Mike X on "The Devil Cried"

As you probably know by now, I have a thread running on my forums for folks to discuss the track "The Devil Cried", which was released to radio last Friday night. There's been a lot of speculation as to where the track came from, fans are saying it sounds like this, sounds like that. Much to my pleasant surprise, last night we had a special visitor on the forums, Mike Exeter is the guy who recorded and mixed the new tracks from the Dio Years compilation. Mike's also worked with Tony before on "The 1996 DEP Sessions" (mixer, keyboards), as well as "Fused" (some engineering).

Mike spoke up about several issues regarding "The Devil Cried", here's what he had to say:

Hi All

Just wanted to dispel a couple of things before too much conjecture happens. I recorded and mixed the new stuff with Tony and the guys.

This song was conceived during last summer during writing sessions where Tony came up with riffs and I would build backing tracks around his guitar. We worked song arrangements into many 'demos' and a couple of these ideas triggered interest from Ronnie. He came over for the Tenacious D movie premiere and along with continuing work on Shadow of the Wind (Which had been pretty much written back in March) he suggested working on 'Song 3'. During the few days he was around Ronnie, Tony and I worked the song into it's current form and Ronnie went away with a 'completed' demo to write his lyrics. We also started on the Fast Song and had that pretty much nailed in the same writing session.

These are definitely not left over tracks from other projects.

Ronnie's voice is in excellent form and he is a joy to work with :-)

Geezer was definitely very happy with the final outcome - he played some great stuff. The mixes are very dense, but the guys all love them and there was a lot of involvement from everyone to ensure that they were all happy.

It's a very difficult thing to create a piece of work and put it out to be judged by some very passionate and loyal fans, but that's what happens every time new music is created. Everyone is going to have a different perspective on it, but the important thing is that the people who created it went through mental torture at times to do their best to make it sound as they wanted and finally it has to be sent out to be heard!

It's fantastic to hear everyones' feelings over the last couple of days, I regard positive and negative as a way of improving what I do. I'm looking forward to seeing the band work live again cos if what they sounded like together in the studio is anything to go by - they're gonne be brilliant.

All the best

Mike

If you'd like to participate, and respond to Mike, or just add your own thoughts on the song, you can do so in this thread on our forums. Don't forget, there are free legal streaming versions of the song available from Rhino now! Further details available here.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:23 AM

Listen to "The Devil Cried" (legally) & New tour date

I just got word from Gloria Butler that Rhino records has made available some streaming audio versions of the new Sabbath track "The Devil Cried". Taken from the forthcoming album "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years", the Devil Cried premiered on various radio outlets last Friday.

If you missed it, don't worry, you can check it out legally right now! You will be able to purchase the single via iTunes and the like come March 13th, and the full album on April 3rd, but for right now, you can check out the tune via streaming audio via these links:

• Windows Media (100k)
• Windows Media (56k)
• Real Player
• Quicktime Stream

Also, Tony Iommi's web site just posted the info that there is a new confirmed tour date to add on to the others that are already known. This will be in Greece at the Rockwave festival in Athens on Sunday 1st July 2007. Tickets will go on sale this coming Thursday, 1st March 2007. For more info, check out the Rockwave festival website.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 3:35 PM

Discuss "The Devil Cried"

Eddie Trunk has played it, it is apparently in the rotation on Sirius Satellite Radio's metal station, it's getting out there. Have you heard it? If so, join in on the discussion of the song on our forums in this special thread set aside just for discussion of the new tune, "The Devil Cried".

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:43 PM

The Devil Cried on Sirius Satellite Radio

A quick update on the new Sabbath song. If you have Sirius Satellite Radio, you'll want to read this email I just received a few minutes ago:

Joe, Just thought I'd let you know (and I'm probably not the first) that Sirius satellite radio played "Devil Cried" tonight at around 9:30 EST. Very, very cool song. For those that have Sirius, I can guess that this will probably be in fairly heavy rotation, as they also put the new Metallica song in pretty heavy rotation after it was getting played during the European tour (and subsequently released via their web site by buying the concert). And this is, after all, Black F-ing Sabbath, so the Sirius metal channel will probably play the hell out of it.

Thanks to Larry Burnett for sending that in. If you have Sirius, you'll want to check out their metal channel (HardAttack 27).

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:14 PM

New Sabbath on Eddie Trunk Show Tonight

This just in - Eddie Trunk's New York radio show will be premiering new music from Black Sabbath with Dio on tonight's show. Here's the exact quote from Eddie's website:

Don't miss the premiere of brand new music from Black Sabbath with Dio on tonights show! Live on Q104.3/NYC and live stream at www.q1043.com 11PM-2AM EST.

Now it doesn't get into specifics, but if I had to guess, it's the track that will be available next week to radio stations, "The Devil Cried". But if you're in the New York area, tune in. If not, you can listen online at Q104's website.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 8:32 PM

Cool new interview with Vinny Appice

Thanks to those of you who emailed me and told me about a new interview over at knac.com. It's a pretty long interview where Vinny talks about the forthcoming tour and new recordings. Here's a few tidbits from the full interview:

KNAC.COM: So you went to England to lay down the three new drum tracks for the upcoming Heaven And Hell release. Tell me a little bit about the three new songs. How do they hey differ from early Sabbath?

APPICE: Obviously, from the early stuff, they are a little bit more polished. There is more production quality on them. The songs themselves contain very heavy riffs. There are two songs that are on the slow side, so they a bit more Sabbathy. It sounds like a cross between "Heaven And Hell", and "Dehumanizer". Ronnie is singing his ass off and Tony and Geezer are playing asses off. It is really cool, I am really excited.

KNAC.COM: So it sounds like you are going to remain on the road with Heaven And Hell throughout 2007. Is that correct?

APPICE: Right, it is supposed to go until December.

KNAC.COM: Will it be an elaborate stage show?

APPICE: From what I was told, it is going to be a nice stage set, with a lot of lights, some effects here and there. I don't know if there will be any pyro involved, but it will be show. It is not going to be us up there with just a bunch of amps.

KNAC.COM: What can the fans expect to hear on the upcoming tour?

APPICE: We have been rehearsing. Yesterday, we played seventeen songs, which is a lot. It is not going to be seventeen songs, but it is going to be a very long set. It will probably be longer than the usual one hour and twenty minute set. I think they want to play a lot of the stuff. It depends on how we put it all together. It is going to be all the classic songs, that we haven't played live really much. Plus a couple of the new ones, it is going to be a great set list.

You'll definitely want to read all of this. Check it out over at knac.com.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:05 PM

More confirmed Tour Dates

Tony Iommi's management team released some more official tour dates this morning, and as such I've updated my Heaven & Hell Tour Date Page with this info.

Here's the new list of dates after adding in the newly confirmed ones.

March 11 Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum
March 13 Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
March 14 Calgary, AB - Saddledome
March 16 Regina, SK - Brandt Centre
March 18 Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
March 20 Sault St. Marie - Steelback Centre
March 22 Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
March 24 London, ON - John Labatt Centre
March 26 Montreal, PQ - Bell Centre
March 27 Quebec City, PQ - Colisee Pepsi Arena
March 28 Ottawa, ON - Civic Centre
March 30 New York City, NY - Radio City Music Hall
June 02 Zurich, Switzerland Eishalle Deutweg
June 03 Milan Italy - Gods of Metal Festival
June 07 Solvesborg, Sweden - Sweden Rock Festival
June 09 Tampere, Finland - Sauna Open Air Festival
June 10 Helsinki, Finland - Jaahalli (Icehall)
June 16 Biddinghuizen, Holland - Fields of Rock Festival
June 19 Warszawa, Poland - Torwar
June 20 Katowice, Poland - Spodek Hall
June 22 Balingen, Germany - Bang Your Head Festival
June 23 Dessel, Belgium - Graspop

As has been said before, the March Canadian dates will have Megadeth & Down opening. I believe the NYC show is just Black Sabbath Heaven & Hell, and no word at all on the European dates - although some of them are festival dates, and don't have true "openers" as such. :)

Also, the first entry in Mike Clement's tour diary over at the Iommi website is posted. They have it in the News area of the message board, so you'll need to create an account there (if you don't have one) to see it.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 8:28 AM

The Devil Cried Single

Got this in email today from the folks over at Iommi's camp. Many of you probably got the same news, but I thought I'd pass it on for those who did not:

The first single release from the new CD 'Black Sabbath: The Dio Years' will be the track 'The Devil Cried' written & produced by Tony and Ronnie and recorded with Geezer & Vinny in November 2006 in the UK. The song was engineered and mixed by Mike Exeter who worked on 'Fused' and 'The 1996 DEP Sessions'. We've just had confirmation from Rhino that the single will be serviced to radio next week so keep your ears peeled!

UPDATE: Another email came in shortly after that, saying this:

we can exclusively confirm that this single will be released in digital form to the public via all digital retailers on Tuesday 13th March 2007.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 9:24 AM

Win Free Heaven & Hell Tickets

If you're looking to go to the Quebec or Montreal shows, and can't get tickets, here's your chance.

Braveworlds.com is giving away some tickets to both of these shows (Mar 25 & Mar 26).

Head over to their site for details on how to enter and win.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:56 PM

Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Cover Art Available

As we approach the release of the long awaited "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years", more and more details are starting to come out. I noticed tonight that Rhino had released cover art for the set on their webiste. The album is due April 3rd. Here it is (you can click on the cover art thumbnail there for a larger version):

Rhino also put out a press release, although it's been seen before elsewhere - I will copy it again later. A few other small tidbits, although nothing earth shattering. The list price for the CD will be $18.98 (which means most stores will probably sell it for $12.99 or something like that). Also, the catalogue number is Rhino/Warner 116668. Very amusing catalogue number there. :) It will also be available at all major digital distribution place (meaning iTunes and the like) for a list of $11.99.

You can also now pre-order the album through Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk with the links below. Please note that Amazon has a price guarantee on pre-orders. While it may be listed there now (as of this writing on Feb 15th) as list price, their price almost always drops before release, and you wil be charged whatever the price is when it ships. Here are the ordering links:

	Regular CD Regular CD

Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Rhino Press Release:

Together for a short but memorable time -- a trio of studio albums, a classic live album, and a couple of tours -- the second coming of Black Sabbath began in 1979 when founding members Tony Iommi and Terry "Geezer" Butler were joined by Ronnie James Dio. The former singer of Elf (and later Rainbow and Dio) added his fiery, demonic howl to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group's crushing mix of iconic riffs, gloomy grooves and doom-soaked imagery.

In late 2006 Dio, Iommi and Butler, joined by drummer Vinny Appice, reunited to record three new songs for Rhino Records' era-spanning collection, BLACK SABBATH: THE DIO YEARS. These recording sessions went so well that the quartet -- billed as Heaven And Hell -- will launch a highly anticipated world tour this spring. The group will play a dozen dates in Canada in March before taking the stage of the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 30 to play their only U.S. date until the band launches a full tour of the States later this year.

The first comprehensive introduction to the band's legacy, BLACK SABBATH: THE DIO YEARS features a dozen classic studio recordings, plus one live track -- "Children Of The Sea" from 1982's Live Evil. The collection also contains the three brand-new tracks -- "The Devil Cried," "Shadow Of The Wind," and "Ear In The Wall."

Arranged chronologically, the compilation spotlights Dio's time with Black Sabbath and draws heavily from the lineup's 1980 debut and 1981 follow-up, Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules respectively. Recognized as back-to-back metal classics, the albums feature such signature songs as the title tracks, "Neon Knights," "Die Young," "Turn Up The Night" and "Voodoo." THE DIO YEARS also features "After All (The Dead)," "TV Crimes" and "I" from the singer's brief reunion with Sabbath for the Dehumanizer album and tour.

On May 1, Rhino Handmade will release BLACK SABBATTH: LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH ODEON, which features Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice getting hot one December night in London during Sabbath's 1981 tour for The Mob Rules. Previously unreleased, the concert spotlights Sabbath as they storm through 14 of the Dio-era's best including "Neon Knights," "Heaven And Hell," "Children Of The Sea" and "Country Girl." The band also performs several pre-Dio classics including "Paranoid," "Children Of The Grave" and a white-hot version of "War Pigs." The album will be available from Rhino Handmade as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies, available only at www.rhinohandmade.com.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 5:56 PM

Own your own robot sex picture!

OK, the subject really should be "Technical Ecstasy Lost Artwork Found!!", but my title is more attention grabbing. :) Seriously, there's a very cool piece of Black Sabbath art currently for sale, and I wanted to make sure I drew your attention to it.

St Paul's Art Gallery in Birmingham is selling prints of the Technical Ecstasy artwork. These prints are signed by Tony Iommi and Storm Thorgerson. Mr Thorgerson is well known as an album cover artist, having done such iconic other cover art as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (plus over a dozen other Floyd covers), AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, a few Led Zeppelin albums, Anthrax's Stomp 442, Bruce Dickinson's Skunkworks, Alan Parsons.. I think you get the idea. The man is iconic in rock cover art. You can visit Storm's website here.

St. Paul's Gallery has issued a press release with some details on the art sale. Check it out:

TECHNICAL ECSTACY LOST ARTWORK FOUND!!!!

Technical Ecstasy has been subject to much discussion musically, but what about that great cover artwork by legendary album cover artist Storm Thorgerson? St. Pauls Gallery in Birmingham approached both Storm and Tony Iommi to see if they could reproduce this great artwork as a limited edition fine art print signed by them both. They both said this would be a great idea but the original artwork had been lost for the last 30 years, (!) and so the hunt was on to find it. After many weeks of phone calls and false leads it was finally found in a basement in Hull (UK), how? when? or why? was not even discussed it was taken directly to the screen printers and before the week was out a fine art edition of only 195 prints was underway.

Both Tony and Storm have hand signed these stunning rare prints in pencil, this edition is a real Sabbath fan investment YOU CAN OWN ONE TODAY.

Each print comes with a certificate of authenticity showing Storm & Tony Signing along with the print edition number. This is a one off edition which will NEVER be repeated, so act straight away if you want one. Here are some particulars about the artwork:

Medium: Silkscreen print using 28 colours and spot glazes on Somerset Tub 400gsm
Artist: Storm Thorgerson
Date: Published 2006 (1976)
Signed By: Storm Thorgerson and Tony Iommi
Edition: 195 World Wide
Atelier: Corriander Studios, London
Dimensions: Paper Size 32 x 27", Image 19 x 19"

The folks over at St Paul's have been kind enough to send me some pictures to use of Tony Iommi & Storm Thorgeson signing some copies of the Technical Ecstasy prints. Check 'em out - you can click on any of them for a larger image.

This all looks really cool, so if you're into art, and into Black Sabbath, you might want to check into this. It's quite a unique piece of history.

I do have a personal connection to this album, I'd like to share. As you may or may not know, my "day job" is working for a computer games company in Texas. Many years ago (1994), we were working on a game called "Rise of the Triad". I was one of the game's level designers, and one of the characters in the game was a robot. It didn't look like either of the robots on the Technical Ecstasy cover, but I did use a lot of them in this particular level's design. So much so that I named the level "Technical Ecstasy". Due to game limitations at the time, we were unable to make the robots go up an escalator (or even stairs), but it was something I tried to work in anyway. :)

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:00 PM

A couple of small updates on the Dio Years

I got a response back from my queries to band management about the Dio Years CD. Here's a few tidbits about things I've seen posted.

• The plan is for this to be a worldwide release, unlike the North American only releases Rhino had in the last couple of years.
• These songs are unedited. If you recall, last year's Greatest Hits album had Iron Man shortened a bit to fit everything on the disc. This confirms my speculation about time issues in a post from earlier this morning.
• The old songs have been remastered, these are not the same versions that have been out on CD for awhile.
• The tracks on this disc are the only ones remastered. If you recall, there was a 2 CD Greatest Hits package in 2002. Said 2002 remasters were culled from an overall remastering project done for 2004's Black Box. The same thing has not been done here.

No word yet on the length of the three new studio tracks; when I get that, I'll report back again.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:13 AM

Not one, but TWO albums in 2007

We all knew about the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years album coming out in in about two months from now. But what most people did not know is that there will be a second album coming out in 2007, this one a live album culled from the Mob Rules tour. The title is "Black Sabbath: Live at Hammersmith Odeon". According to my tour research, the date of this gig is Dec 31, 1981 (based on existing date knowledge, and verbiage in the press release below). Check out this press release below which was posted earlier this morning on Tony Iommi's official website. It covers both the Hammersmith album, as well as the Dio Years details...

Tony Iommi, Ronnie James Dio and Geezer Butler Reunite to Record Three New Songs for a Collection of Essential Recordings from Sabbath’s Dio Years, Plus an Unreleased Live Album.

Together for a short but memorable time — a trio of studio albums, a classic live album, and a couple of tours — the second coming of Black Sabbath began in 1979 when founding members Tony Iommi and Terry "Geezer" Butler were joined by Ronnie James Dio. The former singer of Elf (and later Rainbow and Dio) added his fiery, demonic howl to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group's crushing mix of iconic riffs, gloomy grooves and doom-soaked imagery.

In late 2006 Dio, Iommi and Butler, joined by drummer Vinny Appice, reunited to record three new songs for Rhino Records' era-spanning collection, "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years". These recording sessions went so well that the quartet — billed as Heaven & Hell — will launch a highly anticipated world tour this spring. The group will play eleven dates in Canada in March before taking the stage of the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 30 to play their only U.S. date until the band launches a full tour of the States later this year.

The first comprehensive introduction to the band's legacy, "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years" features a dozen classic studio recordings, plus one live track — "Children Of The Sea" from 1982's "Live Evil". The collection also contains the three brand-new tracks — "The Devil Cried", "Shadow Of The Wind", and "Ear In The Wall". The disc will be available on 3rd April 2007 at all physical retail outlets and at www.rhino.com for a suggested list price of $18.98. The album will also be available at all digital retail outlets for a suggested retail price of $11.99.

Arranged chronologically, the compilation spotlights Dio's time with Black Sabbath and draws heavily from the lineup's 1980 debut and 1981 follow-up, "Heaven and Hell" and "Mob Rules" respectively. Recognized as back-to-back metal classics, the albums feature such signature songs as the title tracks, "Neon Knights", "Die Young", "Turn Up The Night" and "Voodoo". "The Dio Years" also features "After All (The Dead)", "TV Crimes" and "I" from the singer's brief reunion with Sabbath for the "Dehumanizer" album and tour.

On May 1st 2007, Rhino Handmade will release "Black Sabbath: Live At Hammersmith Odeon", which features Dio, Iommi, Butler and Appice getting hot one December night in London during Sabbath's 1981 tour for "Mob Rules". Previously unreleased, the concert spotlights Sabbath as they storm through 14 of the Dio-era's best including "Neon Knights", "Heaven And Hell", "Children Of The Sea" and "Country Girl". The band also performs several pre-Dio classics, including "Paranoid", "Children Of The Grave" and a white-hot version of "War Pigs". The album will be available from Rhino Handmade as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies, available only at www.rhinohandmade.com for a suggested retail price of $19.98.

BLACK SABBATH: THE DIO YEARS
Track listing

1. Neon Knights
2. Lady Evil
3. Heaven And Hell
4. Die Young
5. Lonely Is The Word
6. The Mob Rules
7. Turn Up The Night
8. Voodoo
9. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
10. After All (The Dead)
11. TV Crimes
12. I
13. Children Of The Sea - Live
14. The Devil Cried*
15. Shadow Of The Wind*
16. Ear In The Wall*
* Newly recorded tracks

BLACK SABBATH: LIVE AT HAMMERSMITH ODEON
Track listing

1. E5150
2. Neon Knights
3. N.I.B.
4. Children Of The Sea
5. Country Girl
6. Black Sabbath
7. War Pigs
8. Slipping Away
9. Iron Man
10. The Mob Rules
11. Heaven And Hell
12. Paranoid
13. Voodoo
14. Children Of The Grave
All selections previously unissued

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:27 AM

Black Sabbath: The Dio Years Track Listing

Earlier this evening, the alleged track listing for "Black Sabbath: The Dio years" popped up on the net. I am now attempting to confirm the validity of said track list. Until I get formal confirmation from the band, consider this a rumour:

It's been posted on iommi.com - that's about as official as it can get. This is then the track listing for "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years", due to be released on April 3rd, less than 8 weeks away.

1. Neon Knights
2. Lady Evil
3. Heaven And Hell
4. Die Young
5. Lonely Is The Word
6. The Mob Rules
7. Turn Up The Night
8. Voodoo
9. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
10. After All (The Dead)
11. TV Crimes
12. I
13. Children Of The Sea - Live
14. The Devil Cried*
15. Shadow Of The Wind*
16. Ear In The Wall*

* - Newly recorded track for this disc

If you break that down, it's six songs from Heaven & Hell, four songs from Mob Rules, three from Dehumanizer, one from Live Evil, and the three new tracks. That's 16 songs, a couple of which (Falling off and Heaven & Hell) are not 3-4 minute songs, either. Here's the length of these songs in my copies of them in iTunes....

• Neon Knights 3:53
• Lady Evil 4:26
• Heaven And Hell 6:59
• Die Young 4:45
• Lonely Is The Word 5:50
• The Mob Rules 3:15
• Turn Up The Night 3:42
• Voodoo 4:32
• Falling Off The Edge Of The World 5:03
• After All (The Dead) 5:41
• TV Crimes 4:02
• I 5:13
• Children Of The Sea - Live 6:04

We do not know the length of the three new songs. So even without the new songs, I put the total time for the music at 63:25. If you assume a CD holds 80 minutes of music, that leaves about 16:30 for the three new songs. It'll be a squeeze, but it looks like these songs can fit on here without any editing like was done with Iron Man on last year's Greatest Hits 70-78 disc. We shall see.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:45 AM

The Press Monster has started

As we've now hit February, we have reached the month where Major League Baseball Spring Training starts (baseball is something I enjoy probably a lot more than the Sabs). It's also the month that tour rehearsals start for the Heaven & Hell Tour.

In fact, Geezer Butler recently gave a good interview with Classic Rock Revisited where he refers to tour rehearsals initially happening separately and then coming together. Here's what Geezer had to say about rehearsals, and learning old songs again:

Jeb: You have not visited the Dio era Sabbath material for some time. Has it been easy for you to revisit those songs?

Geezer: No, it has been really hard. For this tour we are doing strictly Dio era songs. Apart from "Neon Knights," "Heaven and Hell" and "Mob Rules" – which we have done live before – we have not done a lot of the others live. There are several songs we have never played live. We are playing a lot of stuff for the first time since we recorded it. It is hard to remember what you played on a lot of these songs.

I found Geezer's answer to be a bit odd there, that it was hard learning his own songs from back then. I emailed him about it, and he responded to that specific quote with this text:

I said its hard remembering stuff I haven't played for ages, NOT its hard to play it. I hate interviews, so there you go.

Anyway, there's a lot by Geezer in this article, including Bill Ward, the name issue, recording the new songs, personalities, lots of goodness here. Check it out!

Additionally, there is a cover article on the Heaven & Hell tour in the new issue of Sweden Rock Magazine. A cover of it is shown here - it's due to hit the streets on February 6th. If you can read Swedish, then you'll want to check it out!

BTW, I'm told the text in the middle of the magazine cover says "The "other" Black Sabbath doing a long awaited comeback - again!" :)

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:27 AM