Simon RushworthHeaven and Hell shone all too briefly but new box set Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009 celebrates the triumphant return of the Ronnie James Dio-fronted Black Sabbath line-up. Simon Rushworth recalls a special time for fans of classic metal.
It was the autumn of 2007 and an excited Tony Iommi was on the other end of a crackling transatlantic phone line recounting the tale of his chance meeting with Ronnie James Dio on the Sunset Strip in 1979. I was all ears.
Both men had been looking for a new project and the pair hit it off immediately. Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and for a while, admitted Iommi, it was a heavy metal match made in heaven (and hell).
Almost 30 years down the line and there’d been a few public disagreements, the odd creative difference and a couple of clear the air reconciliations. Ultimately, Iommi and Dio felt they had unfinished business and agreed there was plenty of life left yet in Sabbath’s celebrated second coming.
Hence the decision to form Heaven And Hell. Named after Sabbath’s definitive Dio-era debut, the new name for a classic line-up avoided any potential legal wranglings and allowed Iommi to focus fully on the post-Ozzy years.
Ahead of a hotly anticipated arena show in Newcastle he told me: “If we’d called ourselves Black Sabbath on this tour we would have been beset by problems. People would have turned up at the shows expecting to hear War Pigs, Iron Man and Paranoid when, in actual fact, I want to play something different!
“I’ve been locked into playing those songs on the Ozzfest for years and it’s a long time since I’ve been able to blast out the best bits from the Dio years. That’s why we’re not called Black Sabbath right now.”
The only criticism of the band’s 12-song set on Tyneside? It was way too short. Opening up with Children Of The Sea (the first song Iommi and Dio wrote together) it wrapped up with the titanic triple header of Die Young, Heaven and Hell and Neon Knights. Everyone — band included — looked ready for more. And more was planned.
“There’s talk of a 40-year anniversary with Ozzy but I’ve also talked to Ronnie about writing a new record,” added Iommi as he mapped out the future with an almost boyish enthusiasm. “I like what I’m doing now and I’m not particularly interested in anything else. The last few tours had become the Ozzy show anyway and because of his various problems the shows were getting shorter and shorter. I resented that a bit.
“It’s been nice to do all the Dio stuff. It’s been a challenge and a thrill. We’ve just come back from Japan and Singapore and before that we toured the US with Alice Cooper. It’s been all that we had hoped for and more. I had dinner with Ronnie in Japan and for the first time we talked about the future. I see that future with Heaven and Hell and I think he does too.”
Neither Iommi nor Dio foresaw a future where stomach cancer would ultimately rob metal of one its most charismatic frontmen. The next time I caught Heaven and Hell live — in July 2010 — Ronnie’s legions of fans were still mourning his death just two months earlier. Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande shared the vocal duties during an emotionally charged set at the High Voltage Festival with the former delivering a sparkling rendition of Bible Black from Heaven and Hell’s US Top 10 debut The Devil You Know.
That album — and the final throes of Dio’s remarkable career — are back in sharp focus as Rhino celebrates the 20thanniversary of Heaven And Hell’s inception. Across seven LPs and a four CD/Blu Ray package, Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009 brings together the very best of a brief but brilliant reminder of a partnership always destined to fly the trad metal flag with pride.
The Devil You Know was the bullish response to fan demand and represented a fresh outlook from friends reunited — Heaven And Hell’s critically acclaimed live shows had created some kind of monster but Dio revealed: “Everything that we’ve done to make this next project of ours come alive was very, very easy.
“Surprisingly easy. I don’t know if easy is a very good adjective for all this. Because, you know, there were moments when you have to really think about creating something. In Tony’s case, riffs and in my case, melodies and lyrics. Sure, that sometimes can be difficult, but we were very well prepared.”
Hughes described Bible Black as one of modern metal’s greatest anthems but there were more where that came from on a record that revisited the glory days of the Mob Rules era and the oft overlooked Dehumanizer (1992) album.
Prior to release Dio said: “As far as it being a continuation of Dehumanizer, it certainly isn’t in its entirety. But there are many, many Dehumanizer moments. But there are other moments too. There are probably Heaven And Hell moments and there are probably Mob Rules moments as well.”
Iommi added: “Dehumanizer was clouded over when we’d done it because it was probably the wrong time when we did it and, you know, that sort of music lost a bit of popularity, I suppose. But suddenly it’s come back and certainly on the last tour, we noticed a lot of people asking for tracks off the Dehumanizer album.”
The sumptuous seven-disc vinyl box pulls together The Devil You Know with bonus tracks from The Dio Years, the band’s legendary Live From Radio City Music Hall set and the Neon Knights: 30 Years of Heaven And Hell show from Wacken later the same year. Dio may have been in the autumn of his career but consistency was always his superpower — even in his mid 60s the pocket rocket vocalist was a remarkably reliable performer.
And talking of consistency, Dio underlined the importance of The Devil You Know’s place in the pantheon of Sabbath-related releases when he paid tribute to the utterly dependable Iommi. “Tony is, without a doubt, the greatest riff writer on earth,” he added. “There are people who have written two or three great riffs but not with the consistency that Tony has.”
And when it comes to signature Iommi riffs, this timely box set has tonnes of them. There’s never been a better time to break out some Heaven And Hell and rediscover one of metal’s most legendary line-ups enjoying one final, fret-burning hurrah.
Breaking Out Of Heaven 2007-2009 is available now on Rhino.
