antiReviews: Tony Iommi � Iommi

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Review by: Goth Brooks
Label: Divine/Priority Records
Track Listing:

1. Laughing Man In The Devil Mask � featuring Henry Rollins
2. Meat � featuring Skin
3. Goodbye Lament � featuring Dave Grohl
4. Time Is Mine � featuring Philip Anselmo
5. Patterns � featuring Serj Tankian
6. Black Oblivion � featuring Billy Corgan
7. Flame On � featuring Ian Astbury
8. Just Say No To Love � featuring Peter Steele
9. Who's Fooling Who � featuring Ozzy
10. Into The Night � featuring Billy Idol

Tony Iommi has been playing guitar for over thirty years now, with the majority of that time being in Black Sabbath.  He had a short-lived stint in Jethro Tull, and also with Earth, which eventually evolved into Black Sabbath.  While playing guitar for that many years, especially for a band like Black Sabbath, it was probably impossible for Tony not to develop a signature sound.  In the time that Black Sabbath was without Ozzy, Tony was the main guy in Black Sabbath keeping the name alive with different line-ups throughout the years that included members as stellar as Glenn Hughes, Ronnie James Dio, and the late great Cozy Powell.  Tony never left what he helped to create with Sabbath for a spot as a guitarist in another band.  He has always been fiercely loyal to his Sabbath roots.  He has never done any guest appearances on other artists albums, he has never formed another band outside the realm of Black Sabbath, and until now has never recorded a solo album.

On his first solo outing the guitarist has teamed up with a cast of vocalist that bring out some surprising new elements in Iommi's guitar playing, and teach this old dog some new tricks in the process.  Vocalists on this recording include the likes of Henry Rollins, Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl, and Type O Negative's Peter Steele.  And let's not forget to mention Black Sabbath bandmate Ozzy Osbourne himself.  The solid power chords and electrifying leads are unmistakably Iommi's throughout this disc.  It's the vocalists who are the standouts on this disc though.  They take Iommi into new and undiscovered territory from song to song here.  Starting with Henry Rollins fiendish vocal delivery on "Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)" this CD just keeps setting you up for one killer song after the other.  "Goodbye Lament" with Dave Grohl on vocals is probably the CD's most radio friendly track although it remains in content with the rest of the songs on the album and is something that you'd expect from Iommi's end of the spectrum, meaning the song is still sufficiently dark, brooding, and ultra-heavy.

The Phil Anselmo guest track "Time is Mine" is the most corrosively brain rotting and verbally abrasive track on this disc, and is fueled by all the hate, rage, and anger we've come to expect from Anselmo.  Billy Corgan's track "Sweet Oblivion" is a journey into something along the lines of the heaviest material off of  "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" being sung by Billy trying his best to imitate Ozzy.  The weirdest thing about this though is that somehow it works.  This pairing up of Corgan and Iommi surprisingly produced what is the best track on this disc in my opinion.  Ozzy's song "Who's Fooling Who" sounds exactly what one would imagine it to sound like.  It's a memorable song, but it's not like you can't guess in advance what Ozzy and Iommi are gonna sound like together.  All the tracks are excellent, but one of them just seems out of place compared to the rest.  That track being "Into The Night" with Billy Idol on vocals.  "Into The Night" is my least favorite here, and "Sweet Oblivion" gets my vote for the best song on this disc.  A killer effort from The Riffmaster God of Metal guitar.  A must buy for all you Black Sabbath, and Tony Iommi fans out there. 

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