Heaven & Hell

The chance to see a band who started an entire musical genre rarely comes about these days (and I don’t mean the hundreds of offshoot genres that appear to be springing up every week). So I was excited when I got the opportunity to review the undisputed originators of Heavy Metal, Black Sabbath. Of course, Heaven and Hell is in fact Sabbath Mark II, comprised of two of the original members of the classic line-up, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, and featuring the vocal talents of Ronnie James Dio and drumming expertise of Vinny Appice. More on their performance in a bit.

First of all, the chance to see another legendary American metal band, Iced Earth. A rare treat, especially because they have only made one jaunt over to the UK previously, way back in 1991. Highly regarded by the rock press, it’s not hard to see why. They sound like Iron Maiden, albeit an American version, and their performance is excellent. Their vocalist, Tim 'Ripper’ Owens, formerly of Judas Priest, was on top form, and the band were tight as well. Lets hope its not too long before they make their way back here again.

Next up were Lamb of God, who have been touring their excellent 'Sacrament’ album for the best part of 2 years. Sounding absolutely huge in the cavernous Wembley Arena, they had a dedicated following down the front who tried as much as possible to get a decent sized circle pit going, much to the annoyance of the Wembley security. Unfortunately, whilst they sounded absolutely huge, Randy Blythe’s growly vocals were lost in the mix, making songs such as 'Walk With Me in Hell’ and 'Redneck’ lose some of their usual awesome impact.

With excellent reviews from their world tour, there was great expectation resting on the shoulders of Heaven & Hell and we waited with bated breath for them to arrive. They burst out with all the blast and pizzazz you might expect of one of the wonders of the rock world and ,. sadly, it wasn’t quite worth the wait. With riffs that inspired thrash metal, nu-metal, death metal and many other offshoots of metal, there was a lot to look forward to but unfortunately, the songs that inspired the genres aren’t anywhere near as fresh as they once were, and it was very much like an 80s metal tribute night. The performance itself was absolutely excellent. Tony Iommi looking so at ease playing guitar and delivering the monster riffs he made famous and Geezer Butler rocking away on bass. Ronnie James Dio’s voice is as fresh as ever and despite Vinnie Appice’s drum solo, his performance was spot on too. But the material was not what the audience came to hear, centreing as it did on the 'Heaven & Hell’, 'Dehumanizer’ and 'Mob Rules’ and featuring none of the Ozzy material that many in the crowd had hoped for. It was perhaps telling that the crowd seemed a lot more passionate for Lamb of God than they did the headliners, who tonight appeared to be more of a tribute band than the originators of a genre.