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The Devil You Know (Heaven & Hell album)

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The Devil You Know
Studio album by
Heaven & Hell
Released24 April 2009
RecordedNovember 2008[1]
StudioRockfield Studios (Wye Valley, Wales)
GenreHeavy metal
Length54:01 [2]
LabelRhino, Roadrunner (Europe)
Producer
Heaven & Hell chronology
Live from Radio City Music Hall
(2007) 		The Devil You Know
(2009) 		Neon Nights: 30 Years of Heaven & Hell
(2010)
Ronnie James Dio chronology
Live from Radio City Music Hall
(2007) 		The Devil You Know
(2009) 		Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987
(2010)
Alternative Cover

The Devil You Know is the only studio album by heavy metal band Heaven & Hell; the members had previously recorded as a group in an earlier line-up of Black Sabbath.[3] The Devil You Know was Ronnie James Dio's final studio album prior to his death in May 2010.

The album's US import was released in Japan on 24 April 2009, four days earlier than its original due date of 28 April. The Japan domestic pressing which is a SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) was released on 27 April.[4] It was produced by the band and sound engineer Mike Exeter.[5]

The Devil You Know debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart upon release, with 30,000 copies sold.[6] It was awarded Best Album at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.[7]

Conception

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In 2007 the Ronnie James Dio-era Black Sabbath line-up recorded three new tracks, "The Devil Cried", "Shadow of the Wind", and "Ear in the Wall" for an upcoming greatest hits package entitled Black Sabbath: The Dio Years. Guitarist Tony Iommi said that the tracks were created because he felt there was nothing worth releasing in the vaults from the Dio-era studio recordings and so these new songs were written and recorded. The song "The Devil Cried" was released as a promotional single for the release.[8][9] Initially Dio commented that after the recording of those songs, he expected to leave the band and return to Dio and that another "Sabbath album" was "the last thing on my mind".[9] Iommi commented that Heaven & Hell agreed on an album whilst the band was in Japan on their 2007 tour.[10] The band started work on the album before and after the Metal Masters Tour in Dio and Iommi's houses respectively.[5] Each member submitted CDs of material for the project.[5] Iommi described the work as "really good, pretty powerful".[11]

Title and art

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The album artwork is adapted from a painting by Per Øyvind Haagensen entitled Satan.[12] The artwork features the numbers 25 and 41.[13] Geezer Butler stated in an interview that the numbers refer to the Bible verse Matthew 25:41, which deals with the Last Judgment where "those who sit at the left side of God are cast down into Hell".[14] He also has explained that the name of the album is a reference to the name of the band, as fans know them as Black Sabbath.[15] When finalising the cover art, the band narrowed it down to their two favourites but had a difficult time making a final decision. The second of those two favourites prominently features the traditional Black Sabbath devil logo. That alternative cover is available exclusively at Wal-Mart within the United States.[16]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic63/100[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[18]
Blabbermouth.net8.5/10[19]
Sputnikmusic[20]
IGN7.9/10[21]
Metal Hammer9/10[22]

The Devil You Know has received generally positive reviews. The album currently holds a score of 63/100 at the aggregate review site, Metacritic, indicating mixed or positive reviews.[17] Phil Freeman of AllMusic described the album as being like Black Sabbath's Paranoid in catching a band at the peak of its powers.[18] However, Freeman went on to note that Heaven & Hell expresses a "very different side of their musical personalities" than Black Sabbath, and that the differing band name is suitable given the overall darker sound.[18] Metal Hammer described the album as "one of the heavy releases of the year"[23] and honored it with a 2010 Golden Gods Award for Best Album.[7] Martin Popoff rated the album as better than Dehumanizer, but not as good as Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules.[24] He described Dio's vocals being delivered with "thespian enunciation" and "passion".[24]

Touring

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Heaven & Hell embarked on a second international tour (after their 2007 tour) in support of The Devil You Know. The band's first scheduled date was in Bogotá on 5 May 2009.[25] They were supported by progressive rock acts Coheed and Cambria and The Mars Volta on North America for a select number of shows in August 2009.[26]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."Atom and Evil"5:15
2."Fear"4:48
3."Bible Black"6:29
4."Double the Pain"5:25
5."Rock and Roll Angel"6:02
6."The Turn of the Screw"5:02
7."Eating the Cannibals"3:37
8."Follow the Tears"6:12
9."Neverwhere"4:35
10."Breaking into Heaven"6:53
Total length:54:01
iTunes exclusive bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."I" (live)6:30
12."Die Young" (Live) (Dio, Iommi, Butler, Bill Ward)6:46
Total length:67:17

Personnel

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Heaven & Hell
Additional Personnel
  • Mike Exeter – keyboards, additional production, engineering
Production

Charts

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Chart (2009) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[28] 76
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] 37
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 84
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[31] 24
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 26
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[33] 38
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[34] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[35] 53
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] 17
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[37] 14
Italian Albums (FIMI)[38] 45
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[39] 28
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[40] 15
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[41] 20
Scottish Albums (OCC)[42] 20
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[43] 95
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[44] 8
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[45] 31
UK Albums (OCC)[46] 21
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[47] 1
US Billboard 200[48] 8
US Top Hard Rock Albums (Billboard)[49] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[50] 3
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[51] 2

References

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  1. ^ Iommi, Tony. Iron Man. Simon&Schuster UK. p. 354. ISBN 978-1-84983-321-9.
  2. ^ "The Devil You Know, Heaven & Hell".
  3. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "AMG Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  4. ^ "The Devil You Know".
  5. ^ a b c "Heaven And Hell: Classic Rock Hears Their New Songs". Classic Rock. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Heaven & Hell's 'The Devil You Know' Lands in U.S. Top 10". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Metal Hammer Golden Gods Winners".
  8. ^ Wickstrand, Philip. "Heaven and Hell". Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  9. ^ a b Bennett, J. (27 June 2007). "Ronnie James Dio: 'The Last Thing On My Mind Is Doing Another Black Sabbath Album'". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Tony Iommi 'Putting Riff Ideas Together' For Heaven and Hell Album". Blabbermouth.net. 28 January 2008. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2008.
  11. ^ Graff, Gary (25 July 2008). "Heaven & Hell 'Six Or Seven' Songs into New CD". Billboard. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
  12. ^ Haagensen, Per. "Art by Per". Per Haagensen's official site. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  13. ^ "Heaven and Hell artwork revealed". Rock Radio. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  14. ^ "Heaven & Hell's Geezer Butler Discusses 'The Devil You Know'". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  15. ^ "Heaven & Hell: New Audio Interview With Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler Available – Mar. 27, 2009". blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  16. ^ "Black Sabbath news". Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  17. ^ a b "The Devil You Know – Heaven & Hell". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  18. ^ a b c Freeman, Phil. "The Devil You Know – Heaven & Hell". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  19. ^ Bergman, Keith. "The Devil You Know – Heaven & Hell". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  20. ^ Munro, Tyler (27 April 2009). "Heaven and Hell – The Devil You Know". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  21. ^ Kaz, Jim (29 April 2009). "Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". IGN. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  22. ^ Lawson, Dom (June 2009). "The Devil You Know Review". Metal Hammer. No. 192. p. 87.
  23. ^ "Track-By-Track: Heaven And Hell – The Devil You Know". Metal Hammer. 30 March 2009. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  24. ^ a b Popoff, Martin. "Hardwares". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  25. ^ "Heave & Hell live tour dates". Heaven & Hell Official website. Archived from the original on 12 March 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  26. ^ "Heaven & Hell Official North American Tour Dates Confirmed". KNAC. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  27. ^ Saulnier, Jason (24 March 2012). "Vinny Appice Interview". Music Legends. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  28. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 126.
  29. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  30. ^ "Ultratop.be – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  31. ^ "Heaven & Hell Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  32. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  33. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  34. ^ "Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  35. ^ "Lescharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  36. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  37. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2009. 19. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  38. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  39. ^ "ザ・デヴィル・ユー・ノウ". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  40. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  41. ^ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  42. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  43. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  44. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  45. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  46. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  47. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  48. ^ "Heaven & Hell Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  49. ^ "Heaven & Hell Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  50. ^ "Heaven & Hell Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  51. ^ "Heaven & Hell Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
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