Fused [CD]

And my worries were justified. Opening track ‘Dopamine’ is dull, modern metal by numbers, which fails to deliver. I felt crushed. Until the second track, ‘Wasted Again’ kicked in. There it is! The riff! And the Riffmeister General! And The Voice Of Rock! Thank you so much. For this is the best thing Tony Iommi has done since ‘Seventh Star’, the cruelly underrated masterpiece he put together with Glenn Hughes in 1986, following a tortuous period of Black Sabbath history that saw Ron Keel, David Donato and possibly Jeff Fenholt passing through the door marked vocalist in sharp succession.

But this is the album I’ve been waiting 20 years for. Granted, we had the abortive ‘DEP Session’, which lay around unreleased for years. But this is a true successor to ‘Seventh Star’. After the storming ‘Wasted Again’, they hit a powerful and mellow groove over the next 4 tracks which picks up where ‘Seventh Star’ left off, with a 21st century edge courtesy of an excellent Bob Marlette production. ‘Saviour Of The Rear’, ‘Resolution Song’ and ‘Grace’ are exemplary songs, showing just how heavy you can be, while still remaining melodic. The bluesy ‘Deep Inside A Shell’ takes a different tack, but without sacrificing any power.

Then it’s pedal firmly back on the metal with the driving ‘What You’re Living For’. I suspect this is the track that long standing Sabbath fans will take to their heart. The heaviest song either man has been associated with in a long, long time, with a classic Sabbath mid section. ‘Face Your Fear’ sounds like a live anthem in waiting, with pounding bass riff (nice Geezer impersonation) and sing-a-long-a-Sabbath chorus. A quick tip of the hat to Kenny Aronoff who belies his Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger background with an excellent heavy and warm drum sound, and earned his Sabbath spurs on the last Iommi solo album track, ‘Black Oblivion’.

‘The Spell’ is the one track that harks back to the days when a certain Mr Osbourne used to sing with with Mr Iommi, with a doom metal riff that shows the pretenders to the throne where to get off. But in finest tradition, the best is saved for last, with the nine minute epic, ‘I Go Insane’, part prog rock, part acoustic ballad with an incredible instrumental section and a crashing metallic finale. The best track you will hear this year, and one of the finest these two legends have put their name to.

This is an incredibly good album and makes you wonder what could have been if Glenn Hughes had managed to hold it together all those years ago. With plans to tour as a power trio it has the promise to be the live event of the year. And Tony/Glenn, please don’t leave it another 20 years before you get back in the studio.

Glenn Hughes is still an incredable singer. His vocal style is similar to Chris Cornell on early sound garden albums (many would say Chris is a Glenn rip off, I like both), so any fans of Cornell might want to check this out.

Most surprisingly of all, is that the lyrics on this album are actually very good. Usually with older rock stars the first thing that goes is the ability to write coherent lyrics and catchy choruses, but these guys are back to their very best.

Highlights are Resolution song and Grace, but the whole album is consistantly strong. This will be a good contender for hard rock/heavy metal album of the year.

Tony Iommi, the driving force behind Black Sabbath for so many years has a new album out. It's brilliant - but that should be no surprise to anyone who is a fan of his. This is the third collaboration between Tony & former Deep Purple and Sabbath singer Glenn Hughes. Let's get to it...

1. Dopamine - The opening of a new album of Tony Iommi riffs. It's like the needle going into the vein (not that I know what that means, I'm just using a metaphor). Interesting that the subject of the lyrics is a "drug" produced by one's own body. Anyway, it very much sounds like a traditional Tony Iommi riff and song. Good way to open the album, even if it's not my favorite track on the album.

2. Wasted Again - Hmm.. Based solely on the titles, this is an interesting one to follow "Dopamine". This is a slower song, although not "slow" - slower in comparison to Dopamine. It does feature some good "screaming vocals" by Glenn Hughes. It's one of those tracks I like, but I can't give you a concrete reason as to why. Just liked it.

3. Saviour of the Real - This is one of the few songs on the album that doesn't stick out to me. It's not bad, but there's no killer riff, no killer vocal hook on this one. Sometimes with songs that don't stick out to me, I want to skip them, but I keep this in here because it is decent, it's just not great.

4. Resolution Song - This one starts out slow like some of the good moodier Sabbath tracks from the past. There's a interesting vocal hook in this one. Not sure how to describe it except it comes in at about 1:44 for the first time, and sounds like "Ah-yee-ah". It's one of those good Iommi tracks that's mostly mellow, has a big powerful guitar sound behind the chorus.

5. Grace - The first few times I listened to this album, I felt Grace was just ore of Resolution Song. The starting riff of this song sounds a lot like the end of the last song. Grace is one of the best songs on the album. Great lyrics, great riffs, great vocals. About halfway through the song there's a guitar bit (starting around 2:51, runs for about 15 seconds)) that sounds a whole lot like a classic Sabbath riff from the Dio era (Southern Cross?). Anyway, after that, the big fast meaty part of the song really kicks in, and it's just awesome till the end of the song. One of the album's highlights.

6. Deep Inside a Shell - This is the other one that doesn't really leap out to me. As with Saviour, there's nothing wrong with the song. It's good. But it doesn't just have that killer hook for me. The guitar solo midway through the song isn't a standard Iommi power solo. From that aspect it's something different - but this doesn't leap out as a real highlight.

7. What You're Living For - This one is another of my favorites. It's to me is a classic Iommi song, as it leads off with nothing but a cool riff, and just keeps going. It's fast, it's catchy, and is a great song. When I first started listening to the album, this was one of my favorites because it's immediately accessible. I love the solo in this one, it's one of those "Dual solos" where Tony's playing more than one riff at a time. Really nice sound to this one.

8. Face Your Fears - A nice crunchy Tony riff is at the heart of this song. This one seems more geared towards Glenn's vocals than Tony's playing. Nothing wrong with that, but it isn't the "busiest" song in terms of Tony's playing.

9. The Spell - Nice heavy doom sounding riff to start off this song, like some of the classic early Sabbath stuff. The slowest song on the album.

10. I Go Insane - I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! This is by far and away the best thing on the album. A 9 minute and 30 second spectacular piece of music. The vocals, the... aw hell. This is the best song on the album. It's so good, I can't think of any good words to describe it. The best song Tony's recorded in ages. In terms of "feel" it reminds me of the track "Kiss of Death" off of Sabbath's last studio album from 1995, Forbidden. Both of these tracks have a sweeping majestic feel to them that outclass anything else on the disc they appear on.

If you're a fan of Sabbath, the number one complaint fans have is that they haven't put out a new album in the last 10 years. The last Sabbath album was released June 8, 1995. In all that time and all the albums released by the various members, this one is the one that has that feel of carrying the Sabbath banner best. "Fused" flies the legacy of Black Sabbath and the mastery that Tony Iommi has over the fretboard magnificently. There's little weakness on this album, it's strong from start to finish.

If you have ever considered yourself a Sabbath fan, you owe it to yourself to buy this album. Buy two, and give one to a friend. This album deserves all the attention it can get.