HOLY SH*T – THE NEW SABBATH ROCKS
Maybe you have some need for Black Sabbath’s latest greatest hits compilation, The Dio Years, and maybe you don’t; but there isn’t a metal fan on Earth who won’t appreciate the fact that the three new songs recorded for the disc, “The Devil Cried,” “Shadow of the Wind,” and “Ear in the Wall,” will rock your fucking balls off. The first two songs are slow, doom-y, but still incredibly bluesy (“Shadow” should be on the soundtrack of the next Godzilla movie, beginning to play right as the giant mutant stampedes all over Tokyo); the third is a little faster, more actively retro, but in the best possible way- like, I didn’t really think about it, but, eureka!, this IS what Sabbath should sound like 2007. Iommi can still tear up the fretboards with the best of ’em and his solos here are absolutely orgasm-inducing, and it’s hard to believe that Dio still sounds this good (really, does Dio still sound this good?). Consider me intrigued: this band should put out a full album ASAP. If Ozzy’s new album isn’t at least this good, he should be really embarrassed that he missed the chance to front these dudes (then again, I know Ozzy doesn’t sound as good as Dio does here.). Even if it’s just downloading these three tracks from iTunes or something, you should get them into your ears right goddamn now.
(five out of five horns)
-AR
Buy The Dio Years
