THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Heaven & Hell

Listening Notes

1. Atom and Evil - Big drum fill intro. SOUNDS MASSIVE. The riff is pure doom. Ah... Dio. His voice is velvet. Pre-chorus grove is so grimy. Opens up with some additional guitar track and synth. Sounds like an epic trek to Mount Doom in Mordor. First guitar solo is creamy. Some bass licks underneath. Good stuff. The choice to spell Adam as Atom is curious to me. Genius says its a clever play on words from Adam and Eve: Atom and Evil. Alluding to how science is sometimes used for bad things. Okay, it's clever.
2. Fear - Evil sounding riff. It's great. Dio's voice rides above the slow, pounding rhythm and riff-age. It's good. Real good. Back tracking on the word Fear, sounds like old backwards tapes that got Judas Priest in trouble. ;-) Some strange lyrics in this one. Knowing Dio, he's got some fancy explanation and reason for his poetic choices.
3. Bible Black - Beautiful acoustic opening. Some nice boomer bends in there for good measure. Geezer enters. Song is building. "Don't go one! Put it back! / You're reading from the Bible Black!" Oh shit! So heavy. So groovy. So good. Key change. And another one. Guitar tone is superb on this album so far.
4. Double the Pain - Whoa; trippy bass effects. Worbly. Morphs into a solid chugging riff. 4 on the floor. Insta-headbang. Slight rising chromatic pre-chorus, sounds good. Falls in place for the chorus. Double the pain! / It will make him come alive. Evil. HORNS.
5. Rock and Roll Angel - Opening is a bit brighter than the other tracks so far. The pre-chorus guitar riffs are interesting here. The chorus ends with a very Dio-esque "Rock and roll angel." Kinda goofy, but also endearing. The bridge takes another brighter turn. It works. Moves into a reprieve and some sweet guitar licks with the gain turned down a bit. Juicy. Back to the chugging; neck pickup engaged, creamy tones. So good. I really like how this song ends. Everything comes together and works really well.
6. The Turn of the Screw - The verse guitar riff sounds like a Metallica one from 72 Seasons. So far, there is a common thread in all the songs. Similar tones, phrasing. It all fits. Seems its made from the same cloth. Not a lot of variation in the album at this point. This is a good song, but not really great in anyway. Solid.
7. Eating the Cannibals - Fastest tempo thus far. It's scootin'. Great rock and roll song.
8. Follow the Tears - Song starts off sinister. Hint of church organ, sounds evil. Great doomy riffs. Slimey. Just nasty gross. Great song. Whoa; the bridge of the song changes tone; almost redemptive. Back to evil nasty. I actually like the lyrics a lot on this track.
9. Neverwhere - First track that might have an odd time signature. This one has Dio's musical influence on it to me. If the guitar tones weren't so signature at this point, it could be on another Dio album. Very catchy chorus.
10. Breaking into Heaven - This is slow, doomy sludge. It'd beat any contemporary sludgy doom riffs out now. Sounds great. Dio sounds in pain. Great use of keyboards in the chorus. God this is DOOM. Fantastic song, and a fantastic end to a great record.

Liner Notes

That album art is sick. It's from Per Haagensen titled Satan I.

Production Notes

Flawless. The guitars sound massive. The bass is tucked away but still very clear in the mix. The additional instrumentation is subtle and doesn't distract. And Dio's voice is front and center. I love it. No changes.

Overall Notes

I love the use of pre-chorus' and bridges in all these songs. It makes what might make for a repetitive album a bit more dynamic. It's smart of them to do so. Also shows a bit more crafting in putting these songs together. I really appreciate it.