Iommi, Dio, Butler and Appice, call them what you will, have pulled out all the stops to give fans something to smile about. The Devil You Know lives up to its title, bringing the doom, the evil and the riffs. There's nothing by way of a creative departure here, but Iommi & Co. play to their legacy sensibly, bringing on the signature moments while mixing things up enough that each song doesn't sound like an attempt to slavishly recreate past glories. The production is rich and thick-sounding, Iommi's guitar sheds all trace of the 80s dross to sound like the sludgy, ten-tonne hammer it should be and the sound is possibly the best they've had since their first two albums in this line-up, and certainly a step or two better than on Dehumanizer, although in most other ways the album is more or less neck-to-neck with Dehumanizer.

Well begun is half done; in this spirit, the first four songs on this album are absolutely killer. 'Atom & Evil' through 'Double The Pain' has it all - relentless, doomy riffing, haunting arpeggiated passages, fiery solos and memorable vocal performances. Further along the line, highlights include 'Follow The Tears' and the epic conclusion of 'Breaking Into Heaven'. Some songs, like 'Rock N' Roll Angel', 'Eating The Cannibals' and 'Turn Of The Screw' seem more pedestrian, but repeated listens do reveal something worthwhile in each of them, some little easter egg concealed by Iommi to reward dedicated listens. The only song that's really failed to grow on me is 'Neverwhere'. Tony Iommi shows why he's still the head of the class - no riff is less than good at the very least, the melodies are killer and the solos shoot to thrill. Geezer Butler is certainly no slouch here, although Vinnie Appice sticks to a more straight approach, letting the string section, as it were, steal the limelight. Appice was always a more straight, solid drummer than Ward, if arguably the more technically proficient, so that should come as no surprise. Dio is still an imaginative, somewhat eccentric lyricist, and has most of his vocal presence intact although his voice just doesn't soar the way it used to and there are times when he overdoes the constricted oh-so-evul quaver that he debuted sometime in the 90s.

So yes, this definitely is a killer new Black Sabbath album for the 21st-century, nevermind what it says on the label. They aren't blazing forth into new territory, but they've assembled a collection of songs with a great-to-good ratio that we can all be happy with. This isn't just a cash-in resurrection, or at least it won't seem like on if they keep putting out solid, rewarding albums like this. Well, one can hope...

Label: Rhino/Roadrunner
Year of release: 2009