generally very strong and memorable. I don't ask for more and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved. The songs are generally big, staid tanks of lead, built on Vinny Appice's plodding 4/4 pound and loaded with a stately majesty that recalls this lineup's classics — the atmosphere of "Heaven and Hell" (the song) and "Children of the Sea", brought into the modern day and made just a little darker and more weighty. Some are decrying the sheer metric tonnage of doom on "The Devil You Know", but I submit that HEAVEN & HELL are at their brooding best on this more ponderous, epic material. The more uptempo "Double the Pain", for instance, is one of the few less-than-stellar cuts on the record, seeming like a castoff from Iommi's late-Eighties riff tapes (though even here, the band's effortless conviction comes pretty damn close to selling it). a b Cohen, Jonathan (10 February 2009). "Heaven & Hell Feeling Devilish on New Album". Billboard . Retrieved 11 February 2009.

In a recent interview with Revolver magazine, Ronnie James Dio described the material on the HEAVEN AND HELL album as "a real cross-section of everything we've done, from 'Heaven and Hell' through 'Mob Rules' and 'Dehumanizer'. I think there's a lot of 'Dehumanizer' in it, but a lot of other things, too, a real good blend of what this band has represented." The album's US import was released in Japan on 24 April 2009, four days earlier than its original due date of 28 April. The Japan domestic pressing which is a SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) was released on 27 April. It was produced by the band and sound engineer Mike Exeter. [4]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.”

Graff, Gary (25 July 2008). "Heaven & Hell 'Six Or Seven' Songs into New CD". Billboard . Retrieved 27 July 2008. Bergman, Keith. "The Devil You Know – Heaven & Hell". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013 . Retrieved 26 April 2012.

Credits (24)

This album is everything you could possibly want from a SABBATH album of the DIO era. The songs are catchy traditional doom metal and the production is modernly recorded but the fuzzed out metal sound makes these feel nice and dirty as well. DIO's vocals are as good as ever and the songs are very well written showing that the band really had some music makin' mojo left in them after years of mediocre albums apart from each other. The result of this reunion is more than just a nostalgic trip into the past, but this album succeeds in sounding very good in a modern sense as well being not just a carbon copy of their previous releases together. I like how the album has a song about fear itself, describing it as a mark that was left on us all despite humanity taking control of fire and light with no more need of fearing the dark. These lyrics were typed in myself straight out of the lyrics that appear in the CD booklet. They are accurate except for typos. If you find an error from my transcription let me know, but don’t tell me “the lyrics should be something else”– these are the official lyrics from the liner notes! Geezer's time to shine on this album came on the song 'Double The Pain' where he starts the song off with a nice little bass solo and his bass is very audible throughout the song including a break in the middle of the song for another small bass solo. Geezer is on the ball on this album as he usually is. Geezer!

On the cover art are the numbers 25 & 41. This is a reference to the Bible passage Matthew 25:41, which says “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” me at all. "Breaking Into Heaven" has some eye rolling lyrics (at least for me) but it isn't too bad The production sound reminds me of "Dehumanizer" more than the other two Dio-fronted Sabbath LPs ("Heaven And Hell", "Mob Rules"). Several of the songs are slow and creepy but there's also uptempo pounders like "Breaking Into Heaven" and “Eating The Cannibals”. While the presence of Dio always completely ferments anything he sings on this album feels like all three are equally present at all times. Iommi is as always a brilliant creator of riffs and Geezer Butler's menacing bass sets the tone. especially on for the crunchy “Double The Pain”. It's one of the best basslines I've heard since Queen's "Under Pressure"The songs were written during late spring, early Summer 2008. None were recorded until after the 2008 Metal Masters tour was over.