BLACK SABBATH
HEAVEN AND HELL
Album Review
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Released April 18, 1980, HEAVEN AND HELL, the 9th studio album by BLACK SABBATH (and the first to feature Ronnie James Dio on vocals), marks a simultaneous sonic departure and rebirth for the Godfathers of Metal.
While some would argue that it sounds more like RJD’s solo output and NOTHING like the Sabbath of the 70’s, HEAVEN AND HELL is more than just “the next Sabbath album”.
Released 4/18/1980
Label Vertigo
Producer Martin Birch
Ronnie James Dio – vocals
Tony Iommi – guitars
Geezer Butler – bass
Bill Ward – drums
TRACKS
Side A
1 Neon Knights
2 Children of the Sea
3 Lady Evil
4 Heaven and Hell
Side B
5 Wishing Well
6 Die Young
7 Walk Away
8 Lonely Is the Word
Featuring fantastical & medieval lyrical themes coupled with a revitalized songwriting style and renewed vigor, HEAVEN AND HELL is a brilliant example of how a band in desperate need of a “heavy metal makeover” can completely reinvent their sound and expand their artistic palette to accommodate a brand-new chapter for a brand-new decade.
Find out who might just be “the Yoda of metal”, discover which song absolutely must be played on misty mornings, and realize that “the anxiety of being around family” can only be rivaled by the disturbingly high readings captured on the “goddamnometer” when you JOIN US from The Bunkerpoon Center for Metal Excellence as we celebrate 46 years of the BLACK SABBATH Mark II lineup with HEAVEN AND HELL.
Show Notes:
(00:01): “It’s a good time we have here in The Bunkerpoon…”/
***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised *** / “There was a lot of that on the boat…”/ #MrBlack / “The butterbean?” / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / “It’s the anxiety of being around family…don’t do regular Matt…dial it down...”/ “What’s the name of your…DON’T worry about it.”
(04:46): ***PATREON US at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast *** / ***SOCIAL MEDIA US at #metalnerderypodcast on #Facebook #YouTube #Instagram and #TikTok & VOICEMAIL US at 980-666-8182!!!*** / #Mammoth THE END (The End – 2025) / “You know who my dad is? GFY…”/ “It was Dave…’Merica Dave…” / (1-boat) / (2-pizza)/ “This guy was the perfect, freakin’, bloke…he was from Yorkshire…”/ “We were discussing the ‘cunt’ word…”/ “Fun fact about that one…”/ Fun vagina facts / #StevenTylerFace / ASK THE METALHEAD/ “What was your favorite ‘gateway’ band?”/ “What’s the most ‘non-metal’ artist you secretly love?”
(20:00): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: BLACK SABBATH – HEAVEN AND HELL / #RecordStoreDay #HousewolfRecords / “As of the date of the recording of this podcast…it’s the 46th anniversary of Heaven and Hell / Released April 18, 1980 / #Era / “Mob Rules sounds more like Dio…”/ “Did you guys watch the Dio docufilm?” #DreamersNeverDie / “I swear that I saw the promo video for Die Young as a kid…”/
“This sounds, sonically, NOTHING like the Sabbath of the 70’s…”/ Produced by Martin Birch/ NEON KNIGHTS / “I always think of the Live Evil version of this whenever I hear it…”
“They could not have picked a better replacement for Ozzy…”/ “Something about that man’s voice with that band…they just go together.”
(28:55): CHILDREN OF THE SEA / “Misty mornings…whenever there’s a misty morning, it’s this song…”/ “Sounds like baby Dio…”/ “It’s almost kinda got power metal vibes a little bit…”/ “I would’ve rather have gone to metal school than middle school…”/ “Talk about beefy bass…”/ “Here’s a question…dude, you always just assume I’m gonna go for the worst…”/ “In fairness…they’re the ones that put out…”/ #StinkySlimy / “See? See? See?”/
LADY EVIL / “Did you hear that?”/ “Is that Yoda? It’s like Grover on backing vocals…”/
“Fuck you in the ass, I may…”/ #LOL / “Yoda it did sound like…”
(35:35): HEAVEN AND HELL / “There’s Yoda again…”/ “Wait, Yoda was kinda short, wasn’t he?”/ “So is Dio the Yoda of metal?”/ “This is the 80’s before the 80’s was the 80’s…”/
“It’s like Sabbath got a makeover…”/ “It’s like a spooky Renaissance Festival, idn’t it?”/
“Those are some of the best lyrics in metal history…”/ “Send the hate mail…and the high mileage butthole pics…”/ “Remember our discussion a few weeks ago re: side 2 vs side 1…”/ “Side 2 is all deep cuts…”
(42:06): “There’s a line from this that I had on my wedding cake…” / “Dude, I kept a count on the notes…”/ (11 thus far) / “You can’t say that…”/ WISHING WELL / “Side 2 might be happier than Side 1…”/ “You need a tambourine right there…”/ “Time is a never-ending journey, love is a never-ending smile…”/ “I blame Styx…and Journey…and rocks…”/ “It’s like the #algorithm of the day…”/ “I never made it to side 2 of this album…”/ DIE YOUNG / “I think this was the promotional video I saw…with the wizard sleeves…”/ “Very proggy…it’s almost like a different band…”/ “Something about Dio and Black Sabbath just go together…”/ Geoff Nichols on keyboards / “Tommy Lee plays keyboards with his dick…that’s why he’s so good at it…”
(52:44): “The next one kinda sounds like maybe some leftover Rainbow riffs…”/
WALK AWAY / “Lord, she’s handsome…”/ “Ladies can be handsome…”/ #Xena /
“Look at the jaw on that girl…”/ “She got a bulge…”/ “What if…that’s their song warning people about the transvestites?”/ “You’ve seen handsome women…”/ “As long as the water park is still open…or the water slide…as long as the hot pocket still works…”/ #JoanJett / “I’m 11…and you’re showing me this on MTV…”/ LONELY IS THE WORD / “I think I like this song the best on Side 2…”/ “This is why I kinda fucking hate legal shit…that’s the kinda shit that makes me just hate-fuck everything in the world…”/ #HeavenAndHell / THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! #untilthenext #outroreel