Best Black Sabbath (as Heaven & Hell) ‘The Devil You Know’ Song – Readers Poll

Although they spent the better part of a decade touring after their 1997 reunion, the four original members of Black Sabbath never got around to recording a proper new studio LP. Plans to do so in 2001 were aborted, so a couple of tracks cut for 1998’s ‘Reunion’ were all fans heard.

So when Ozzy announced another solo album in 2006 just as a ‘Dio Years’ compilation was being prepared, Ronnie, Iommi, Geezer and Appice reconvened to pen a trio of new songs and wound up inspired enough to reunite for a third time and tour as Heaven & Hell.

In 2009, a new album by Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath in every way but trademark ownership) was released, chock full of serious, slow-crawling, earth-rumbling, bowel-vacating doom, exemplified by songs like ‘Atom and Evil,’ ‘Fear’ and ‘Rock and Roll Angel.’

Had it not been for Ronnie James Dio’s death a year after 'The Devil You Know''s release, the latest Black Sabbath reunion between Ozzy, Iommy and Geezer (but tragically no Bill Ward) may have never come to pass, and the upcoming ‘13’ might still be just a figment of Sabbath fans’ wild imaginations.