Tony Iommi welcomes us to the gates of Heaven & Hell

[Holymagica]

Tony Iommi welcomes us to the gates of Heaven & Hell
Imagine this: a boxed set of riffs.
That’s right, no vocals, no drums, not even songs. A half-dozen discs of riff after riff after riff. It’s both genius and insanity, and Tony Iommi is the man to do it.
“I could certainly do it,” the Black Sabbath guitar god said with a chuckle after being presented with the idea. “I stockpile them at home. I’ve got a hundred of them stashed away, but I never go back to them. Every time I go to write an album they come more fast and furious then before.”
Iommi’s not boasting. OK, maybe he is. But he ain’t lying.
In 2006, Iommi reunited with Sabbath’s second howler, Ronnie James Dio, under the Heaven & Hell banner - they play the Bank of America Pavilion Friday - and earlier this year the team released a savage slice of stoner metal in “The Devil You Know.”

Iommi credits his creativity for his undying love of riff writing, but his love for volume certainly plays a role, too.
“From day one, we were always louder than anyone,” he said. “We certainly made sure no one could talk in our shows.”
Iommi chuckles thinking about the early days
“We were always asked to turn it down,” he remembered. “They’d tell us to turn it down or they wouldn’t book us again. And unfortunately even now, and this is a sign of the times, there’s a lot of restrictions on the sound. In Europe, we’d play 50,000-, 60,000-people festivals and we’d go out there and there would be somebody with a meter saying, ‘You can’t play any louder than this.’ At one show in Bond, the limit was so low that I actually used only two (amplifier) cabinets of my eight. Bloody hell, I haven’t used two cabinets since maybe the ’60s.”
While ticket sales for this summer’s tour - and, in fact, most summer tours - have been slow, there is a dedication to the Dio Sabbath lineup that’s surprising.
In the past three years, Rhino has rereleased the Dio Sabbath records, a boxed set, a new live album and the new studio record. The band has been touring the world as Heaven & Hell and getting copious amounts of devil horn headbanger salutes.
“A lot of bands, like Metallica and Foo Fighters, really relate to those Dio albums,” Iommi said. “I think Dave Grohl has said one of his favorite albums is (1981 Dio Sabbath album) ‘Mob Rules.’ A generation of bands like that have taken to this stuff, and it’s trickled down to the fans.”
If you hadn’t guessed, that means no Ozzy-era stuff is being performed on this tour. But that may change as Heaven & Hell continues on - while Iommi and Ozzy are engaged in a lawsuit of the ownership of the Black Sabbath band name, Iommi says he’s happy to soldier on with Dio as Heaven & Hell.
“We love ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Paranoid’ but we’ve played those for 40 years so it’s been a nice change. Maybe next year we’ll do some of the old stuff.”
And if things don’t work out with Dio, there’s always that boxed-set of riffs to work on. C’mon Tony, you know it’s a great idea.
Jed Gottlieb of BostonHerald.com

Not sure what to think of this...Tony says 'We' so that makes me think they have talked about this and if they do play some of these songs live....does that mean the band will be called Black Sabbath
I have no problem with DIO singing Ozzy era songs becoz most of the time for me...they are better and I like Ronnie's voice and performance of these songs more than Ozzy.
I adore DIO's version of Black Sabbath from the live evil cd
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath - Live Evil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9ylzbrvaxw
Dio is the chosen one

[joan_antonini]

Thanks for the article interesting. I have always heard that Dio does not want to sing Ozzy material. If they were to be called Black Sabbath again that would mean he would have to sing some Ozzy material. I always liked Black Sabbath better with Dio his voice has such power to it. Ozzy voice is just ok. Only time will tell. Who knows if these guys will perform together again if they have the time. I hope they stay together they work well together. I am attending the last concert in the U.S. in Atlantic City, NJ. It is rumored to be a special show.
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If you wish hard enough you might be surprised what awaits you at the end of the rainbow!

[bristoldiofan666]

Thanks love that article Tony is aa riff master was at the Wallingford CT show last night they are awesome together. I to think Ronnie sings the asshole oppss ozzy era stuff much better then Oz Ronnie makes a song magical somehow even with stuff thats not his but Geez wrote most of the lyrics back then Ozzy has trouble writing his name nevermind a song or a good one at that
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there's a big black shape looking up at me ,and says hell is where you ought to be he come with me i'lll give desire but first you got to burn burn burn in fire with all of you

[nightmaread]

Sounds like that lawsuit may have pissed some people off!!

[berserkur]