In 2000, guitarist Tony Iommi, whose weighty stylings lies behind such Black Sabbath classics as “Iron Man,” “Paranoid” and “Sweet Leaf,” released his self-titled collection of hard rockers guaranteed to piss off the neighbors and incite the punks. Iommi has aligned himself with no less than 10 disturbingly different singers and personalities including Ozzy Osbourne. Also participating were Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, Ian Astbury, Billy Idol, and the poet and tattooed every angry man, Henry Rollins.
After years of falling prey to his own lethargic legacy, it’s nice to see Iommi venture out a little to the left of his impending target. As long as Iommi doesn’t lean over too far to the side in a veiled attempt to sound like some cheap Dimebag Daryl impressionist, the material presents the guitarist in a refreshing light. With some stealth assistance from guitarist Brian May and drummers Matt Cameron, Kenny Aranoff and Bill Ward, Iommi is probably the album he should have made instead of trying to feed off the Sabbath name and reputation while others clearly proved there was life after the 70s.
The album opens up like a tidal wave ready to suck in anyone who dares to tread the water. Bolstered by an excitable riff, a solid rhythm and some insightful lyrics spewed forth by Rollins, “Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)” easily stacks up alongside some of the more modern slammers that routinely make the rounds with younger metalheads. “Meat” pairs Iommi with the only female vocalist on the record, Skin from Skunk Anansie. There’s a degree of minimized execution until Iommi kicks in with a concise, Sabbath-like solo in the middle of the song. “Goodbye Lament” with Dave Grohl is a chunky and catchy tune that again finds Iommi somewhat refrained while a short hip-hop styled beat bridges the gaps. It may rank as one of the most significant pieces of music that Tony Iommi has been involved with in over 20 years.
Unfortunately, songs like “Time Is Mine” with Pantera’s Philip Anselmo and “Patterns” with System Of A Down’s Seri Tankian both strive to sound too much like “Electric Funeral” knockoffs while “Black Oblivion” featuring Corgan is more reminiscent of something from the Sabotage era. “Flame On” with Ian Astbury is another example of minimum fancy fretwork from Iommi, giving it room to work on several levels. “Just Say No To Love” with Type O Negative’s Peter Steele doesn’t bring much to the table. “Who’s Fooling Who” has every right in the world to sound like Sabbath because both Osbourne and Ward perform on it. The album concludes with “Into The Night” featuring a strong and sprite vocal from Idol. All in all, Iommi takes a stab with nominal risk, and delivers a fairly structured and contemporary effort. There may be a few tricks up his sleeve we have yet to see.
~ Shawn Perry
