What, then, was to become of the brilliant and genre-defining guitarist Tony Iommi? Back in 1984 when he tried to put together a solo album, it got tagged as a Black Sabbath release. Could he do something again, this time just as his own project? As it turned out, he could, although it would take a few years of prepping and recording, and a lot of guests to help out.
Here then is Iommi, an album written by Tony and co-written and co-guesting different vocalists on each track. As a result, it feels and sounds more like a 'collection' than an 'album', as there is not a lot of cohesion between tracks. That doesn't make it a bad album as such, but if there are vocalists that you don't like involved (there are) then it makes it difficult to enjoy the songs that they are involved in (it does).
Probably what also hinders the concept is that a lot of the riffs sound like they have been recycled from those more recent Black Sabbath albums, and to be fair a lot of those songs just don't rate highly. It wouldn't be fair to say that Iommi has run out of riffs, but they just don't seem to come so good as frequently as they used to.
The favourites for me on the album include Henry Rollins on "Laughing Man (In The Devil Mask)", Dave Grohl with Brian May on "Goodbye Lament" and Billy Corgan on "Black Oblivion", though it does stretch on a little too long. The songs with high profile vocalists, such as "Time Is Mine" with Phil Anselmo, "Who's Fooling Who" with Ozzy and "Into The Night" with Billy Idol, just don't live up to the hype, and perhaps suffer a little because of it.
Again, as I said, as a collective of songs based around the centrepiece of Tony Iommi's guitaring, it isn't a bad effort. Those looking for a post-Sabbath future, like myself, were left to further ponder what it may hold beyond this.
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