suppose and has quite a neat solo from Tony but Ronnie brings the song down with his weak and uninspired performance. One of the letdowns on this album for me is Ronnie’s singing and at times rather bland melodies. It’s obvious age at caught up with him by this stage and his vocals were sounding a bit weathered and shallow by his previous standards and it’s particularly glaring on Turn of the Screw.
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Eating the Cannibals is probably the fastest song on the album, it has a nice riff, but little else going for it. It's not a bad song, the vocals are solid, but the lyrics are silly. Not the worst track on the album but it's no Neon Knights!
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Eating The Cannibals is a nice fast song with a rather clever lyrical idea depicting the government as Cannibals and the people uprising against them by eating the cannibals.
The main riff is what I think lets the song down a bit. It's not catchy enough as what you'd expect from a fast song. Neon Knights, The Mob Rules, TV Crimes all had very catchy riffs that you could sing a long...but on this one the riff is bit too "complicated". It's almost like Tony tried to get overly clever with it.
Ronnie's vocals are brilliant again and on a song like this it's really hard to imagine he was 66 years old! Such immense power in that voice still.
This could have been a great song but is let down by the main riff...which isn't something that happens a lot with a man called Tony Iommi.
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“Eating the Cannibals“ is another welcome change of pace on the album but doesn’t really hit any great heights or elevate the album in any way. Quite like the lyrical content on this one though... Very much relevant to what’s going on at the moment. Some nice soloing from Tony too.
All in all it’s just a fun little rocker that sets up the crusher that’s about to come.
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I’m happy to be one out on this but I absolutely love Double the Pain. From Geezers doomy bass intro to Tony’s crushing riff the song is a monster to my ears and in the top 2-3 tracks on TDKN
I also think it’s one of Ronnie’s best vocal melodies with the lyrics he’s singing from the album.
Shocked you’s all don’t rate this song...
I also rate it, but I'll admit that it's one I slept on for the longest. I also wonder if lyrically it's an allusion to Strange Highways (as is Atom and Evil in parts).
Interesting take, I’ve never seen that connection. On the surface the lyrics seem to come across as someone that gets off on having pain inflicted on them by others, like a masochist, but that’s probably the simplest interpretation. Who really knows with Ronnie, could be something completely different which is why I would’ve loved him to do a book explaining his own interpretations of his lyrics. I think he liked that his lyrics were open to be interpreted in different ways though.
Fair point. It's probably me just hearing 'Evilution' in 'Fear' (not 'Atom and Evil', my bad) and putting two and two together.
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Next up we have Follow The Tears. It's another of my favourites on the album, a slower, heavy song with a nice intro section. Ronnie's vocals are great here and although the solo is a little short it is a good one.
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Follow The Tears is without a doubt THE heaviest song Black Sabbath has ever done. And it is my absolute favourite from the album.
Lyrically this absolutely amazing dealing with one of Ronnie's favourite subjects and one that is very close to my heart and that is ofcourse loneliness. A very touching song lyrically.
The main riff is nothing short of suberb and the way the song builds up it totally unique in the Sabbath catalogue.
This is right up there with songs like NIB and Heaven And Hell in the best songs Sabbath has ever done.
Nothing bad to say about this masterpiece...nothing.
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“Follow the Tears” crushes my soul every time I listen to it and is my favourite track from the album and one of my favourite tracks from the Dio era period. The main intro and riff is so suspenseful, dark and heavy it could be music from a horror film. I wonder if this is the type of music Tony has talked about doing for horror movie soundtracks?
If I had to nit pick anything it’s that I wish Ronnie had just a little more bark to his vocals but it’s only a very small nitpick as it’s still amazing as it is...
All hail the King... King Iommi
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I once read a review of TDYK that described Follow the Tears as such: "Iommi takes a menacing glance at doom/death". I might be paraphrasing there, but that one said all it needed to. Musically it's just intense.
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The penultimate track is Neverwhere, another of my absolute favourites on this album. A fast rocker, mythical lyrics about a bad girl (not for the first time!), nice vocals, great riff, indeed great all round musicianship. A fantastic track IMO.
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I'm liking Neverwhere, but it's not really getting my spine tingly. The whole album is having this problem. It *should* be getting me to rock out, but it's not. As I listen, I'm aware that there's no real dynamic range - everything is about as loud as everything else. So I'm gonna say "loudness war" and hold up the red card. :redcard: Another victim of the compressor, this one... 13 had similar issues with a lack of dynamic range, I'm seeing a pattern here in albums with that loudness cranked up leaving me going "meh".
It's not a bad album overall, but it's disappointing how it fails to get off the ground the way H&H, MR, and D did.
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Neverwhere is a great fast rocker. Better than Eating The Cannibals, the riffing here is more classic Iommi stuff and Ronnie's vocals and lyrics are absolutely top notch.
I do get what you're on about ZZZ...the dynamic range isn't what it could be on this album...But this still isn't nearly as bad as some albums have been. But in terms of earlier Sabbath stuff...yup...compressed...a lot.
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At least there's no clipping or popping like on *SOME* albums...
... looking at YOU, Death Magnetic!
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Neverwhere is probably my least favourite track off the album which would also make it my least favourite Dio era track. For an uptempo song the riff is quite boring and just doesn’t ignite the song in any way.
Ronnie’s vocal is the worst from the entire album, especially when he sings “the hand that rocks the cradle in the morning” part and the lyrics uninteresting although I quite like the catchy pre chorus line “Waiting alone for the witching hour, she feels the shock and the surge of power, she’s come to know” The solo is great also.
It’s not a terrible song by any stretch, the Dio era never did terrible, it just has a big sense of filler about it and the vocals are a little off.
It’s the “Live Forever” of the album.
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Neverwhere is probably my least favourite track off the album which would also make it my least favourite Dio era track. For an uptempo song the riff is quite boring and just doesn’t ignite the song in any way.
Ronnie’s vocal is the worst from the entire album, especially when he sings “the hand that rocks the cradle in the morning” part and the lyrics uninteresting although I quite like the catchy pre chorus line “Waiting alone for the witching hour, she feels the shock and the surge of power, she’s come to know” The solo is great also.
It’s not a terrible song by any stretch, the Dio era never did terrible, it just has a big sense of filler about it and the vocals are a little off.
It’s the “Live Forever” of the album.
I'm wondering, how much did Dio's health impact his vocals? I think we all are of a mind that there were some big issues with his singing on this album, and as I recall, he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, same year this album was being recorded.
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^^^
Hard to know for sure but I think it was probably more age decline and general wear & tear. If you listen to the 3 new tracks they recorded in 2006 for the Dio years compilation there was an obvious drop off in his vocals from Master of the Moon that was recorded just 2 years prior. Then another notable drop off again from The Dio Years compilation to TDYK with the exception of Bible Black, he really seemed to dig deep for that song.
It could very well have been that the 2007 reunion tour they did took a toll on his voice also. I do think the cancer more than likely affected him during the 2009 tour though. How could it not?
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The final track on the album is Breaking in to Heaven. I quite like it, but not as much as I used to... not sure what happened there! It's slow and heavy and one of the better lyrics on show. Trouble is the vocal melody to the verse is a little bland and no real tempo change throughout its near 7 minutes doesn't help. But I do like it just not as much as other tracks here.
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My ranking for the album is:
1. Bible Black
2. Rock n Roll Angel
3. Neverwhere
4. Follow the Tears
5. Fear
6. Breaking Into Heaven
7. Atom and Evil
8. Turn of the Screw
9. Eating the Cannibals
10. Double the Pain
And the Ranking for the Dio albums are:
1. Dehumanizer
2= The Mob Rules
2= Heaven & Hell
4. The Devil You Know
I should clarify that the first three are all within a whisker of each other, and TDYK is still a stonking good album!
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My Dio-era rankings are:
1. Mob Rules
2. Heaven & Hell
3. Dehumanizer
^ Close enough to sometimes jostle up and down in relation to each other, depending on my mood.
4. TDYK - it's still not catching on with me, and I tried. I really tried. No sparks for me.
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Breaking Into Heaven is the third real Epic song of the album, but it is also the weakest one of those 3...It is still a good song but this could have used a tempo change in the middle as it is it is bit too samey through out. I think from Tony and Geezer this was the first sign of that uninspired writing that we witnessed quite a bit more on 13.
Ronnie's belting out great vocals and great lyrics but the music just isn't quite up to par with what he is doing here...and that's a real shame...as this had potential to be a great closer. Vinny's drumming is great here too though.
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My rating of the songs would go:
1. Follow The Tears
2. Bible Black
3. Fear
4. Rock 'n Roll Angel
5. Neverwhere
6. The Turn Of The Screw
7. Eating The Cannibals
8. Breaking Into Heaven
9. Atom & Evil
10. Double The Pain
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The album finishes similarly to the way it starts, dragging its feet. The riff is a generic doom riff that’s been played a thousands of times over but it works well with the lyrics and vocal melody. This song was a slow burn for me, I didn’t think much of it initially and thought it was a rather disappointing way to finish the album but it’s really grown on me over the years. It has a certain feel about it that just ties in well with the overall atmosphere of the album.
I do agree with Charger though that the song could’ve benefited with a fast tempo change midway through before settling back into that slow doom riff, it would've really elevated the song into more of an epic.
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Giving my order of songs from favourites to least favourite
Follow the Tears
Bible Black
Double the Pain
Fear
Rock and Roll Angel
Atom and Evil
Eating the Cannibals
Breaking Into Heaven
Neverwhere
Turn of the Screw
Still can’t get over how you’s don’t rate Double the Pain :o
Overall album rating 7/10
Others
Heaven and Hell - 10/10
Mob Rules - 9.5/10
Dehumanizer - 9/10
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Heaven and Hell - 10/10
Mob Rules - 9.5/10
Dehumanizer - 9/10
Were you sober when you posted this? :lol:
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Heaven and Hell - 10/10
Mob Rules - 9.5/10
Dehumanizer - 9/10
Were you sober when you posted this? :lol:
Absolutely! I’ve always said the first 2 Dio era albums can stand shoulder to shoulder with the first 6 and Dehumanizer ain’t far behind. Most everything else sucks outside the Oz & Dio albums though.
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^^^^^^
I'd say shoulder to hip, but, okay. :)
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I'm with Jack with those two albums being within a whisker of each other, but I'll put MR ahead of H&H. And, yes, D is not far behind.