Heaven & Hell

Latest Heaven & Hell News

Below is our complete Heaven & Hell news coverage, including columns and articles pertaining to the band.  Some articles listed may be indirectly related, such as side projects of the band members, etc. 

As so many of our readers are aware, in the United States, the month of February is Black History Month.  It’s also the time when we devote the Sunday Old School column to Black Metal history.  What many of our readers might not know however, is that Black History Month is also held in the United Kingdom, albeit on a far less noticed scale.  Since it doesn’t make sense to dedicate two months of the year to one genre, Metal Underground and Sunday Old School in particular, will focus on a different history, that of arguably the first, and many would say best, heavy metal band of all time.  Welcome to the final installment of Black Sabbath History Month! 

The eighties had not been as kind to Black Sabbath as it had to some of their contemporaries and after a string of overlooked albums and cancelled tour dates, it seemed that unless something special happened, the band would soon be over.  Fortunately for them, and indeed the fans, something spectacular did indeed happen, as following a guest appearance by Geezer Butler at a Dio concert, the bassist and singer returned to Black Sabbath, eventually also being rejoined by Vinny Appice.  More...

Ronnie James Dio is one of the most beloved figures in rock history.  His gifts, both as a singer and songwriter, are instantly recognizable, whether he was with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, or leading Dio.  Sadly, Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer in 2010, but his towering voice and legacy live on. 

To celebrate one of rock’s most powerful voices, an all-star group of his friends and fans recorded 13 of their favorite tracks for a tribute album that will raise funds for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. 

Produced by his longtime manager and wife Wendy Dio, the album includes contributions by such metal heavyweights as Metallica, Motörhead, Scorpions, Anthrax, and Rob Halford, as well as appearances by many of the musicians who performed with Dio over the years. 

"This Is Your Life" will be available from Rhino on April 1st, 2014.  The track listing is as follows:

Update: Tony Iommi has commented on the original news article but not exactly refuted the claim.  You can read his comments here. 

Multiple sources are reporting that Black Sabbath is to regroup with their original lineup to record a new studio album next year.  Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi reportedly wrote new material for the record in June of this year.  The album would mark the first to feature Ozzy since 1978's "Never Say Die."  The band is said to be currently rehearsing for a new tour. 

"We’re really looking forward to it and I think the stuff we’ve been writing is really good," said 63-year-old Iommi. " It’s more back to the old original stuff." 

He added that the reunion has been kept under wraps for some time. 

"It’s all been very hush-hush.  Ozzy's been the worst at trying to hold it back.  He's doing a lot of TV and he’s being asked stuff about a reunion and he's going ‘well I never say never’." 

Iommi said his only concern about the current reformation was the health of drummer Bill Ward who in the past has suffered a heart attack. 

"He hasn’t been 100 per cent.  He had an operation a few months ago, so we’ll see how he is." 

Iommi's last version of Black Sabbath, dubbed Heaven & Hell, came to an end when singer Ronnie James Dio died in May 2010. 

There are some individuals in their field of music that are so important, they seem like they'll live forever.  In many ways these legends do, as people will continue to listen to their music for years to come, but the lack of their physical presence on Earth can always be felt.  Jazz lost a king when Miles Davis passed away in 1991, hip-hop lost one of it's most respected artists five years later when Tupac Shakur was murdered and heavy metal suffered from one, if not it's greatest loss this time last year, when Ronnie James Dio succumbed to stomach cancer. 

The importance of this heavy metal titan who stood only at 5' 4" can never be exaggerated.  this is the man who is credited with introducing the "heavy metal horns" hand gesture, which is used worldwide to this day by metal fans signaling their love of music, their approval or simply to acknowledge each other.  As a singer, he was an influence to countless heavy metal vocalists and even at the age of sixty seven, he was still being credited as one of the best in the business, a title backed up by his winning of the Best Metal Vocalist Award at the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards.  Perhaps most importantly though, Ronnie James Dio was known for being one of the true gentleman of heavy metal.  Unlike a number of other rockers, Dio wasn't known off the stage for excessive partying, violent encounters or a gargantuan ego, he was known for his honest love and respect for his fans and his undeniable intelligence and philosophic nature.  More...

The "Fallen Heroes" video tribute which was played during the 2011 Revolver Golden Gods Awards has been posted online.  The video pays tribute to Ronnie James Dio, Slipknot's Paul Gray, Avenged Sevenfold's The Rev, Type O Negative's Peter Steele and Alice In Chains' Mike Starr.  You can view the video in the player below. 

Down bass player Rex Brown, who is also a former member of Texas based heavy metal legends Pantera, has revealed that he has formed a new band with Vinny Appice, the former drummer for Black Sabbth/Heaven & Hell and Dio and guitarist Mark Zavon, who has been a member of Ratt and W.A.S.P. amongst others.  Also in the band is lead singer Dewey Bragg.  The band has described their sound as a mixture of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Alice In Chains and plan to begin recording music shortly. 

According to Wendy Dio, the wife and manager of heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio, who sadly passed away last year, some of the biggest names in heavy metal and hard rock will be taking part in a forthcoming Dio tribute album. 

So, who's signed on thus far? " Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Glenn Hughes, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Lemmy (Motorhead)," she said, adding Grohl will do the Black Sabbath hit 'Mob Rules,' and Halford will be taking on 'Long Live Rock 'N' Roll.'  And artists keep coming on. " I just talked to Alice (Cooper), roped Alice in and Sebastian (Bach) and Chris (Jericho)," she said, referring to fellow attendees at the Golden Gods press conference.  And Cooper already has a song in mind, going back to the Elf days, according to Wendy. 

Heavy metal icons Heaven & Hell has posted a trailer from its forthcoming "Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell" release.  The footage and audio was recorded during the band's Wacken Open Air headline appearance on July 30, 2009.  The DVD is also set to feature 30th anniversary interviews with all four band members as well as newly recorded personal tributes from Iommi, Appice, and Butler in memory of Dio, who passed away in May.

Heavy metal icons Heaven & Hell has revealed the tracklisting for its forthcoming live CD/DVD release titled "Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell."  The footage and audio was recorded during the band's Wacken Open Air headline appearance on July 30, 2009.  The DVD is also set to feature 30th anniversary interviews with all four band members as well as newly recorded personal tributes from Iommi, Appice, and Butler in memory of Dio, who passed away in May.

"Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell" tracklisting:-DVD-1.  E51502.  The Mob Rules3.  Children Of The Sea4.  I5.  Bible Black6.  Time Machine7.  Fear8.  Falling Off The Edge of the World9.  Follow The Tears10.  Die Young11.  Heaven And Hell12.  Country Girl13.  Neon Knights

-CD-1.  The Mob Rules2.  Children Of The Sea3.  I4.  Bible Black5.  Time Machine6.  Fear7.  Falling Off The Edge Of The World8.  Follow The Tears9.  Die Young10.  Heaven And Hell11.  Neon Knights

Heaven & Hell, the band that featured the "Mob Rules" lineup of Black Sabbath, will be releasing a new live CD/DVD entitled, "Neon Nights: Live At Wacken."  The package will hit the shelves on November 16th through Eagle Records.  The set was the last professionally filmed performance that the band did with frontman Ronnie James Dio, who sadly passed away in May after battling stomach cancer. 

The first official release from Niji Entertainment Group, the label formed by the late Ronnie James Dio and his wife Wendy Dio has been announced as "Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987".  The two disc live set is scheduled for release on November 9th 2010.  The two-CD deluxe digipak comes with rare photos from both concerts.  It also includes both "All Access" backstage laminates from 1983 and 1987. 

Here's the "Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987" tracklisting:

Disc One: 19831.  Stand Up and Shout2.  Straight Through The Heart3.  Children Of The Sea4.  Rainbow In The Dark5.  Holy Diver6.  Drum Solo7.  Stargazer8.  Guitar Solo9.  Heaven And Hell10.  Man On The Silver Mountain11.  Starstruck12.  Evil Eyes

Disc Two: 19871.  Dream Evil2.  Neon Knights3.  Naked In The Rain4.  Rock And Roll Children5.  Long Live Rock 'N' Roll6.  The Last In Line7.  Children Of The Sea8.  Holy Diver9.  Heaven And Hell10.  Man On The Silver Mountain11.  All The Fools Sailed Away12.  The Last In Line13.  Rainbow In The Dark

During their recent headlining performance at England's Bloodstock Open Air festival, Swedish progressive metal outfit Opeth payed tribute tofallen metal icon Ronnie James Dio, whose band Heaven & Hell were originally supposed to headline the event, by performing the song, "Catch The Rainbow."  You can check out fan filmed footage of the cover below, along with the speech frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt made about Dio.  More...

The Wacken Open Air organizers have issued the following announcement about releasing a three disc live DVD set of the festival's 2009 edition:

"In 2009 Wacken Open Air celebrated it´s 20th Anniversary with a giant party and as usual it was recorded on DVD.  With a duration of more than 500 minutes on 3 DVD's it's the biggest Wacken live DVD ever!  Included are videos of more than 60 bands, 70 live tracks in 5.1 / 2.0 Dolby Digital and additionally masses of documentations and our world record – the world´s longest DVD credits with more than 17500 participants!  The DVD will be available from the 5th of august as an 8 pages digi-pack directly at the festival area and afterwords at the FULL:METAL:SHOP." 

Video footage has surfaced of Heaven & Hell's recent Dio tribute concert which took place on Saturday, July 24th, 2010.  Heaven & Hell members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice were joined by a series of guest musicians to perform songs in Dio's honor. 

Members of the "Big Four" of thrash, including Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Scott Ian (Anthrax), and Kerry King (Slayer) recorded a special video tribute to the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio.  The video was recorded from the Sonisphere festival in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 22, 2010.  The video tribute was shown as part of the June 22nd satellite broadcast of the "Big Four" concert from Sofia to movie theaters around the world.  You can watch the video clip below. 

Wendy Dio, wife of the recently deceased Ronnie James Dio, has issued the following statement about bands releasing Dio tribute albums:

"Dear Friends and Fans of Ronnie, I have seen lately on Blabbermouth.net a lot of announcements of bands releasing 'so-called' Dio Tribute CD's.  Please do not be fooled by thinking they are doing this for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund, the money is going in their pockets and not to the Fund.  I find this totally disgraceful and upsetting that they are trying to make money off of Ronnie's death." 

Thomas G. Fischer (aka Tom G. Warrior,) the founder of the legendary metal bands Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, and most recently Triptykon, was honoured in London this week when he received the prestigious Golden God award for inspiration.  The award was presented to him at the Indigo2/O2 Arena by Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian.  When accepting the award, Fischer stated:

"In my opinion, however, I don't deserve this award.  It should instead go to Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Angel Witch, and Venom, artists who have inspired me and without whom I would not be here tonight." 

The surviving members of Heaven & Hell, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Vinny Appice, has announced that they will be performing a special set at England's High Voltage festival on July 24th, which will serve as a tribute to their late frontman Ronnie James Dio, who passed away as a result of stomach cancer last month.  The band will be joined by former Deep Purple singer Glen Hughes as well as Masterplan vocalist Jorn Lande.  All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. 

Says Geezer Butler: "It's going to be a very emotional occasion.  Ronnie loved his fans like no-one else I know - and they loved him.  It will be a privilege doing a gig in honour of his memory, and to help towards his charity.  Above all, I hope it encourages people to have regular check-ups for this disease.  Early detection is vital, and greatly improves the chance of a cure.  I know everyone has heard that a million times before, but seeing one of your best friends die because we all think we're immune from this disease, really brings it home.  Do it for yourself, your family, your friends.  Ronnie would be proud of you." 

Tony Iommi says: "Ronnie's passing has left a huge hole, we hadn't anywhere near finished what we set out to do as a band together.  He was so looking forward to the European tour and we hope this appearance will go some way to fulfilling that." 

MetalInjection.net west-coast correspondent Johnny Orlando Jr. attended the Ronnie James Dio Memorial Service on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 and filed a special report.  He spoke with many fans of Dio who discussed what Dio meant to them as well as one of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who was protesting the memorial.  Check out the clip below. 

RonnieJamesDio.com reports that Ronnie James Dio was finally laid to rest on June 1, 2010 at 3:33 PM at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, CA.  Ronnie was carried to his final resting place by his friends, Vinny Appice, Geezer Buttler, Craig Goldy, Steve Mignardi, Scott Warren and Simon Wright. 

For those fans that were not able to attend the Memorial, you can still get the "Stand Up And Shout" T-Shirt, Memorial Program and Official Button for a donation of $35.00 to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. 

The Shirt comes in sizes Medium, Large, X-Large, 2XL and 3 XL.  Shipping in the USA is in a Priority Mail Flat Rate Box for $10.70, Canada and Mexico is $26.95 and the rest of the world is $15.00. 

Please make your checks or money orders payable to: The Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund" and send them to the Niji Entertainment Group, 12400 Ventura Blvd. # 837, Studio City, CA 91604 USA.  You can also use your credit or debit card via PayPal.  There is a direct link on the homepage of www.ronniejamesdio.com that says "DONATE NOW." 

Here is what The Ronnie James Dio “Stand Up And Shout” Cancer Fund Program aims to do: More...