27th March 2007
Best Buy Signing – Some More Info
Some info worth noting for any fans intending
to go to the Best Buy signing next Tuesday 2nd
April 2007 in New York:
The signing will take place from 6pm at Best
Buy Midtown, 529 Fifth Avenue (at 44th
Street). The store will not be allowing any
queuing before 2pm on Tuesday. However, copies
of Black Sabbath ‘The Dio Years’ can be
purchased from first thing on Tuesday morning
for the signing. ONLY COPIES OF ‘THE DIO
YEARS’ CD WILL BE SIGNED. Please do not bring
any other CDs or items of memorabilia as they
will not be signed by the band. For any
further queries, please call the store on 212
808 0309.
27th March 2007
Tony on Nights With Alice Cooper
Tony is a guest of Alice Cooper on his radio
show ‘Nights With Alice Cooper’ tonight. Visit
www.nightswithalicecooper.com for air
times.
27th March 2007
The Devil Cried – UK single release info
The Devil Cried will be released as a digital
single in the UK on 16th April 2007.
27th March 2007
Photos from the Regina show
We’ve got some photos of the Heaven & Hell
show in Regina on 16th March – thanks to Dan
Savoie who was the in-house photographer at
the Brandt Centre.
23rd March 2007
Black Sabbath Exclusives
Rhino have arranged a huge array of exclusives
relating to the release of Black Sabbath: The
Dio Years – here’s what’s in store over the
coming weeks, starting next Monday:
Monday March 26th - MP3.com Premiere
Exclusive of "Ear In The Wall"
Starting Monday, March 26, go to
www.mp3.com to hear a Premiere Exclusive
of the brand- new track, "Ear In The Wall"
from the upcoming CD, Black Sabbath: The Dio
Years. MP3.com will also be featuring an
interview with Ronnie James Dio, and Black
Sabbath will be highlighted in their
newsletter, so sign up by going to the site
now! (Available worldwide)
Tuesday March 27th –
Yahoo! Music Unlimited Exclusive Early
Digital Single of “Shadow Of The Wind”
Get "Shadow of the Wind" as a Yahoo! Music
Unlimited exclusive digital single starting on
March 27 (a week before release date!). Make
sure you're signed up as a subscriber to YMU!
(USA residents only)
Saturday March 31st –
VH1 Classic Premiere of “Hangin’ With
Heaven & Hell”
First broadcast at 3pm EST, see our news story
from 2nd March for full details of the rest of
the air times and dates. (USA residents only)
Tuesday April 3rd – Bonus track of the
radio edit of ‘The Devil Cried’
All digital retail outlets will offer the
radio edit of ‘The Devil Cried’ bundled as a
bonus track with the purchase of the entire
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years CD. (USA only)
Tuesday April 3rd – Bonus track of ‘Neon
Knights’ Live
Real/Rhapsody
will be offering ‘Neon Knights’ Live bundled
as an additional bonus track with the purchase
of the entire Black Sabbath: The Dio Years CD.
This will be the only place that ‘Neon
Knights’ Live will be available outside of the
limited edition Live At Hammersmith Odeon
release. (USA only)
Tuesday April 3rd – Walmart Special Limited
Edition 2-pack
WalMart stores nationwide across the USA will
be offering a
limited edition 2-pack of Black
Sabbath:The Dio Years CD along with a DVD of
the VH1 Classic ‘Hangin’ With Heaven and Hell’
interview at a special low price. (USA only).
And don’t forget about the Best Buy signing in
New York on Tuesday April 3rd!
23rd March 2007
New Competition – Win Tickets & Meet The
Band!
Geezer Butler’s website are running a
competition to spread the word about Heaven &
Hell and Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – first
prize is 2 tickets to one of the USA shows,
and a chance to meet the band. For full
details visit
www.geezerbutler.com.
23rd March 2007
The Devil Cried To Get UK Digital Release
Following the enquiries of many Iommi fans, we
can confirm that The Devil Cried will
be released as a digital single in the UK.
More details as soon as we have them.
23rd March 2007
Mike’s Diary – More Instalments Now Online
The latest instalment of Mike’s Diary from
Sault Ste Marie is now available on the
messageboard.
22nd March 2007
Radio City Music Hall Tickets – Limited
Amount Still Available
A very limited amount of tickets for the
Heaven & Hell show at Radio City Music Hall on
Friday 30th March that had previously been
held by the promoter have just been released.
Check out
www.ticketmaster.com or your usual outlets
for details of what’s available. But be quick!
22nd March 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – Listening
Parties
Rhino have just informed us of two listening
parties that they are running online – check
out the links below to listen to the album in
full:
MSN -
http://music.msn.com/music/ListeningBooth
Quicktime -
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/guide/
20th March 2007
Cover artwork for Black Sabbath: Live at
Hammersmith Odeon
We’ve
got a preview of the cover artwork for the
Rhino Handmade limited edition release of
Black Sabbath ‘Live at Hammersmith Odeon’. The
CD will be released on 1st May and is strictly
limited to 5,000 copies.
20th March 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – Key
Territory Release Dates
The full list of release dates for The Dio
Years CD in the various key territories is as
follows:
Germany, Netherlands – Friday 30th March 2007
USA, Canada, Mexico, Spain – Tuesday 3rd April
2007
UK – Monday 9th April 2007
France – Tuesday 10th April 2007
Italy – Friday 13th April 2007
Australia – Saturday 14th April 2007
Japan – Tuesday 25th April 2007
Brazil – Monday 28th May 2007
20th March 2007
New Black Sabbath Single Now Available!
The new Black Sabbath single ‘The Devil Cried’
is now available from iTunes and all other
Digital Service Providers.
20th March 2007
Iommi & Dio Talk To Metal Hammer
Tony & Ronnie recently spoke to journalist Jon
Wiederhorn about the current touring and the
upcoming release of ‘The Dio Years’ for UK
magazine Metal Hammer. Tony talks about what
he was looking forward to most about the tour
– “I can’t wait to do ‘Neon Knights’ and
‘Heaven & Hell’ – as well as the recording of
the new tracks, and the original recording of
the albums ‘Heaven & Hell’ The full interview
appears in the current issue (April 2007)
along with a pull-out poster of the band.
19th March 2007
Uncasville Officially Sold Out
We can exclusively confirm that the Heaven &
Hell show in Uncasville, Connecticut on
Tuesday 15th May is now sold out. All of the
other dates on the band’s USA tour are selling
extremely quickly – check out the
live page for the full
list of remaining shows.
14th March 2007
New York In-Store Signing – Tony, Ronnie,
Geezer & Vinny!
Tony, Ronnie, Geezer & Vinny will be signing
copies of the new Black Sabbath CD ‘The Dio
Years’ on Tuesday 3rd April 2007 between 6 &
7pm at Best Buy Midtown, 44th & 5th Avenue,
New York City. Contact the store for further
details: 212 808 0309.
14th March 2007
The Devil Cried – Digital Single Update
We’ve had confirmation from Rhino that the
upload of the new Black Sabbath single ‘The
Devil Cried’ to all DSPs (digital service
providers) happened a few days later due to
technical problems. The single was still
planned for release yesterday (13th March) but
may not have made the deadlines of some
services including iTunes. We’ve been told
that it will be up sometime between now and
20th March on all DSPs.
14th March 2007
Official Photos from Vancouver
We’ve got some photos of the show in Vancouver
last Sunday night courtesy of Gene Kirkland.
The band are in Calgary today, playing at the
Saddledome,
click here for tickets.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
14th March 2007
Tony featured in ‘Ian Gillan: Highway Star’
DVD
The DVD ‘Highway Star: A Journey In Rock’
which traces Ian Gillan’s career is due for
release next month and includes a significant
section on Gillan’s time with Black Sabbath.
Tony talks at length about the period around
the Born Again album and tour and talks about
the nightracing and explosions at Richard
Branson’s manor during the album recording,
and the infamous Stonehenge stage set made for
the tour. The documentary features
contributions from the likes of Roniie James
Dio, Pavarotti, George Best and Joe Elliott.
The UK release date for the DVD is 2nd April
2007, more information available from Ian
Gillan’s website –
www.gillan.com.
12th March 2007
Heaven & Hell Live – It’s All Started!
Tony, Ronnie, Geezer & Vinny kicked off their
2007 tour in Vancouver last night at the
city’s Pacific Coliseum. As the guys had been
saying in some of their pre-tour interviews,
the set consisted of material from the albums
‘Heaven & Hell’, ‘Mob Rules’ and ‘Dehumanizer’,
as well as all three of the new songs that are
being included on ‘The Dio Years’ compilation
due out next month. Here’s the set list in
full from last night’s show:
E5150
After All
Mob Rules
Children Of The Sea
Lady Evil
Ear In The Wall
I
Sign Of The Southern Cross
Voodoo
The Devil Cried
Computer God
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Shadow Of The Wind
Die Young
Heaven And Hell
Neon Nights
The band are currently en route to Edmonton
where they play at Rexall Place tomorrow
night, followed by Calgary on Wednesday,
Regina on Friday and Winnipeg on Sunday.
Tickets are still available for all shows. For
the rest of the Heaven & Hell tour dates,
check out the Live
page.
12th March 2007
Heaven & Hell Tour Merchandise Available
Online Now!
The Heaven & Hell tour kicked off in Vancouver
last night with a huge array of tour
merchandise. We're now giving you the
opportunity to get your hands on this online
as well as at the shows -
click here to visit the store.
12th March 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years E-Card
Available
Rhino have just released a special e-card for
the new Black Sabbath 'The Dio Years' CD
release.
Click here to view.
9th March 2007
Tour kicks off this weekend, more tickets
on sale today
The first leg of the Heaven & Hell live tour
kicks off this coming Sunday, 11th March 2007,
in Vancouver in Canada. Mike C has posted the
latest entry in his tour diary from Vancouver
on the
messageboard today. Tickets are still
available for most of the dates in Canada as
we write, but a number of dates are close to
capacity.
For those of you hoping to attend the US
shows, tickets go on sale today for Phoenix,
Los Angeles, San Diego, Albuquerque, Denver,
Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cincinnati,
Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Uncasville,
Lowell, Baltimore and Holmdell. San Antonio
and Albany go on sale tomorrow at 10am local
time, the San Jose show will be on sale on
Sunday 11th at 10am local time and the Houston
date goes on sale next Saturday, 17th March at
10am local time.
9th March 2007
Iommi on Guitar World Cover
Tony features on the cover of the latest issue
of Guitar World magazine (May 2007). He spoke
at length to Richard Bienstock from the
magazine recently for their indepth feature
which traces the history of the current
line-up for the Heaven & Hell tour. Tony also
talks about the equipment used during the
recording of the Heaven & Hell album, and
about what they’ll be playing on the road this
year - “we’ve ignored a lot of this material
for a long time, and it’ll be great fun to
play again”. The issue, which also includes
contributions from Ronnie & Geezer, is
available now.
Click here to check out the
cover.
9th March 2007
Tony talks to Edmonton’s Vue Weekly
Before he left for rehearsals, Tony spoke to
Eden Munro from Edmonton’s ‘Vue Weekly’ from
his home in England ahead of the Heaven & Hell
date at Rexall Place this coming Tuesday.
Click here to read the piece in full.
7th March 2007
Heaven & Hell – Confirmed for Bulgaria
We can officially confirm that in addition to
the other live European dates confirmed
recently, Heaven & Hell will be playing at the
Kaliakra Rock Fest in Kavarna, Bulgaria. The
event, which takes place at the Kaliakra
stadium, runs from 28th to 30th June. Heaven &
Hell will perform on Thursday 28th June. The
festival’s website -
www.kaliakrarockfest.com – will be live
with more information soon.
7th March 2007
Archive Iommi / Hetfield Interview in
Classic Rock
The April issue of Classic Rock magazine, out
this week, features their choice of the
wildest guitarists ever. As part of this, they
have managed to dig out an archive piece from
back in 1992 where Brad Tolinski interviews
Tony and James Hetfield together at what the
magazine have dubbed the first ever meeting of
the ‘Master of Reality’ and the ‘Master of
Puppets’.
7th March 2007
Tony on the radio
Tony is doing some radio interviews over the
coming days and weeks, too many to mention in
detail, but listen in to your local rock
station to see if you can catch him!
5th March 2007
Exclusive News: Heaven & Hell Descends On
The States – US Tour Dates Confirmed!
Here’s the full official press release:
Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler
and Vinny Appice will reunite for the first
time in 15 years as Heaven and Hell Live to
cast a dark spell over spring as the quartet
tours the U.S. Tickets will go on sale the
weekend of March 9 for all 20 stops of the
American leg (except Houston, on sale March
17), which is set to launch in Phoenix on
April 22. There will also be a special fan
presale for all dates beginning Wednesday,
March 7 at 12 Noon EST. The tour will follow
in the wake of the band’s highly anticipated
Radio City Music Hall concert in New York City
on March 30, which sold out in a matter of
minutes.
Last year, the hard-rocking quartet convened
to record three new songs for Rhino Records’
era-spanning collection, Black Sabbath: The
Dio Years, due out April 3 on Rhino/Warner
Bros. Records. One of the newly recorded
tracks – “The Devil Cried” – is the first
single. Bristling with the trademark Sabbath
sound, the song is being well received by fans
and critics alike.
The sessions for Black Sabbath: The Dio Years
went so well that the band agreed to satisfy
longstanding demands for a reunion tour. Set
to launch in Canada on March 11, the Heaven
And Hell World Tour will spotlight Dio’s
tenure with Sabbath and will feature
selections from all three of the group’s the
studio albums, Heaven And Hell (1980), Mob
Rules (1981) and Dehumanizer (1992), as well
as the newly recorded tracks.
Multi-platinum recording artist Megadeth will
join the tour and preview never before heard
material from the group’s new CD, United
Abominations, due out May 8 on Roadrunner
Records. All dates will also feature
Roadrunner labelmates Machine Head who are
supporting their latest album, The Blackening,
set for release on March 27.
For more information about the Heaven and Hell
Live fan presale, please go to
http://heavenandhell.frontgatetickets.com
The Heaven and Hell Tour 2007 U.S. Tour will
include the following stops:
April
22 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre
24 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
25 Los Angeles, CA Forum
26 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre
28 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
29 Denver, CO Broomfield Events Center
May
1 San Antonio, TX Verizon Wireless
Amphitheatre
2 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Pavillion
3 Dallas, TX Nokia Theater
5 Chicago, IL All State Arena
6 Minneapolis, MN Theatre @ Target Center
8 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
10 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Arena
11 Cleveland, OH Tower City Amphitheatre
12 Detroit, MI Cobo Hall
14 Albany, NY Times Union Center
15 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
17 Lowell, MA Tsongas Arena
18 Baltimore, MD Merriweather Pavilion
19 Holmdell, NJ PNC Arts Center
2nd March 2007
Heaven & Hell – Another Big Announcement
Coming Soon!
Eddie Trunk will be making a special
announcement to do with Heaven & Hell tonight
on his radio show ‘Friday Night Rocks’ which
airs live from New York on Q104.3 tonight from
11pm to 2am (EST). Listeners around the world
can tune in live via the station’s website
www.q1043.com. We’ll have more Heaven & Hell
news for you on iommi.com next week.
2nd March 2007
Hangin’ With Heaven & Hell on VH1 Classic
Soon
A team from VH1 Classic came to the UK at the
end of last year to meet with Tony, Ronnie &
Geezer while they were recording the three new
tracks for ‘The Dio Years’ release. The guys
also spoke at length about plans for the
Heaven & Hell tour. We’ve just got
confirmation of the initial airdates for the
show in the USA which will be as follows (all
times EST):
Saturday 31st March 2007 at 3pm
Saturday 31st March 2007 at 11pm
Sunday 1st April 2007 at 9pm
Monday 2nd April 2007 at 1pm
Friday 6th April 2007 at 8pm
1st March 2007
More clips of new Sabbath tracks
In addition to the streaming of the new Black
Sabbath single ‘The Devil Cried’ below, you
can also check out 30 second clips of the
other two new Sabbath tracks - ‘Shadow Of The
Wind’ and ‘Ear In The Wall’ - from ‘The Dio
Years’ at
Rhino’s website.
27th February 2007
Check out 'The Devil Cried'!
The new Black Sabbath track 'The Devil Cried'
has gone to radio and many of you will have
heard it on Eddie Trunk's show last Friday.
For those of you that didn't, we're streaming
it below - just click on the link for your
player of choice.
Quicktime -
Windows Media -
Real Player
26th February 2007
Heaven & Hell Live in Greece
We can confirm that in addition to the Heaven
& Hell dates announced last week, the band
will be playing at the Rockwave festival in
Athens, Greece on Sunday 1st July 2007.
Tickets will go on sale this coming Thursday,
1st March 2007. Tony last played in Greece two
years ago when Black Sabbath headlined the
event on Saturday 25th June 2005. For more
information, visit the festival site at
www.rockwavefestival.gr.
26th February 2007
First Instalment Of The Tour Diary Now Online
The first instalment of the tour diary by
Tony’s technician, Mike Clement, has just been
posted in the news section on the messageboard.
Mike first started keeping a diary for
iommi.com back in 2005 and his bits of
backstage gossip and humorous tales from the
road kept everyone entertained. Expect more of
the same this time round, he’ll also be
keeping a photo diary as things progress.
26th February 2007
No Demos Please!
We’ve had quite a number of demos sent to us
in the past week for Tony’s radio show. Tony
is currently preparing for the Canadian tour,
we’ve just announced European dates for the
summer and will be confirming more dates soon.
So at the moment, there are no plans for a new
series of Black Sunday. Please don’t waste
your time and money sending us CDs
22nd February 2007
Official Confirmation Of Heaven & Hell Live In
Europe
We can officially confirm that Heaven & Hell
will play the following dates in Europe this
summer:
2nd June 2007 Zurich, Switzerland – Eishalle
Deutweg
3rd June 2007 Milan, Italy – Gods Of Metal
Festival
7th June 2007 Solvesborg, Sweden – Sweden Rock
Festival
9th June 2007 Tampere, Finland – Sauna Open
Air Metal Festival
10th June 2007 Helsinki, Finland – Helsinki
Icehall
16th June 2007 Biddinghuizen, Holland – Fields
Of Rock Festival
19th June 2007 Warsaw, Poland – Torwar
20th June 2007 Katowice, Poland – Spodek
22nd June 2007 Balingen, Germany – Bang Your
Head Festival
23rd June 2007 Dessel, Belgium – Graspop
Tickets for some dates are already on sale so
check with your local venue or festival site,
we’ll give you updated info on this as soon as
we can.
We will be bringing you news of more European
dates next week.
22nd February 2007
Exclusive News: ‘The Devil Cried’ – Release
Date Confirmed
Further to our recent news story regarding the
new single 'The Devil Cried' from the Black
Sabbath: The Dio Years CD being serviced to
radio next week, 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.
22nd February 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – New Single
Release
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!
Here's what Tony has said about the track:
"quite a powerful song" (to Bravewords.com)
"a mid-tempo track...riff-based...great
vocals....really good" (to Metaleater.com)
More news on this as further details are
confirmed....
22nd February 2007
Win Tickets To See Heaven & Hell in Canada
BW&BK/ bravewords.com along with Gillett
Entertainment Group/geg.ca are giving away 5
pairs of tickets to Heaven & Hell at Le
Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City on March 25th and
5 pairs for the show at The Bell Center in
Montreal on March 26th. Here's how to enter:
For Quebec City - send an email to
MitchMinute@aol.com with the subject H&H
in Quebec City with your name and city by noon
(EST) March 15th. For Montreal - send an email
to
MitchMinute@aol.com with the subject H&H
in Montreal with your name and city by noon (EST)
March 16th. Winners will be chosen at random.
A note about the prize:
Winners will only receive a pair (two) tickets
to one of the above mentioned shows. The prize
has no cash value and no substitutions are
allowed. No backstage passes, after show
passes, meet & greet passes or photo passes
are included. Transportation (to and from the
show/venue/city), accomodation(s) and
food/beverages are the sole responsibility of
the winner and are not part of the prize.
20th
February 2007
Tour Preparations Underway
Preparations for the Heaven & Hell tour have
begun and Tony’s tech Mike C is poised to get
his road diary started. He’ll be posting news
and photos from the road on the messageboard
in the coming weeks. We’ll let you know when
the first diary of the tour is up and running.
20th
February 2007
Heaven & Hell get Heavy
Heaven & Hell are on the cover of the February
2007 issue of the German magazine ‘Heavy’.
Journalist Jörg Schulz describes the band as a
“mysterious sensation” and says that “for
Black Sabbath fans across the world the news
hit like a bomb” when the details of the
reunion surfaced. He spoke to Tony at length
recently for the piece – more soundbites when
we have a chance to piece together our school
level German and the results of Google
Translate! For fans in Germany, issue 98 of
the magazine is available now.
19th
February 2007
Heaven & Hell on Brave Words Bloody
Knuckles cover
Heaven & Hell are the cover stars of the
current issue of ‘Brave Words Bloody Knuckles’
magazine. Tony spoke to Martin Popoff a few
months back to discuss how the reunion with
Ronnie came about, why they are touring as
Heaven & Hell and what the new tracks on the
CD are like. The magazine is currently
shipping across Canada now and will be in the
USA and across the rest of the world by the
end of the month. In the meantime, we’ve got a
copy of the cover for you.
Click here for more information on BWBK.
19th
February 2007
Jarvis Cocker gets Paranoid
Jarvis Cocker ended his show at the London
Astoria last Saturday night with a cover of
the Black Sabbath track ‘Paranoid’. The Pulp
frontman was performing songs from his new
album ‘Jarvis’ at the sell-out show, and said
including a cover at the end was his way of
saying “thank you for listening” to his new
songs.
16th
February 2007
Mob Rules: Every Home Should Have One
The Black Sabbath album ‘Mob Rules’ is
featured in the “Every Home Should Have One:
Albums You Should Own” section of this month’s
Classic Rock magazine. Record producer
Andy Sneap says “you have to give a lot of
credit to Tony Iommi’s guitar playing on this
record…Listen to the double-tracking and the
lead guitar parts – he’s really going for
it…There are certainly more riffs on Mob Rules
compared to what happened on Heaven & Hell.
Check out the riff at the start of Falling Off
The Edge Of The World – that’s brilliant”. In
terms of the production, he comments that “the
feel of the album is raw, live and direct,
which was exactly right for the time. If you
consider that we were on the very of a major
breakthrough in the way heavy metal was to be
defined, with bands like Iron Maiden making
their impact and Metallica about to get going,
then Mob Rules is exactly what Sabbath should
have been doing at this point. Listen to it
now: it stands up really well against anything
you hear today. The vibe of the record was so
well-balanced”. Read the full piece in the
March 2007 issue of Classic Rock, available
now.
15th
February 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – Cover Artwork
Here’s a sneak preview at the cover artwork
for the forthcoming Black Sabbath: The Dio
Years CD, due for release on 3rd April. We’ll
have more bits and pieces of info for you
about this compilation, as well as the limited
edition ‘Live at Hammersmith’ CD, in the run
up to the release.
15th
February 2007
Iommi on the voting list for Classic Rock’s
Wildest Guitarists Ever
Classic Rock magazine have launched a poll via
their website to find readers’ choices for the
title of ‘Wildest Guitarist Ever’. Tony is on
the list!
Click here to check out the full details
and cast your vote.
15th February 2007
Celtic Frost frontman pays tribute to
Tony’s style
The current issue of
Guitar World magazine includes an indepth
feature on Thomas Gabriel Fischer, frontman of
Celtic Frost who talks about how he started
writing music: “I used to sit there and
dissect Black Sabbath’s music. I was
interested in knowing why Sabbath sounded so
dark compared to other bands. I tried to
follow Tony Iommi’s riffs to figure it out,
and what I realized is that other bands play
their riffs logically. Their tones are in
harmony, and it sounds nice because the tones
follow each other logically. And then I
realised that Tony always plays the tone that
you don’t expect, and that’s what makes it so
dark harmonically. I was fascinated by that”.
14th
February 2007
Tony talks to Metaleater.com
Tony spoke to Philip Wickstrand of the website
Metaleater.com last week about the upcoming
Heaven & Hell tour and the release of Black
Sabbath: The Dio Years. He sets the record
straight about choosing to use the name
‘Heaven & Hell’ for the tour, what the setlist
is likely to include (“we’ve certainly got a
great selection and I’m sure people will be
pleased with it”), getting out and playing,
and recording the new tracks for ‘The Dio
Years’ (“it was a great vibe”).
Click here to read the interview
transcript in full.
8th
February 2007
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years – New CD
Collection, Plus Limited Edition Previously
Unreleased Live Album – the full 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
7th
February 2007
Heaven & Hell Top Pollstar.com’s Top 50
Heaven & Hell have taken
the top spot in Pollstar.com’s Top 50 printed
in this week’s issue of the magazine (cover
date 12th February 2007). The
chart is compiled according to the number of
times the artist’s tour itinerary is requested
by fans visiting the
Pollstar.com website. The band take the
first place slot ahead of Gwen Stefani at 2,
Tool at 3, Red Hot Chili Peppers at 4 and Bob
Seger & The Silver Bullet Band at 5, who were
last week’s number 1.
NEWS † 
