- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
While the Osbourne-fronted and Dio-fronted versions of Black Sabbath are, again, very different bands, this is an album that matches its moment every bit as perfectly as "Paranoid" did back in 1970.
-
There is a small group of Black Sabbath fans who believe the band produced its best work after singer Ronnie James Dio replaced Lord of Darkness/future variety-show host Ozzy Osbourne in the late '70s. Alas, their case will not be aided by their new album.
-
Heaven and Hell excel at ye olde power-dungeon plod. Too bad Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler's most churning riffs tend to last mere seconds, before getting buried under attention-deficit arrangements and Dio's theatrical mythopoeia--which gets tiring when so many songs exceed six minutes.
-
Sure enough, we know these devils: they're the ones who make so many latter-day metal bands look like hopeless poseurs.
-
Shockingly good but reassuringly gimmick-free, The Devil You Know is not only the best Dio or Sabbath release in over a decade but a front-runner for heavy metal album of the year.
-
With Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass and Vinny Appice on drums, the lyrically macabre and demonically alluring music sounds more like a band backing Ronnie James Dio than it does an act trying to distinguish itself as an entity apart from Sabbath's and Dio's solo endeavors. Yet The Devil You Know has a great sound in its own right.
-
They do their best to distance themselves from Actual Sabbath, but too often it’s by slouching through their Satanic netherworld, Dio’s cabaret bludgeoned down by lurching riffs and over-egged orchestration.
-
Proving itself to be more than a reunion cash-in, Heaven & Hell--the re-brand for Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals--has a batch of new material that is every bit as menacingly delightful as 2007's concert tour that revived the lineup after 15 years.
-
While Tony Iommi churns out stock riffs, Devil You Know’s success largely depends on whether you can take Dio seriously--not as a vocalist (he’s one of the best in the metal game), but as a diminutive old man bellowing innocuous dungeons-and-dragons lyrics, and so unconvincingly that you have to wonder if he actually believes a single word. This record doesn’t make a strong case.
-
The legendary foursome sounds as if they’re merely going through the motions.
-
MojoWhatever they're called, Sabbath still rule. [Jun 2009, p.99]
-
UncutNow 29 years on, The Devil You Know can't quite muster that kind of muscle [heard in Black Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell"]. [Jul 2009, p.88]
-
Q MagazineIts supulchral riffs, histrionic vocals and ludicrous lyrics are all comfortingly familiar. Something unexpected wouldn't have gone amiss, mind. [Jul 2009, p.117]
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 27 out of 29
-
Mixed: 1 out of 29
-
Negative: 1 out of 29
-
NovemberHAug 4, 2009
-
LeonOct 4, 2009Masterpiece!
-
EvilJohnMJul 14, 2009