Album Review: Tony Iommi – From The Dark

Album Review: Tony Iommi – From The Dark

Reviewed by Rich Oliver

Without Tony Iommi, there would be no heavy metal. A very simple and true statement. Although there were musicians who inspired the sound of heavy metal, there is no other who wholeheartedly created the sound of the genre we love. And 56 years after that first Black Sabbath album, we are still listening to those songs and those riffs still sound just as essential and timeless.

Over a year after Black Sabbath was brought to an end with the Back To The Beginning concert and the death of the legendary Ozzy Osbourne, Tony strikes back with his first solo album in many many years and he has brought along some great company for the ride. Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande brings his astounding voice to the album as well as co-writing credits whilst the rhythm section is handled by the ever busy bassist Becky Baldwin and drummer Karl Brazil.

“From The Dark” is not a lesson in nostalgia but is an album that sounds classic and contemporary in equal measure. It is some of the heaviest material recorded by Tony as well as some of the most epic sounding. The riffs are absolutely huge, the vocals are majestic and everything just sounds huge. As soon as you hit play and the gargantuan riff of opening song ‘Over The Violent Sun’ kicks in, you know we are in business here. The album is made up of eight songs and they are nicely varied from thumping metal anthems such as ‘World Alone’, ‘Stormwatcher’ and ‘Return Of The Arbalist’ to the darker and more doomy moments such as ‘Black Times’, the colossal ‘Beyond The Dead’, the doom-laden ‘Death Wake’ and the epic album closer ‘Legacy’.

As you would expect with Tony Iommi, the guitar riffs are huge and any Black Sabbath or doom metal fan are going to be in their element listening to this album. The rhythm section of Becky and Karl are tight as hell and help bring these songs to life with the nicely varied pace of the music throughout. Jorn Lande has long been one of my favourite clean singers in metal since I discovered him through his collaborations with Avantasia and his voice is just perfect for these songs with his gruff yet powerful vocal style which at times can be very reminiscent of a certain Ronnie James Dio.

At 78 years old and with the legacy he already has, you wouldn’t blame him for taking it easy and enjoying his retirement but Tony has obviously been building a catalogue of riffs just too good to not commit to tape and the result is an absolutely killer heavy metal album. It draws from many of the era’s of Sabbath from the Ozzy era to the Dio era to the Tony Martin era but the album also has a very epic doom metal sound as well as having its feet firmly in classic heavy metal. This is going to please fans of 80’s Sabbath as well as fans of bands such as Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus, Trouble and Sorcerer.

With the line up involved in the making of the album as well as the songs that have been teased so far, I did have high expectations for the album but I wasn’t expecting the album to be this damn good. If you love the power of a good metal riff, then “From The Dark” is a must hear. This album is proof that Tony Iommi is still the undisputed riff lord.

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