Metalway Festival Cancellation Video

Thanks to Sab fan Carlos Martinez who sent in this video. It's Ronnie talking to the audience at the Metalway Festival in Spain last night when the gig there was cancelled due to some severe back pain that Tony Iommi experienced right before going onstage. Make sure and click the "HQ" button on the player to get higher quality.

Bible Black Fan Made Music Video

OK, when the new album came out earlier this month, I think a lot of us were excited to learn that there was going to be a new music video. The first "single" was going to be Bible Black, and we were getting a video for that. Then we found out it was going to be animated. OK, I thought that could work. The last official music video by the band was the animated track "Get a Grip" from 1995's Forbidden, so it wouldn't have been the first time. It premiered on Eddie Trunk's VH1 show "That Metal Show", and wow, was that bad. If you haven't seen it, here is the official video for the song:

Apparently, the fans weren't the only ones turned off by that. I read a quote online not long after the video came out from Tony Iommi himself who said the video was the only thing about the new project he wasn't happy with. He said this specifically. "I think it' bloody awful, to be honest. It looks like Casper the Ghost or something. We didn't have anything to do with it.. that was sort of just presented to us, really." Due to the overwhelming negative reaction, I decided to contact the company who made the thing. They're called "23d Films". I wrote them twice offering them a venue to tell their side of the story, and they never replied to me. If you look over their portfolio on their site, this video doesn't appear anywhere - I wonder if that's due to the reaction the video got or not.

Anyway, while waiting for 23d to contact me back, I decided to hit up a Black Sabbath fan by the name of "Stephen King" (no not THAT one). Two years ago he produced the seriously badass fan made video for the track "Ear in the Wall" (which, if you haven't seen, you really should. Check it out here). Anyway, I told him about the official Bible Black video, and said he really should take another crack at it. He said he'd look into it, and this morning, I got word that he finished it. You need to look at this. While fan based, it definitely shows what can be done when someone is invested in the subject matter they're producing. This shows.

Check it out below:

Click here to discuss this video on our forums.

The Tony Martin Band to tour the USA

In a move I've hoped would happen for some time now, I got word from Tony Martin directly that his band will be touring the USA this summer in July and August. I've always wanted to see the TM band, and I'll (hopefully) finally get the chance. The idea behind the tour is to celebrate the 20th anniversary release of the Black Sabbath album, "Headless Cross". That will also be the moniker of the touring band, too - "Headless Cross". The band will be:

Tony Martin - Vocals (and I assume violin if he plays his track "Scream")
Rolf Munkees - Guitars
Jamie Mallender - Bass
Danny Needham - Drums
Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards

While no specific dates have been mentioned, I did get an email from Tony Martin himself a little while ago this afternoon with some details. Here's what Tony had to say to me..

OK Its official and you're the first call.

yesterday they confirmed that all visa applications were under way and that means we're definateley on our way.

Everything thats out there up till today has been speculation but if you wanna start talkin about it you can say you heard it for real from me.

The band is gonna have an advertising tag of Headless Cross.. its really the Tony Martin band, and thats what we enter the states as.. but the promoter has got itchy fingers i think and decided its better to use the album title .... I'm not ENTIRELY happy with it just because ,.... but I decided to run with it .

So the idea is to commemorate 20 years since Headless Cross and I can reveal that some of the songs have NEVER been done live before... Like Black Moon... Its a REALLY complex track but we're gonna bring it to the stage and show it off... also we've just left behind th anniversary of Eternal Idol so there's gonna be some more off that album too like Born to lose.

Looking forward to getting out there and seeing what response we get.

I have to say its been a hard slog with negotiations and getting visas and stuff so we come at VERY short notice and hope to be with you guys in just under 3 weeks from now!!!

The band consists of myself, Geoff Nicholls, My drummer Danny Needham, Empire guitarist Rolf Munkes, and Jamie mallender, we are a couple of members short normally we like to have more people up there but it wasnt possible this time round but we got it covered.

We arent able to bring with us much in the way of visual stuff just because there is so little time to get it all together so ... its just the songs... Me and....well .... i hope.. you guys!!! Dates are becoming published and that was a little premature cause some of them didnt have confirmation but from now there will be and so if you find something near you its almost certain to be real.

But you can always check with me i guess.

We're out there till the end of August.

Best wishes
TM

When I have more information on this tour, I'll be sure and update with that. Looking forward to it!

Heaven & Hell on German TV

I got an email from Sabbath fan Andreas telling me that the Jun 16th concert in Bonn Germany will be on German television on July 13th. Check out his email here:

Hello Joe,

I would like to inform you, that the concert of Heaven & Hell (live in Bonn, Germany, June 16th) will be on air at July 13th !

You will find the announcement here: http://www.rockpalast.de/sendetermine/?jahr=WDR.

The Heaven & Hell concert in Berlin two days before was excellent. Unfortunately they played only 90 min (but with the same playlist like your news information from 5th of May).

Best regards from Germany.
Andreas

Concert Reviews

Hey gang..

If you see Black Sabb--- er, Heaven & Hell on one of the 2009 tour dates, make sure and submit a review. You can do that by visiting the individual page for that gig, and submit your review at the bottom. It would make it a lot easier on me to do that than for you to email them to me. Thank you.

If for some reason you find yourself unable to do that, please drop me an email about it - I want to get reviews and setlists for as many gigs as I can - although I would really prefer them be through the feedback system on the individual gig pages.! Thanks.

Sabbath Fan Freakout Followup

Remember this guy?

Well, if that's you, Heaven & Hell wants to hear from you. The site also calls him a "Superfan". I can't say I agree with that terminology. I'd agree with "overly loud, borderline annoying fan that makes it uncomfortable to be a respectable metal fan" for sure. But not "superfan". :)

About Ozzy & Black Sabbath

For those of you still hoping for a new album with Ozzy and Black Sabbath, I think this story pretty much totally kills that idea forever.

Go read this. Ozzy is suing Tony Iommi over ownership of the name Black Sabbath. Much eyerolling coming from here.

I was following the band back in 1985 when Tony bought the rights from the remaining originals, and he has owned it since then. For Ozzy (or more probably Sharon) to make this kind of move probably kills Ozzy era Black Sabbath from working together in the future forever, I would think.

NOTE: I have zero inside info on this news - I just found out about it this morning, and I'm operating under personal assumption in what I say here. I only say this because it's known I sometimes know things I can't talk about. This is NOT one of them. Thanks to Blabbermouth for the story.

On my way back

Hey gang. Sorry I've been gone, but losing your job is not a fun thing to deal with. Yesterday was a good day, and today is better. I had a job interview yesterday that seemed to go well, so hopefully that pans out. But today my son is being born. I leave for the hospital in about half an hour.

I wanted to thank from the bottom of my heart those who contributed to the "donation cup" in the story below. It's really helped a lot. If you still would like to contribute, it still can be done in the story below this one.

And to those who insulted me about the request? Well, I have just this to say.. Read Luke 6:22. The request was made out of a genuine need, and was optional, and was something I prayed over. God Bless you, too.

Fortunately, the band hasn't announced more tour dates while I've been out, and I've gotten little from the dates that have happened in terms of pictures and reviews. What I have gotten I will post next week after my wife is back from the hospital. Being unemployed will allow me a little more time to work on the site. :)

See you next week,

Taking a short break

I was planning on doing this when my son was born in three weeks, but...

I found out yesterday that my job I had for the last 16 and a half years is going away. Not just me, but the whole company I was working for. Done - for those of you that didn't know, I worked for 3D Realms, the folks who make Duke Nukem videogames. I have until next Friday at work, then I'm out. I'm working on a few things, but right now, I have to say I have zero desire to write about Black Sabbath at the moment.

I WILL be back, but for right now, my head is a in a place where I can't begin to bring myself to write. Sorry about that, gang. Given I have a kid coming, and I'm going to be out of a job, I want to put out the tin cup. If you are in an ability to help out, I'd really appreciate it if you could send a few bucks my way - but please understand it will not affect anything , but when you're desperate, you have to do what you have to do. Thank you for visiting.

(BTW, DFish Design is the name I've given myself for side website design).

Opening Night Set List [ UPDATED W/ VIDEO ]

Well, the first concert is over. Here's the set list that was played:

1. E5150
2. Mob Rules
3. Children of the Sea
4. I
5. Bible Black
6. Time Machine
7. Drum Solo
8. Fear
9. Falling off the Edge of the World
10. Follow the Tears
11. Die Young
12. Heaven & Hell
13. Country Girl / Neon Knights (encore)

Ronnie apparently said towards the end something about being sorry that the people in attendance had to put up with the "bullshit" they had to. Anyone know what that was about?

The inclusion of Country Girl was a MAJOR surprise - but it was like the intro to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath they'd play introducing Paranoid with Ozzy. There was a few lines of County Girl, but it was just an intro to Neon Knights. Breaking down the Songs:

Heaven & Hell: 4
Mob Rules: 3 (although one was a taped intro, and I don't count Country Girl)
Dehumanizer: 2
The Dio Years: none
The Devil You Know: 3

If you were at the gig and have any pics, send them to me via email. I'll get 'em online. That goes for any show on the tour. If you have pics, send 'em in. If you have a concert review, go to the gig page for that show, and submit it. Here's the page for the show that was played tonight.

I'm also seeing rumors that the new album will open at #8 on the Billboard charts, which will be a MAJOR surprise to me. I didn't think this would crack the top 25 at all, as this kind of music doesn't sell in the US anymore. If true, that would be a major accomplishment.

UPDATE: Here's a few youtube videos from the concert. Watch them while you can, as these things have a tendency to be taken down by the record labels.

Ticket Presale Password

Short and sweet...

The presale for all Heaven & Hell shows in August, except Baltimore, begins Wednesday May 6 at 10AM local time at www.ticketmaster.com or www.livenation.com, depending on the market. The password for all presales is DEVIL!!!!

First batch of Official US Tour Dates [ UPDATED ]

This morning, the official H&H Myspace page posted a blog entry with a listing of the first batch of US Tour Dates. First off, I want to say this before I post the dates.

THIS IS NOT ALL OF THE DATES! Even before I posted this, I had a few people send me "WTF" style emails saying "What about xxxx"? Come on people, first new album in how many years, and you think that will be all the US dates? While I don't have anything official on that subject, I cannot imagine this is all of them. If I get any sort of official conformation on this issue (I've asked), I'll update.

UPDATE: I've been told officially that there will be more tour dates. Whether they follow up right after these, or at a future date has not been decided - but there will be more than this.

Anyway, here's the list of US Tour dates released today:

07 Vancouver, BC Thunderbird Arena (On Sale 5/9)
08 Seattle, WA WaMu Theater* (On Sale 5/8)
10 San Jose, CA Event Center Arena (On Sale 5/8)
11 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theater (On Sale 5/9)
12 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theater (On Sale 5/11)
14 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion (On Sale 5/9)
15 Denver, CO Red Rocks (On Sale 5/9)
18 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion (On Sale 5/8)
19 Chicago, IL Charter One Pavilion (On Sale 5/15)
21 Detroit, MI Meadow Brook Pavilion (On Sale 5/8)
22 Cleveland, OH Nautica Pavilion (On Sale 5/8)
23 Baltimore, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion (On Sale 6/5)
25 New York, NY WaMu Theater @ MSG (On Sale 5/8)
27 Wallingford, CT Chevrolet Theatre (On Sale 5/9)
28 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion (On Sale 5/8)

The opener on all these dates is a band called "Coheed & Cambria". That is on all but the Seattle date on the 8th. The opener for that date is "Neurosis". Anyway, I had never heard of Coheed & Cambria before. If you've never heard of 'em before, click here, to check out one of their songs on Youtube.

I'll have my 2009 Tour Date Page updated later today or tonight. I'm kind of busy at work, and can't prep all that today. :)

First US Tour Date Rumor [ UPDATED ]

Got this sent to me from Sabbath fan "Tom" sent me the following email.

Hey Joe, I just got an email saying Heaven and Hell are playing in Cincy on Aug 18th with Coheed and Cambria opening up. You probably already know but I didn't see this confirmed anywhere but I know it's a legitimate email.

Aug 18th in the US would fit with what I'd seen rumoured in the past as for US dates. I cannot get official confirmation about the date. Nor do I have any clue who "Coheed & Cambria" are. I've never heard of them before.

More as I get it.

UPDATED: I had a few more people send me another date via email. That would be August 21st in Detroit, MI. Both people that sent me that said that the article they read in the Detroit Free Press says tickets go on sale on May 8th. This tells me we should be getting a proper US tour date list shortly if tickets are going on sale this soon. Additionally, there was a post on my forums saying Los Angeles on Aug 11th.

Heaven & Hell on Rockline

Wednesday night, the boys were in Los Angeles for an appearance on the nationally syndicated radio show with Bob Coburn, Rockline. I was busy doing some family stuff, and was unable to listen, but due to the magic of the Internet in 2009, you can hear the show via replay on the Rockline website. If you hit their "Replay Page", you can listen to the Heaven & Hell appearance. However, I suggest doing it now, as they don't leave the replays there indefinitely; I believe it's only there for a couple of weeks.

Here's a pic of the boys in the Rockline studio with Bob Coburn...

Thanks to Gene Kirkland again for the photo.

UK Tour info with Manowar is false

It's been brought to my attention that a story is currently online [link] which has "details" of some UK dates with Manowar, and it talks about a co-headlining situation. I contacted H&H management about this, as these dates were new to me. Their response was:

"This is causing much amusement since none of us in the H&H camp have a clue what it's about! This is someone's fantasy, not ours!"

So I think we can categorize these dates and the Manowar story as false. When I get official dates, rest assured they will be put on my site when I get them.

Bible Black Music Video

It's been released online. Check out this streaming version. Once you get by the ads you have to watch from Yahoo Music. :(

Edit: This appears to only work inside the US. Blame Yahoo. :)

Rehearsals are underway [ UPDATED ]

UPDATE: I have a review of the "rehearsal" that was sent in by Kyle Mann, a Sabbath fan who was lucky enough to attend this event, plus an additional picture that wasn't here in my initial posting (the picture of Tony Iommi was mistakenly left off)....

Well, the tour machine starts up again shortly. The obvious thing for the band to be doing now is rehearse. Well, last night, there was a rehearsal, but they did something I hadn't seen before, they had a small invited group of people to watch the rehearsal. It wasn't a full fledged gig, they only played a handful of songs, but it was pretty cool.

Thanks to Wendy Dio & Gene Kirkland, I was sent some photos taken during the short rehearsal, which according to reports included the following songs played live:

Bible Black
Fear
Follow the Tears
Time Machine

The person who reported the set list had to say this about the performance... "The power was raw, everyone was on game and energetic, and Dio was singing like the Rainbow days!"

I'm personally glad Time Machine is back in the set list. It's one of my favorites, and I haven't seen it live since 1994 when Sabbath did it with Tony Martin to open the Cross Purposes setlist.

Kyle Mann's review:

I entered a contest through local So Cal radio station 95.5 KLOS. I won a copy of "TDYK" that is being mailed to me, plus the chance to go to the rehearsal showcase. From the looks of the list, there were probably around 15-20 contest winners, plus each one could bring a guest. Other than that, there were around 20 industry insiders, including a good chunk of people from Rhino, and I heard someone from Roadrunner was there also.

To be honest, I was pretty unsure of what to expect. They didn't have any details such as size of the venue or crowd, length of setlist, etc. It was pretty vague, basically "show up here at this time" was the gist of it.

It was relatively short; they only performed 25 minutes or so. It was a full dress rehearsal, including smoke, lights, backdrop, etc. They didn't have a stage setup however, so we were at eye level, nothing separating us from the band. It was pretty intimate, maybe a few upwards of 50 there. The production was running on all cylinders, though. Dio was energetic, Iommi was his typical smiley self, Geezer hung back as usual, and Vinny was a powerhouse.

Dio started the show by saying he had never done this before, and joked we wouldn't know when they messed up because these were new songs. It seemed almost like a "send-off" for their tour, maybe a chance to build some buzz and get some pics (like the ones you posted) to use for upcoming tour posters.

Overall, it was an incredible experience. Bible Black works GREAT live. As soon as Dio sang, "At last alone, his fire's dying..." I knew his voice was in great shape and we were in for a real treat. I have a new appreciation for Follow the Tears, not one of my favorites until now. Fear was really the highlight though. Iommi was on form like nobody's business, and Geezer was a monster. When Dio belted out "Feeeeeeeeeeeear!" it was even better than on the record (which I know some people didn't care for). It didn't sound downtuned at all. To be honest, Time Machine was a little muddy. It may have just been my position in the crowd, front and center isn't the best spot for sound quality. I also know faster songs are a little tougher live. Each piece worked well, but I was having trouble processing it all as a whole. Anyway, I'm fired up for the tour after this.

Below are the photos from the gig taken by Gene Kirkland. Also, if you click through to this thread on my forums, you can see some additional photos taken by the fan who attended this rehearsal. You can also click through to this page in my photo gallery where you can see larger versions of the pictures shown on this page (and one other I didn't use on this page).

And the album is out today in Europe and tomorrow. Send in your reviews!

Winners of the Devil You Know Giveaway

While I have notified all the winners directly via email, I wanted to let everyone else know the winners of the giveaway for the Devil You Know contest have been picked. The winners are:

Alexandre Matte (Gatineau, Quebec Canada)
Brad Mozley (Yorba Linda, CA)
Doug Southgate (Stratford, Ontario Canada)
Simon Elliott (Riverside, CA)
Daniel Holloway (Arlington, VA)

To the winners, the CD's are enroute to me from Rhino, and I should have them in hand tomorrow. When I get them, I'll turn around and get them out the door to you the same day, so if the mail is working, you should have it before it releases next Tuesday (except for the Canada guys, sorry about that). Anyway, here are the answers to the questions:

1) What was the first song written by the Dio incarnation of Sabbath after Dio started jamming with the guys originally?

Answer: This is a very well known story, something Dio says just about every time he's asked about how he joined the Sabs originally. He talks about jamming with Tony and the lads, and on the first night they wrote "Children of the Sea". This was kind of amusing, as I got all kind of wild guesses. Things from The Devil Cried, to Computer God, to Mob Rules. I didn't think this question was that confusing.

2) On the new album, there's a track by the name "Rock & Roll Angel". What was this track called earlier in the album's production?

Answer: In early press for the album, there was a song named "Rock & Roll Jesus". This was later changed to the final version of Rock & Roll Angel. There's been some fan speculation that it was done to avoid confusion with a song by Kid Rock of the same name. Like anything he does can be called a "song". Ewww... Anyway, I've gotten no official reason for the name change, but there you are - the answer is R&R Angel.

3) Vinny Appice played his own drums on this album. Whose kit did he play on the three tracks from 2007's "The Dio Years"? (They weren't his)

Answer: When the Heaven & Hell project first started, Bill Ward was involved. My research shows that he was there long enough to lay down some basic tracks in the studio, but it never progressed with Bill far enough to get to true recording of the songs when he realized he didn't want to do it and went home. That apparently had the band in a bit of a bind, as they needed to complete the songs, so they flew Vinny Appice over to Tony Iommi's house, where the songs were being recorded. As it needed to be done in a hurry, they didn't have time to properly get Vinny's gear to England, so Vinny played the drum kit that is inside Tony's house in his recording studio on those three tracks. That kit belonged to the late Cozy Powell. This is another one I got a bunch of wild guesses on - pretty much everyone who has played drums in Black Sabbath at some point got a mention, but most people who got this wrong guessed Bill Ward.

4) Dehumanizer & The Devil You Know were recorded in the same studio. What's the name of that studio?

Answer: It was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. This was another one I got several interesting wrong guesses on. Several said it was Tony's studio, which would have been a good guess, and the DVD footage has Tony saying they considered that, but they wanted a more proper recording studio, so they went back to Rockfield, as it's one of the few studios you can also live at. I also had a handful of people guess "Rich Bitch Studios" in Midland.

5) Who plays keyboards on the new "The Devil You Know" album?

Answer: This is the one that tripped up most people. In fact, I'd wager 90% of the people that got the answers wrong got this one wrong. I understand why. The reason is when the press started coming out about this album, I asked who was playing keyboards on the album, and I was told "nobody, no keyboards". As time went on, I found this to be untrue, and later found out that there were keyboards (albeit not a lot) on the new album. They were played by engineer Mike Exeter. Mike also played keys briefly on the "Shadow of the Wind" track from the Dio Years compilation. Most people guessed "nobody" because I reported it that way for a long time, but I have made references to Exeter lately, so the info was out there. I also got a ton of people guessing Scott Warren, Geoff Nicholls, and a few for Adam Wakeman. :)

Anyway, congratulations to the winners, as I said, I should have the prizes out in the mail either tomorrow or Monday.

Vote on the Cover Art

As you should know by now, an alternate version of the cover art was released. This will be sold in Wal-mart. My initial feedback from fans on my forums and through email is a lot of people seem to like the alternate over the "official" cover art. To that, I've decided to throw it up for a poll.

If you missed it, go to the front page of this site, and look towards the bottom where the poll is. Go ahead and vote.

Listen to the Entire "Devil You Know" Album RIGHT NOW

Legally, too!

VH1's "The Leak" site is streaming the entire album right now. Stop reading this. Go listen.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/heaven_and_hell/2424995/album.jhtml?popThis=playIt(

[ UPDATE ] I just found out this morning that this only works if you are inside the US.

Win a Free Copy of "The Devil You Know"

It's giveaway time again! A week from this coming Tuesday is the US release date for the Black Sabbath... uh, "Heaven & Hell" new studio album, "The Devil You Know". If you've been living under a rock, then you don't know this is the first full studio album by the Dio incarnation of Black Sabbath since 1992, and the first full new album of music by Black Sabbath (yeah, yeah, yeah) since 1995's Forbidden. Inbetween we got two new studio tracks with Ozzy in 1998, one live track in 2001 on the Ozzfest tour, and three new tracks with Dio in 2007. But this is the first full studio album by whatever the frig this band wants to call itself in way too long.

And you can win one - free! I'm here with another in my long series of giveaways by trivia contest. Rhino has been kind enough to send me over five copies of the album to give away to you, the site visitor! This is the standard release (not the Best Buy 2 disc version, I can't get those for giveaway, quantity is too limited). If you win one of these, you're likely to get it before the release date if you're in the US, as I'll be sending 'em out the same day the contest closes. :)

If you don't win one of the free ones in my contests, please go support the label and the band by buying copies. In fact, even if you do win one, I say you should go buy one anyway and give one to a friend. The band deserves the support for still being out there making music and touring at their ages. :)

ALBUM ORDERING INFO: First are some links you can use to order the album.

US: Amazon.com's physical CD page
UK: Amazon.co.uk's Page
US: Best Buy Ordering Page (Exclusive US 2 Disc version, 1 CD, 1 DVD)
UK: Amazon.co.uk Ordering Page (UK 2 Disc version, 1 CD, 1 DVD)

Don't cross buy the DVD's. The DVD's are region encoded. The one from Best Buy is Region 1, and the one from play.com is Region 2. If you buy out of region and don't have region free or a proper region DVD player, you won't be able to see it. If you don't know what region encoding is, go read this. You'll learn something.

As per my contests in the past, you'll need to answer a few trivia questions about the band. If you get them all right, you'll be put into a drawing for a copy of the new CD. Here are the questions you need to answer:

1. What was the first song written by the Dio incarnation of Sabbath after Dio started jamming with the guys originally?
2. On the new album, there's a track by the name "Rock & Roll Angel". What was this track called earlier in the album's production?
3. Vinny Appice played his own drums on this album. Whose kit did he play on the three tracks from 2007's "The Dio Years"? (They weren't his)
4. Dehumanizer & The Devil You Know were recorded in the same studio. What's the name of that studio?
5. Who plays keyboards on the new "The Devil You Know" album?

You need to send your answers for the questions and your name and address to newsabbathalbum@black-sabbath.com. There's two important things here. First the email must go to this address. Second, you have to include your name and address. IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THESE TWO SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS, YOUR SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. The contest will run through Thursday morning the 23rd of April at 9AM Central Time (my time, which is the Central Time Zone in the US). You don't have to be in the US to be eligible to win.

One other thing, if you just won the other giveaway I had with the autographed version via the cover art contest - you're not eligible. Give someone else a chance. :)

Devil You Know "Exclusive" Stuff

It has been known for a bit that Best Buy is having an exclusive version of the new album with a DVD containing about 25 minutes of video footage of the band in the studio. The same version is being sold outside of the US/North America in the same format. That's not new. However, today comes a some info detailing several other "exclusive" versions which will be available.

The cover art shown here is the version that Wal-Mart will be selling. Click on it for a larger version.

Text begins here:

Heaven & Hell is ramping up for the April 28 release of THE DEVIL YOU KNOW with a vast array of physical and digital retail exclusive versions, listed below. The album will also be released as double vinyl LP featuring a laser etched design and exclusive poster on May 12.

• Best Buy will offer an exclusive version featuring a DVD with unreleased video of the band recording the album including studio performances, interviews, and other behind-the-scenes content.
• Wal Mart will offer an exclusive alternate cover that prominently features the traditional Black Sabbath devil logo. When finaliz ing the cover, the band narrowed it down to their two favorites but had a difficult time making a final decision. Now the alternate cover will also be available as a Wal Mart exclusive.
• iTunes will offer an exclusive version with previously unreleased live recordings of "Die Young" and "I" from the band's 2007 European tour.
• Select independent retail stores will offer exclusive Heaven & Hell T-shirts and/or copies of the album signed by the entire band, while supplies last. See below for a list of all participating stores and contact them directly for more details.

Participating Independent Retail Stores

• Cactus Music - Houston, TX
• The Exchange - Cleveland, OH
• Independent Records - Denver, CO
• Looney Tunes - Long Island, NY
• Newbury Comics - 28 total stores in Boston, MA area
• Record Theatre - Buffalo, NY
• Record & Tape Traders - Washington D.C.
• Rolling Stone - Chicago, IL
• Silver Platters - Seattle, WA
• The Omega Order - online only
• Vintage Vinyl - Fords, NJ
• Zias - Phoenix, AZ, Tucson, AZ & Las Vegas, NV
• Rasputins - in the SF Bay Area, select stores Campbell, Concord, & San Lorenzo
• www.relapse.com - online only

Heaven & Hell now on Youtube

I noticed today that the Heaven & Hell incarnation of Black Sabbath has it's own Youtube page now. They have six videos up there. One is the commercial promo for the new album that's been floating around for a few days now. However, they have five other videos talking about the making of the album. I'm assuming the source for these is the DVD that is with the special edition of the album. Anyway, their channel link is here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/heavenhellrock

I have the videos streaming below (I suggest not trying to play them all at once, it might crash your browser). Check 'em out - I got a kick out of the recording studio one, as it talks about one of the reasons they picked the place. A pub. hahahaha. :)

The Devil You Know Cover Art Winners

A month ago or so, I ran a contest asking you, the Black Sabbath fan to come up with your own rendition of the cover art for the new disc, "The Devil You Know". I ran it before the official cover art was released, as I didn't want the real art to influence what people might come up with. It ran for a few weeks, and the contest closed the day the real artwork was released.

Right after that, I contacted some folks and asked if they'd be interested in being judges. Traditionally with my giveaways in the past, I've basically judged it myself. Given the nature of this contest, and the fact that art can be a subjective thing, I decided to enlist some help. I put out some feelers, and got a really big response back. When you look at the winning entries below, understand that they were chosen by back in the homeland of England. Specifically Birmingham. Yeah, that's right - I got Tony Iommi to help pick these. The actual winners were chosen by Tony and his team back in his office in the UK. I thought it was really cool to have one of the band themselves involved in the judging process. They weren't the only ones, I offered my choices, as as well as enlisted the services of Damian, my lead moderator on the forums, and collected our lists, and looked for common ones. Damian & I chose one of the winners below, and Tony and his crew chose the other four.

Each of the five winners will be sent an autographed copy of The Devil You Know directly from Rhino Records here in the states. Here are the five winning entries, in no particular order:

Adrian Bece (Laslovo, Croatia)

Brandon Lane (Sevierville, TN)

Mark Mihalek (Saratoga Springs, NY)

Erik Cameron (Danville, CA)

Dennis Koire (Garden Grove, CA)

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who entered!

There were rather a lot of them submitted. I never counted them, but I made an initial pass, and sent that along for the second round of judging. I got the impression that if I sent along the full lot of submissions, I might not get the "cool judging aspect" of this. :) Anyway, if you'd like to see all the other images that were presented to Tony Iommi's office for judging, you can see all of those here.

One final note. Someone did make me laugh by suggesting I put my own entry into the competition. That being my modification of the real art where I replaced Heaven & Hell with "Black Sabbath". To whomever sent that - nice idea, but I'm not eligible, since I'm a judge, and besides, I don't think they would have picked that. hahahaha

Devil You Know Video & 2 Disc Stuff

Well, there's been a lot of talk about it, and finally there's something that can be told.

There will be a version of The Devil You Know with a second disc. A poorly kept secret, mind you, but one that hasn't been formally announced in the US yet. Rhino doesn't have a press release on this yet, I'm told one of those is coming shortly, which makes me think there's some other details we don't know about yet. We shall see.

Anyway, a DVD with 22 minutes or so of interview footage will be available in the US as an exclusive pre-sale item through Best Buy. Their order page for this version is available here. A week ago or so a version of the 2 disc Devil You Know was available in the UK through play.com. Now the play.com UK version is unusable in the US/North America, as the DVD is region encoded to the Region 2. Background info on DVD region encoding is available here.

Best Buy is listing theirs as a pre-order exclusive. The first thing I'll say is I hope they have their shit together this time. Last time they did that (for Rules of Hell), there was a bonus disc that was only available as a pre-order thing like this. Only I can tell you that there was a lot of complaints I got in email about people pre-ordering and not getting their discs, only to have Best Buy say "Sorry, we ran out". Secondly, it says it's a pre-order exclusive. Whether or not that means you can ONLY get it if you pre-order, or if it's a Best Buy exclusive item, I do not know. I will attempt to get a clarification on that issue tomorrow and update.

Secondly, there's two pieces of footage online right now which appear to be from the DVD of band interviews. The first is a 1:01 clip that is available on Amazon.com's page for the album. The other is at Rolling Stone's website. You can view that one here.

Both are different, so check out both of them for a teaser of the interview footage.

Bill Ward Talks about Sabbath Re-Issues

Heaven & Hell now on Twitter

I just got word from Rhino records that Heaven & Hell is now on Twitter! I've been told that this really is the band, and that the first updates are from Ronnie. I was also told Tony & Geezer are going to get into it too. Knowing Geezer's penchant for goofiness, it wouldn't surprise me if Geezer starts talking about what DVD's he's watching or something. :)

Anyway, the link is below, so if you're on Twitter, you can follow 'em there

http://twitter.com/hvnandhelllive

Bible Black Single Released

We still have about a month to go until the full new album, but the first single is released today. This is "Bible Black", Track 3 from the album. To your right here is the official artwork sent to me from Rhino for the album. You can buy the song via DRM free downloads from various places such as the Amazon.com MP3 store, or at iTunes.

UPDATE: This is for US/North American audiences, apparently. This is because it comes from Rhino. Everywhere else is handled by Roadrunner, I've inquired with them what they're doing about the single release.

I've been sent a press release from Rhino about the single, which does contain some good news about fans of the vinyl format. Here's the press release:

NEW HEAVEN & HELL SINGLE BIBLE BLACK NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

Exclusive 7" Vinyl Single Available For Record Store Day on April 18
New Album The Devil You Know Available April 28 From Rhino

LOS ANGELES -- "Bible Black," the first single from Heaven & Hell's highly anticipated new album THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, is now available for download from all digital retailers. The epic tale was one of the first songs written for the new album and finds the quartet of Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice in top form. "When you start off with a blockbuster like that, it makes the rest of the album so much easier because it gives you a benchmark to measure the other songs against," says Dio. "Bible Black" begins with Iommi on acoustic guitar behind Dio's plaintive wail before the rhythm shifts to a menacing stomp for the rest of this dark tale about a book of sinister scriptures. The song is also streaming at myspace.com/heavenandhellmusic.

A limited edition 7" vinyl single of "Bible Black" will be available exclusively for this year's Record Store Day on April 18 for a suggested list price of $5.98. The single's B-side features a live version of "Neon Knights" recorded at the band's heralded Radio City Music Hall performance in 2007. The 7" is available only at participating independent music retailers. For a full list of participating stores, visit www.recordstoreday.com.

I've been told there will be no CD release of the single. It will be released just on vinyl and the digital download. Additionally, there will be a music video made for Bible Black, but I've been told to look for that around the time of the release of the full album.

The single that is available for purchase is the single edit of the song, which clocks in at 5:01. The full version of the song is 6:31. The stream linked to above in Myspace is the 6:31 version of the song, so you can check it out there. There's also (in my opinion) a better quality audio fidelity stream of the 6:31 version over at the media player at Bravewords. Check that out, too.

Even though it's a single edit of the song, I strongly urge everyone to buy the single. EVEN IF YOU ARE BUYING THE FULL ALBUM! There's not a lot of these types of bands still out there all these years later still putting out good music. Show your support for the band, and buy the single, too.

They deserve it. And don't be scum and illegally download it. Buy the thing!

Digital Distribution Update

Since I posted the story last week about the entire old Black Sabbath back catalogue from 1970 through 1987 being available on places like iTunes and whatnot, I've decided to look into it a bit deeper. As most of you know (or should, anyway) back in the day there were two primary distribution deals. In the US/North America, it was Warner Bros Records. In Europe and elsewhere it was the old Vertigo deal (which later was used for Sanctuary, and is now Virgin).

Anyway, it's my understanding that this deal announced last week was for the old Virgin/Sanctuary/Universal deal. This does *NOT* cover the US/North America, however, I'm told that the Warner/Rhino/US deal should be involved soon.

Some of this material is already on the US version of iTunes, I've been linking to it for some time now, but the complete refresh is not for the US/North America - at least not yet.

More Heaven & Hell Promo Pictures

I noticed on Saturday night that Rhino Records has released seven more promo pictures for the "The Devil You Know" album. Three of them are band promo pictures, and four are individual shots of the guys. Here go the new pictures. I do have proper copyright for the nine total pictures (seven here plus the two from earlier in the week):

They are all (c) 2009 Chapman Baehler / Rhino Entertainment

Black Sabbath Back Catalog to be available digitally

Thanks to Tim over at bravewords for pointing this out to me... I am currently trying to find out whether this means it will be available in the US versions of iTunes and Amazon's MP3 store, or just their UK counterparts. Given the albums cover from 1970-1987, this is the old European distribution stuff, the same source masters that did the 1996 Castle Remasters, and the more recent Sanctuary stuff. I'm also attempting to find out if this is new mastering work, or the same stuff done earlier. Will report back when I have more details. Also, I don't know what this "The Singles" is - that's a new one to me..

The BLACK SABBATH back catalog will be available digitally for the first time in the UK from Monday, March 30th following a deal struck by Universal Music Catalogue UK, a division of Universal Music UK.

The release of this key digital catalog is a major event for the digital market, and will for the first time see the Black Sabbath catalogue available for digital download and streaming services outside of North America.

Brian Rose, Managing Director, Commercial Division of Universal Music UK said: "The Black Sabbath catalog is one of the most iconic catalogues to be missing from the digital market. We are delighted that from 30th March music fans will finally be able to download and stream Black Sabbath's music from our digital partners. This is a significant step for us, and will be happening alongside the physical release of 'Paranoid' as a Deluxe Edition, showing our commitment to providing music fans with the very best both physically and digitally."

From March 30th, 18 titles from the Black Sabbath catalog will be available for download from retailers including iTunes; Amazon.com MP3 store; Tesco Digital; 7 Digital; Play.com, HMV.com MP3 stores and Lost Tunes.com.

The albums will also be available from streaming partners such as Spotify, Napster and We7. Also available for the first time will be ringtones of classic tracks 'Paranoid', 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man' - featuring some of the most memorable riffs in rock history.

The release of the digital catalog on March 30th, coincides with the physical release of Paranoid Deluxe Edition.

The catalog includes:

Black Sabbath (1970)
Paranoid (1971)
Master Of Reality (1971)
Black Sabbath, Vol 4 (1972)
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Sabotage (1975)
We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Never Say Die! (1978)
Heaven And Hell (1980)
Live At Last (1980)
Mob Rules (1981)
Live Evil (1982)
Born Again (1983)
Seventh Star (1986)
The Eternal Idol (1987)
Past Lives (2002)
The Singles (2000)

The Devil You Know on Roadrunner in Europe

I've gotten a lot of emails (nee complaints) from fans in Europe wanting to know what's going on with distribution of "The Devil You Know". Amazon UK's site has had it for sale, but only as an import. I just got word less than 10 minutes before posting this that the deal for Europe has been signed, and you will be able to buy the album on April 27 via a local pressing in Europe, not as an import. The album will be released on Roadrunner worldwide (except for US/North America, Japan, & Asia). Once I have updated ordering links I will provide them. In the meantime, here is the press release I was sent:

Roadrunner Records is honoured to announce the worldwide signing (ex-North America, Japan, & Asia) of the highly respected, legendary group Heaven & Hell. The label is proud to include Heaven & Hell in their celebrated roster of bands at the top of their game.

Heavy metal icons Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice are set to release a brand new album - their first under the moniker Heaven & Hell, with Black Sabbath's last studio album having been 17 YEARS AGO - on April 27. Titled The Devil You Know, this is an event for every classic rock and metal fan to get excited about!

After finishing several heralded world tours as Heaven & Hell last summer, the influential band were tighter than ever before, both musically and personally. Agreeing that it would be a shame to stop making music together at tour's end, the quartet began writing, first in England at Iommi's home studio and later in Los Angeles at Dio's studio. "The band had gotten too good to just walk away," Dio says. "We wanted to show people that we were still capable of giving them new music that measured up to what we'd done in the past." With that goal in mind, the band once again converged on Rockfield Studios in Wales last winter, the same place they used 17 years earlier to record their last album, Dehumanizer. The result is the long awaited new album The Devil You Know, featuring 10 soon-to-be-classic tracks from the Dio-fronted version of Black Sabbath.

Bible Black, the epic first single, begins with Iommi on acoustic guitar behind Dio's plaintive wail before the rhythm shifts to a menacing stomp for the rest of this dark tale about a book of sinister scriptures. One of the first songs written for the album, Dio says it established a tone for the rest of the album. "When you start off with a blockbuster like that, it makes the rest of the album so much easier because it gives you a benchmark to measure the other songs against."

Iommi proves he hasn't lost the ability to inspire six-string envy, unleashing riffs like a pack of rabid hellhounds on Atom And Evil, Fear, Neverwhere, and Eating The Cannibals, a tune about doing more than biting the hand that feeds. Butler and Appice slow the pace while ramping up the intensity on Follow The Tears and Double The Pain and Breaking Into Heaven, the latter diverging from its glacial procession for Dio's majestic chorus about fallen angels planning an attack on paradise.

Track Listing

Atom And Evil
Fear
Bible Black
Double The Pain
Rock And Roll Angel
The Turn Of The Screw
Eating The Cannibals
Follow The Tears
Neverwhere
Breaking Into Heaven

When the songs were finished, Dio says he, Iommi and Butler marveled at their own brutal efficiency. "We almost felt guilty to tell you the truth. We looked at each other at one point and said: 'Is it really done? I can't do it any better. Can you? No. Then I guess were done'," he recalls laughing. "At the end of the day, I think what separates this band is that we know who we are. We want to do one thing well and not try to be something we're not."

Heaven & Hell appear at the following dates this summer:
MAY
30 - Moscow, Russia - B-1
31 - Moscow, Russia - B-1
JUNE
1 - St Petersburg, Russia - New Arena
2 - Helsinki, Finland - Icehall
4 - Oslo, Norway - Spektrum
6 - Solvesborg, Sweden - Sweden Rocks
8 - Giessen, Germany - Hessenhallen
9 - Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle
10 - Bamburg, Germany - Jakoarena
13 - Bergum, Holland - Waldrock
14 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Europahalle
16 - Bonn, Germany - Museumplatz
17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus
19 - Clisson, France - Hellfest
21 - Zaragoza, Spain - Metalway Festival
26 - Dessel, Belgium - Graspop
27 - Milan, Italy - Gods of Metal
JULY
27 - Athens Festival, Greece
31 - Wacken Festival, Germany

Full Stream of "Bible Black"

Short and sweet.

Heaven & Hell has a full version stream of the first single from the new album up on their official Myspace page. Go check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/heavenandhellmusic

A couple of promo pictures released

Rhino records today released a couple of promotional pictures for the 2009 album and tour. I'm showing them below - I'm sure you'll see them crop up in a lot of places. Wouldn't surprise me if one of them (or both) turns up in the liner notes. (I'm guessing I haven't seen 'em yet).

Selling some of my merchandise stash

Hey gang. As some of you may know, my wife and I are going to be welcoming our second child, and my first son into the world this June. To that, I'm having to clean out my home office, as this will become the kid's room.

Some of the stuff I've been sitting on for ages needs to go, and I'm letting folks here know about it, since a few of the items I stuck up on ebay are somewhat rare. This all comes from my personal stash at home. Either I got some of it due to my running the site, or I bought it myself as a fan ages ago. Here's what I have listed.

• 1983 Live Evil Mini Tapestry
• 1992 Dehumanizer Tour T-Shirt
• 1995 Forbidden Tour T-Shirt (two of them)
• 2004 Ozzfest Tour T-Shirt
• 2005 Ozzfest Tour T-Shirt
• 2007 Radio City Music Hall T-Shirt
• 2007 Heaven & Hell T-Shirt

Check 'em out at my ebay auctions here. If you have any questions, drop me a line. Thanks.

Oh Dear

And people wonder why there wasn't a new album with Ozzy when he was behind the mike from 1997 through 2006. I think stuff like this was more interesting to him. Check this out.

The Devil You Know Cover Art [ UPDATE ]

Last night the cover art for the new Heaven & Hell studio album, "The Devil You Know" was released. After looking at it for awhile, I found a major typo. I mean a really REALLY huge one. I don't know how they missed it. I've corrected the artwork, and have posted it below. Check it out:

For those of you without a sense of humor, and just to make sure you get it, this is a gag. It's not really going to look like this, it's coming out as "Heaven & Hell"

The Devil You Know Cover Art Officially Released

Well, the official cover art for the new studio album has been released. Turns out it's mostly the same as the leaked one from a week ago. At that time, I was told it was not exactly the same, and that appears to be the case here. It pretty much mostly looks the same as the leaked one, except there's some minor tweaking of stuff in the banner.

Speaking of the artwork, I've gotten quite the reaction from fans in emails so far. Most think it fits the theme of "Black Sabbath" well, but it definitely is up there in terms of negative reaction from what I've been seeing in emails. I can see why. As a Christian myself, the cover art is a bit strong in content, but to be honest, is a depiction of what likely the Devil thought at Christ's crucifixion anyway. OK, enough of that. The cover art does continue in a tradition of the band using existing artwork for cover art. The Heaven & Hell album used Lynn Curlee's "Smoking Angels" painting, and Mob Rules used Greg Hildebrandt's "Mob Dream" artwork. Dehumanizer was commissioned artwork I believe, but Devil You Know uses pre-existing artwork again. The base art for the cover comes from a painting called "Satan" which appears to be by an artist named "Per Øyvind Haagensen" from Norway. The version used on Sabbath's cover is tweaked slightly. If you want to see the original, you can click here.

I also have a press release for the album, which I will show below. I have queried my contacts at Rhino and got some answers to some questions about the album. Here goes with my mini FAQ about the album.

• What versions will be out there?: I was told that there is no 2 disc version with a DVD, no additional "special edition", there is just one version of the album, a single CD release. That's actually quite refreshing in this era of double and triple dips.
• That horizontal band - is that always there?: There was some theories posted in the week since the art leaked that the horizontal bar with the band name on it was part of the shrink wrap. I was told that is not the case. It is part of the cover art itself, and "not removable". :)
• Will this be on iTunes, Amazon MP3, etc? Yes, it is being released to all DSP's per my contact at Rhino.
• What about an iTunes exclusive track? These are pretty common, but I was told there might be one, but no decision has been made yet.
• What about a Japanese exclusive track? I was told this.. "I don't think Japan will have exclusive tracks - but it isn't a Rhino release there so I don't know for sure."
• What is the catalogue number? R2 518862
• What is the first single? It is Bible Black. I'm told that it will be available on iTunes on March 31st.
• Will there be a music video for Bible Black? Yes, there will be one. It will not be out at the same time as the iTunes release, but it is hoped it will be out before the album is.
• Will it be released on vinyl? Rhino told me they plan on a vinyl release, but it likely will not happen on the same date as the CD release.

Interesting thought about the iTunes exclusive track. If they haven't made up their minds, and there is still a possibility of that happening, it raises this issue. They've recorded more than the 10 tracks on the album. So what's lying around in the can, guys? :)

Now, about the 25 / 41 on the cover art. That's one of the things that's different from the leaked version from a week ago.

My immediate thought was "What the hell does that mean?" My first thought on the 41 was "that's the number of years since Black Sabbath was formed" (1968-2009). Then, given the cover art, I thought if you added 25 & 41 together, you got 66, which would have something to do with 666. I queried my contact at Rhino, as well as Gloria Butler directly. I was told by both of them I was wrong on both accounts. Gloria Butler more colorfully, as she told me "That's the best you can come up with?" Hahahaha... Truth be told, I hadn't put much thought into it, that was the knee jerk immediate reaction.

So I started chatting with Damian, my lead forum admin asst about it. He came up with a few interesting theories. Here's what he came up with... The first one I really liked, to be honest. It really fits.

1. 41 is the number of studio tracks released by the current incarnation of the band (Bill Ward notwithstanding).
2. They are Black Sabbath, but they aren't calling themselves Black Sabbath. So under the Heaven and Hell banner they can't really say there are 41 songs. So its placed there to state it, but not directly. What do the numbers flank? The Sabbath, but not officially Sabbath, winged demon logo. The 25 represents something else that they did as Sabbath at one time but can't come out and claim now.

These are both cool, but I was told "not even close". So that leaves the mystery of the 25 / 41. What does it mean? You got any ideas? I have another idea that I want to keep to myself, since a little birdie has told me it's probably right, but I need to get confirmation of that....

This also now brings to a close my cover art contest. I will be sorting through the submitted images over the next week or so, and will get to picking a winner shortly. More on that as I get to it. :)

Here is the official press release for the album from Rhino:

Available from Rhino April 28

LOS ANGELES -- After finishing several heralded world tours as Heaven & Hell last summer, Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice were tighter than ever before, both musically and personally. Agreeing that it would be a shame to stop making music together at tour's end, the quartet began writing, first in England at Iommi's home studio and later in Los Angeles at Dio's studio. "The band had gotten too good to just walk away," Dio says. "We wanted to show people that we were still capable of giving them new music that measured up to what we'd done in the past."

With that goal in mind, the band once again converged on Rockfield Studios in Wales last winter, the same place they used 17 years earlier to record their last album, Dehumanizer. The result is the long awaited new album THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, featuring 10 soon-to-be-classic tracks from the Dio-fronted version of Black Sabbath. The highly anticipated set arrives on April 28 from Rhino for a suggested list price of $18.98 (physical) and $9.99 (digital).

It took less than three weeks to finish the album, with most of the songs only needing a couple of takes. "It was good to play them live in the studio. It keeps you on edge," Iommi says. "I mean, somewhere along the line we were gonna have to play them live; might as well start in the studio." Butler adds: "We've learned from the past that you can kill a song doing it over and over. The first Sabbath albums were done in two or three days. Technically they weren't great, but vibe-wise they were great. If you capture that feeling, that's all you need."

"Bible Black," the epic first single, begins with Iommi on acoustic guitar behind Dio's plaintive wail before the rhythm shifts to a menacing stomp for the rest of this dark tale about a book of sinister scriptures. One of the first songs written for the album, Dio says it established a tone for the rest of the album. "When you start off with a blockbuster like that, it makes the rest of the album so much easier because it gives you a benchmark to measure the other songs against."

Iommi proves he hasn't lost the ability to inspire six-string envy, unleashing riffs like a pack of rabid hellhounds on "Atom And Evil," "Fear," "Neverwhere," and "Eating The Cannibals," a tune about doing more than biting the hand that feeds. Butler and Appice slow the pace while ramping up the intensity on "Follow The Tears" and "Double The Pain" and "Breaking Into Heaven," the latter diverging from its glacial procession for Dio's majestic chorus about fallen angels planning an attack on paradise.

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
Track Listing

1. "Atom And Evil"
2. "Fear"
3. "Bible Black"
4. "Double The Pain"
5. "Rock And Roll Angel"
6. "The Turn Of The Screw"
7. "Eating The Cannibals"
8. "Follow The Tears"
9. "Neverwhere"
10. "Breaking Into Heaven"

Devil You Know Cover Art?

I've avoided this story for two days now due to my inability to verify the information in it, but now that it is starting to make it's way around music news sites, I thought I should say something.

A couple of days ago, the image below first appeared on my site's forums, posted there by a fan who found it on Flickr. Was apparently posted by a guy from Warner. Anyway, I immediately contacted management for Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and my contact at Rhino.

I was told that the image was merely "one of the candidates" for the cover art to the new Heaven & Hell album. They also told me that the final decision on what is the cover art has yet to be made. I was told "You'll have an official cover art image as soon as it's decided upon".

So what is this image then? It very well may be the real cover art, it might not be. Assuming they're telling the truth, and not blowing smoke to divert attention from a leak, then this is just one of an unknown number of possibilities.

Additionally, I was told late last week that the cover art was likely to be released on Tue March 3rd, which didn't happen. We shall see soon enough.

My comments on the art.. If it is real, I'm not sure I like the usage of the band member names on the front like that. They've never been there before on a Black Sabbath record. Someone on my forums pointed out that the Live at Radio City release had their names on it too, but given that was cover art which did not have "traditional artwork" and also was the first release under the moniker "Heaven & Hell", I didn't much mind that. I consider compilations and live albums to be "second citizen" releases anyway. They're not full albums, which is what this is, so I think it deserves more traditional cover art (in other words, lose the horizontal banner).

Black Rain

Random comment.

I broke out Black Rain today. I had forgotten how much I liked this album. There's some good musical construction to this one. Go get it out and listen again.

Distribution News

There's a couple of releases coming out in the next month (The 3 Disc Paranoid, and the new studio album). That part is not news. What is news was something I found out yesterday, part of which is probably going to irritate some fans.

The 3 Disc Paranoid Release:

This has been talked about for awhile now, and the thing is finally coming out. However, it's not coming out everywhere. In particular in North America. As you probably know, the original releases were on Warner Brothers in US/North America and Vertigo (later Sanctuary, now Universal) everywhere else in the rest of the world. This is where the two sets of masters come from (Warners, which was the basis of the original releases, and Black Box.. the other being the masters for the old Vertigo and the 1996 Sanctuary remasters).

Anyway, the point here is I looked into it, and the 3 Disc Paranoid comes from the source material for the old European deal, not the US deal. So if you're in North America and want it immediately, you're going to have to pay import prices. At least for now. I'm told it will eventually come out in the US on Rhino, but not right away. When? Who knows.

The Devil You Know:

This is coming out on Warner/Rhino in the US, and I assumed everywhere in the world. I got this email from a fan this morning. It said:

Just got an e-mail from Warner Music Finland (they usually distribute Rhino in Finland) telling me that the new Heaven & Hell album is not going to be released through Rhino in Europe!? Do you have any info on this?

No, I don't have any info on that. If it's not coming out in Europe on Rhino, I have to assume it's coming out from someone. When I find out who the distributor in Europe will be, I'll report back.

Poll Results

Normally I don't run poll results as a news story, but the results of the current poll surprised me. The poll that I just closed ran from Dec 3, 2008 through till March 1, 2009. The question was this:

Would you rather the new album be called Heaven & Hell or Black Sabbath?

I offered three choices. "Black Sabbath", "Heaven & Hell", or "Don't Care". To be blunt, I expected the name Black Sabbath to run away with it and hide. I figured it would get something like 85-90% of the vote. It did not. Here are the final poll result for this question.

Black Sabbath - 46.94% - 3816 votes
Heaven & Hell - 41.11% - 3342 votes
Don't Care - 11.96% - 972 votes

That just surprised the heck out of me. That tells me that the name Heaven & Hell is stronger than most give it credit for. Y'all better buy tickets for the tour then if the name doesn't mean that much to you.

I myself am calling it Black Sabbath. It's getting filed under Black Sabbath in my CD collection.

Paranoid 3 Disc Reissue Update

Got an interesting link sent to me tonight by Norwegian journalist Roy Hilmar Svendsen. It's an interview with Tony Iommi talking about the three CD Paranoid release due in April. The page itself is in Norwegian (auto translate to English here by Google).

Roy was kind enough to send me over a direct English translation himself of a few of the key questions fans would want to read. Check it out.

TONY: It's just coming out. It's got some outtakes of things that we did in the studio. It's more of a record company kind of thing, to be honest. We've not been that involved in it. They've managed to find these outtakes. How on earth they found them, I don't know - but they have. So it's just bits of things we did in the studio, that the collectors like to have.

NRK: Have you listened to it?

TONY: I've listened to the bits, yeah. It took me back to oh my god, I remember that part, because there's different lyrics on things and different guitar bits. They're just little bits, you know.

NRK: When is it coming out?

TONY: I'm not sure, to be honest. I've been more involved in this one (the Heaven & Hell-album).

The Devil You Know Track Listing

I just received an email from Rhino records with some news that you are going to want to hear. It contains the official track listing for the forthcoming album, "The Devil You Know", due April 28th. So without further adieu, here is the official track listing, premiered first on the Internet here at Black Sabbath Online...

1. Atom & Evil
2. Fear
3. Bible Black
4. Double the Pain
5. Rock & Roll Angel
6. The Turn of the Screw
7. Eating the Cannibals
8. Follow the Tears
9. Neverwhere
10. Breaking into Heaven

Ten tracks. The first new full studio album by the Sabs (yeah, yeah, it's Heaven & Hell, whatever) since 1995. Guys, it's long overdue. I have not received any sort of advance CD yet, when I will, I'll have something to say about the tracks. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! :)

Additionally, the artwork is not out yet. Which reminds me.. You need to check out the cover art contest I posted about a little while back. That contest runs until the band releases the official cover art. So if you haven't entered, (or didn't know about it), check it out here.

I did inquire about the writing status, and was told that Ronnie wrote all the lyrics for the album. That's always a question when he and Geezer are in the band at the same time. Hopefully Geezer is saving up some lyrics for a new GZR album after the tour for Devil You Know is over.

Thanks to Rhino and the Sabs management for the premiere. Appreciate that.