BLACK SABBATH - HEAVEN AND HELL

The dawn of the 80's, and the beginning of Black Sabbath's twilight years. But, like your good ol' Uncle Judd, they're not going quietly.

On a whim, but subconsciously (I suspect) in preparation for my summer pilgrimage to the Merriweather Post Pavilion to see these legends on their current world tour, I put Heaven and Hell in my Discman this morning.

The hidden gem I found during this most recent re-discovery is certainly "Die Young", which features gorgeous, spacey guitar interludes, strong echoes of which can be found on Lamb of God's latest (Wrath). Indeed, warm and melodic intros seem to be all the rage these days, with Mastodon's latest opus (Crack the Skye) vying with Wrath for dibs on "most gorgeous, spacey interludes" so far this year. That said, "Die Young" features one of the greatest bridges in rock history, in my opinion.

Of course, this album is no mere lucky dustbin--it's a trove. Listening to "Neon Knights" WILL make you drive fast. It was one of those songs that, with its sheer velocity and retarded-good solo, changed the course of my life forever. This was not the Sabbath I had known, not the Sabbath of "Paranoid" and "Sweet Leaf"--but still just as sweet. Then again, after the supersonic luge of "Neon Knights" and melodic acoustic intro to "Children of the Sea", the plodding behemoth makes itself known once more, as big and beautiful as ever. "Walk Away" sounds remarkably like a Rod Stewart-led Faces, around the time of their rock gem A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse. Dio's ballsy rockstar vocals and Geezer's (as usual) world-class bass work are perfect counterpoints to Iommi's high-gain electrical storm. A straightforward rock masterpiece. It's also evident that the members of Sleep listened to this album enough times to incorporate its slower, stranger elements into their own sound. Anyone looking for these more vintage (but still different) riffs should skip to the final song on the album, "Lonely Is The Word". And what a closer it is.

I suppose if there is only one reason to listen to Heaven and Hell, it is Tony Iommi. Even if you hate the lyrics, even if you want to punch Dio in the face (a blasphemy I will only hypothetically tolerate), even if the riffs just don't do it for you, this album showcases Iommi's soloing genius in a way that no previous Sabbath album had. They may not be any faster or more complex than on earlier albums, but the long years of honing those great, golden, spidery chops that fold under and lift higher like a rocket's exhaust are evident in every one of these songs.

Indeed, Heaven and Hell contains the best of both Sabbath and a band like Rush--so perhaps ask yourself how much you like the latter band before you decide to even put this album on. The riffing has evolved--no doubt about that. Dio certainly lends an arena anthem quality to Sabbath, and Iommi trusts his instincts enough to follow along, turning them into a very different, but no less powerful and hard rocking, band.