CD Review: Black Sabbath, the Dio Years

Artist: Black Sabbath
Title: The Dio Years
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Label: Rhino

Track Listing
Neon Knights
Lady Evil
Heaven And Hell
Die Young
Lonely Is The Word
The Mob Rules
Turn Up The Night
Voodoo
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
After All (The Dead)
TV Crimes
I
Children Of The Sea (Live)
The Devil Cried (New)
Shadow of the Wind (New)
Ear in the Wall (New)

Having reunited with vocalist Ronnie James Dio to tour as Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath have graced metal fans with an exceptional "greatest hits" package featuring some of the best materail from all three Dio-era albums, Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, and Dehumanizer. The CD also features three brand new tracks, as noted above.

If you're a Black Sabbath or Dio fan, chances are you already have the three CDs most of this material is taken from. However, it's nice to have all of these songs in one package so that you can get the best sampling of what the Dio years had to offer Sabbath. I was thrilled to hear my favorite song, though not really a radio hit, "Lonely Is the Word" included on the CD. This collection sounds like it was handpicked by the band, for the real Black Sabbath fan, not just as a hits package to satisfy the casual radio listener who knows a couple Sabbath songs, or to just make sure they had a new product out before they hit the road on their summer tour. That being said, I was surprised, and happy, to see that they did not include "Time Machine", which was a hit for them from the Wayne's World soundtrack back in 1992 and was featured on Dehumanizer.

The best part of this CD, and the reason it is worth buying for any Sabbath fan, are the three new songs. "The Devil Cried" is enjoying success on rock radio, and Dio sounds just as good now as he did on "Heaven and Hell" or even his early stuff with Rainbow. "Shadow of the Wind" is a slow haunting track, and is very good. My favorite, however, is the closing track, "Ear In the Wall", which absolutely rocks. It's up-tempo, has a nice guitar solo in the middle, and is sure to become a staple at rock radio in the near future. If you like "Neon Nights" or "Paranoid", "Ear in the Wall" is sure to please the rocker in you.

So, go out and buy "The Dio Years" by Black Sabbath, and catch them when they're in your town touring as Heaven and Hell. And hey, you can't beat the opening acts either, Megadeth (who will be releasing a new CD, "United Abominations" next month) and Down (Featuring Phil Anselmo from Pantera). It's an unbeatable package for the hardcore metal fan.