What is there to say about the absolute legend that is Tony Iommi? He and the Black Sabbath boys invented heavy metal in the late 60s. His guitar playing has astounded and influenced a world of musicians for over 50 years and the man has genuine and unarguable hero status. A little over a year has passed since Sabbath’s final Villa Park gig and the sad passing of Ozzy and now Tony has released his first solo record in almost 20 years.
On ‘From the Dark’ Iommi has been joined by the powerhouse vocals of Jorn Lande who has a voice like liquid toffee poured over shards of broken glass and who shares writing credits on all songs. Anyone planning to go trick-or-treating at Lande’s house would be advised to stay well clear of the toffees, you have been warned. Merciful Fate and Fury bassist Becky Baldwin joins them with drummer Karl Brazil who can pretty much turn his hand to any genre and can now add heavy metal to an expansive CV that also features Feeder, James Blunt and Alison Moyet. Iommi has also co-produced the record with his long-time creative partner, co-writer, producer and audio engineer Mike Exeter. Being Tony Iommi clearly has its perks and the abilty to call up this talented bunch of artists to work with is one of them.
‘From the Dark’ starts off with ‘Over the Violent Sun’ and what an opener it is. A classic guitar riff stands alone full of menace and intensity before Brazil and Baldwin kick in, setting up for Jorn Lande to tear into his vocal like a berserker swinging a double-headed axe into a crowd of unfortunate 8th century coastal dwelling villagers. In getting into this record I gave it the classic car test and this song absolutely kills it as an opener. God knows what other drivers thought I was up to while waiting at the traffic lights but I was enjoying myself and that’s all that matters.
The majestic ‘Black Times’ follows with Lande’s dystopian lyrics brooding over nuclear mountains and future times in which I can’t imagine the quiet joys central heating or lice-free sofas while the band unleash themselves.This one builds, slows down, rides up again and crescendoes while the artistry and intensity of playing – notably Brazil’s outstanding drumming – takes you on a journey. All the while Iommi’s understated, never flashy but always mindblowing guitar is there with the riff, the incredible lead breaks and the driving force that binds the whole thing together. If ‘Over the Violent Sun’ passed the car test then ‘Black Times’ earned a distinction and an honourable mention in dispatches. (I’ve also used the word ‘dystopian’ in this paragraph so all of you playing ‘Heavy Metal Review Bingo’ can happily cross that one off, good luck moving forward).
We’re then treated to ‘World Alone’, the excellent single release from the album, a slower paced ‘Beyond the Dead’ to give the record more texture and dynamics, followed by my personal favourite ‘Stormwatcher’. This is a sprawling track full of dark narrative, heart-on-sleeve theatre and ludicrously tight-but-loose instrumentation, enjoy.
The album as a whole is consistently strong and held my attention throughout with only the briefest and occasional dip which can be forgiven given the strength of the work as a whole. In reviewing this record though I have to hold my hands up to not being the world’s greatest metal expert. With the exception of Gojira and a handful of others my reference points are the classics and so I can’t honestly say how this album would stand up to a true, in-the-know metal fan. I’m just going on how it makes me feel and to me it’s an absolute beauty of an album that draws you in from the first riff and holds you there pretty much for every song that follows. In places it’s blown my little mind and put me right back to being the teenager that was playing Metallica and Sabbath records in his room on mostly copied cassette tapes. To my ears, none of ‘From the Dark’ feels old, out-dated or stale, in contrast, the entire record is intense, authentic and utterly contemporary. Hats off to the legend that is Tony Iommi and the wonderful musicians that joined him on this. The level of clear passion, musicianship and song writing is incredibly impressive and this one deserves a lot of air time, ideally in your car, volume turned loud while blissfully sitting back enveloped by the pure, brooding majesty of it all.
