Dogmatic

from l to r: Geezer Buttler, Ronnie James Dio, Vinnie Appice, Tony Iommi

Let’s not kid ourselves here, the definitive line-up of Black Sabbath (the greatest band of all time) will always be Ozzy, Tony, Geezer & Bill. But the next best thing is the classic Ronnie James Dio era of the band who recorded some of the band’s greatest albums in the early 80’s. Namely ‘Heaven & Hell’ and ‘Mob Rules’. (Heck, I’ve even got a ton of time for ‘Live Evil’ and ‘Dehumanizer’). This era of Sabbath is dear to my heart, because back in 1980 was I first began to dabble in darker and heavier music, Black Sabbath (along with Judas Priest and a fledging Iron Maiden) were the acts I latched onto. Bottom line, this reunion of sorts is huge news and very pleasing to see it is all becoming a reality.

The Bravewords website is reporting of new tracks that this line-up has recorded.

Tony Iommi offered Bravewords a glimpse at the three new tracks the band has recorded for the upcoming Ronnie James Dio-era Black Sabbath compilation, due out, according to Tony, “February or March” through Rhino Records.

“Well, we’ve got one for everybody. If somebody goes, ‘Oh, they’re all too slow’, we’ve got a slow one, a mid-tempo and a fast one. So it should please most of the fans. The slow one is quite a heavy track. It’s called ‘Shadow Of The Wind’. And Ronnie presented the first idea for that, and then I just came up with more stuff to go with it, and it’s a really good track. Very similar to the old Sabbath style of writing. There’s not loads of things on it. It’s just really basic with the vocal.”

“And then we’ve got ‘The Devil Cries’, which is a mid-tempo one, which again is quite a powerful song. And I must say that Ronnie has done a fantastic job on the vocals on all of these. He really has, and the lyrical content and the actual melodies are very good. So that’s the mid-tempo one. That’s an interesting track. And then we’ve got a fast one which is called ‘Ear In The Wall’, and that’s… a fast one (laughs).”

According to MTV.com the Heaven and Hell tour will kick off in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 3 and play at least seven shows across Canada, ending in Toronto. Then the band will likely play South America, Japan, Korea, Australia and Europe before returning to North America for a U.S. tour in August or September. (AUSTRALIA!!!!)

See also:
Black Sabbath Return as Heaven & Hell
Half Of Black Sabbath Reunite With Dio; Tour Begins In March
Tony Iommi Reveals The New Black Sabbath Tracks!