Iommi - The 1996 Dep Sessions (with Glenn Hughes)

*=Staff's pick	Gone From Another World* Don’t You Tell Me Don’t Drag The River Fine Time Is The Healer I’m Not The Same Man* It Falls Through Me

Genre	Heavy Metal	Glenn Hughes	Vocals
Tracks	8	Tony Iommi	Guitar
Runningtime	38 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Sanctuary Records	Geoff Nichols	Bass
Release	13 Oct. 2004	Jimmy Copley	Drums
Country	England	Don Airey	Keyboards
Similar artists	Black Sabbath, Deep Purple

Eight years ago, two of the greatest legends of hard rock played together in a studio. Now we have the result in our record stores. That kind of releases is seldom reason for hysteria among others than the hard core fans of respective main band. But my respect for the Black Sabbath-guitarist’s feeling for heavy riffs makes me curious anyway. Sometimes it sounds 70s retro, very much Sabbath and some Purple of course. But at the same time the production is thick and modern. If you like guitar based hard rock and Hughe’s voice, you should be satisfied.

Tony Iommi’s guitar is heavy as usual, when Gone rumbles out. It is evident which band that has been the most influential on today’s stoner rock. But From Another World is apparently from another musical world. Here we find more of fine tuned melody and Hughes get the opportunity to shine with his voice. The changes of style continues, when Don’t Drag The River moves us closer to AOR. Time Is Not The Healer, a pretty dull thing, shows us that not even Iommi invents the wheel twice. The drawling riff of the song Black Sabbath is here recycled in a somewhat faster mode. After this yawning experience follows almost power metal jolly I’m Not The Same Man. As desert we are served a cold, but well tasting ballad, It Falls Through Me.

To sum up, this is a well-varied record that manages to keep up your interest all the way to touch down. Maybe not the kind of songs that will be future classics, but genuine pieces of work that keep a certain quality. A given “to buy” for all Black Sabbath-fans, but we who don’t own their collected back catalogue, should maybe concentrate on making that complete to start with. Also appearing on this recording are Don Airey (Deep Purple, ex. Rainbow, ex. Ozzy), Geoff Nichols (with a short session in Black Sabbath on his record) and the drummer Jimmy Copley.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	8	5

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - David