Heaven And Hell - Neon Nights

* * * * ½

A live album from one of the last performances by Heaven And Hell.  Essentially this is Black Sabbath but with Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P.) singing instead of Ozzy.  So we have metal masters Tony Iommi on guitar and Geezer Butler on bass.  Drums are by Vinnie Appice as Bill Ward declined to take part.  Hidden in the wings is Dio's keyboard player Scott Warren.  I always thought it a bit shabby the way Sabbath hid their keyboard players from view, and it's a shame this practice continued in the later band.  Talk about being in denial!

This is a really good performance, and we are lucky to have this as an official release.  There is also a DVD of this show with extra music and interview footage.  Tracks on the CD which didn't appear on their earlier Live from Radio City double are "Time Machine", "Bible Black", "Fear" and "Follow The Tears".  In truth that earlier release was a bit better than this one, perhaps because this one is outdoors.  I have also heard better performances on various bootlegs.  Nevertheless, this is a bit of a gem and an essential purchase for Dio fans.

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre

* * * * *

At last it's here!  The long-awaited new album by The Devil's Blood had been subject to delays (but chaos is good in their world).  I bought a copy of the album at the UK launch show at Camden Underworld.  Another astonishing performance by the band. You could almost hear the sound of jaws dropping as people new to the band watched the show.

Paper ticket courtesy of Dave Pearson - many thanks

What's the album like?  Well, very long!  There's 74 minutes of music here.  Melodic metal with three guitarists and even an orchestra here and there.  Strong songs with hooks and riffs to die for, and featuring the single "Fire Burning".  The final track "Feverdance" is an astonishing 15 minute workout with incredible drumming and incandescent guitars.  I will write more about the individual songs shortly, but you can tell what's coming with titles such as "Die The Death", "Everlasting Saturnalia" and "The Madness Of Serpents"!  As mentioned in an earlier post, you can hear the title track on the band's new website  http://thedevilsblood.com/#/declarations and a FREE mp3 download of it is available at the record company's site at

http://www.van-gbr.de/samples/thedevilsblood_thethousandfoldepicentre.mp3

If I didn't know better, I'd say the free download is a different mix, so it's worth keeping as a supplement to the album, which really is an essential buy.

The CD is available in standard digipack and lavish 10" bound editions.  I bought the latter as it is such a gorgeous item.  The pictures here really don't do it justice.  The illustrations in the booklet are amazing. Vinyl is also available as a 2LP set, again available in standard and lavish versions.

You really do owe it to yourself to hear this.  I think this could be album of the year.