• AllMyVinyl #165
• Band: Tony Iommi
• Album Title: From the Dark
• Release Date: 23 Oct 2026
• Date purchased: N/A, see below
• Location purchased: BMG
• Color of vinyl: various
• Number of discs: 2
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube (not available yet) ]

I have been a fan of Tony Iommi’s for a very long time.  Started back in 1981 when I bought Mob Rules (as my first), and was blasted in the face by that opening riff of “Turn Up the Night“.  From that point forward, Sabbath was my favorite metal band, and Iommi my favorite guitarist.   I followed him through all the twists and turns of Black Sabbath’s lineups in the 90’s.  It’s when I started my Black Sabbath fan site (in 1995) – which is still going.   Outside of Black Sabbath, Tony’s done a few things, but not a ton of them.

There was his first attempt at a solo album in 1985, which was released as a Black Sabbath album under the uncomfortable moniker “Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi” – that’s Seventh Star in 1986.  He finally did have a proper solo album in 2000 with “Iommi” (which is sadly still out of print).  Followed it up in 2004 with an album called “The 1996 DEP Sessions”.  The name comes from the fact that the songs were written and recorded in 1996, but not released until later (although it was widely bootlegged under the title “8th Star”).  Then a third solo album in 2005 called “Fused”.  All of those have great Iommi riffs, and in my opinion DEP Sessions showed that Tony could do more than just bone crunching metal riffs.  But it ended there.  Oh sure, we had the 13 album by Black Sabbath in 2013, and a handful of singles here and there, but no proper new Tony Iommi solo album until now.

Back on 29th of July, it was announced that Tony had produced a new solo album titled “From the Dark”.  The first single was released then called “World Alone”.  I’ve been following Tony for a long time, so new studio output is most welcome.  As I age, I become more grateful for the musical heroes I had all along still out there putting out new material, and not just being a greatest hits machine touring the same thing over and over again.

In the leadup to the album’s formal announcement, it was known that he was using a single singer (unlike the “Iommi” album which used several of them).  But the singer wasn’t announced publicly.  We thought we got a leak on that from Geezer Butler, but that turned out just be flat out wrong, or a very good red herring fed through to the public through an old mate.  haha.   It was formally announced on the 29th who is playing on this album.

• Tony Iommi – Guitars
• Jorn Lande – Vocals
• Becky Baldwin – Bass
• Kark Brazil – Drums
• Mike Exeter – Keyboards

Lande is someone I’ve wanted Tony to work with for a long time.  I always felt his vocal style would work well with Tony.  He actually DID work with Tony once before, but not in the studio.   That was that one lone Heaven & Hell gig in 2010 after Ronnie James Dio had died – the tribute show were Jorn shared the stage with Glenn Hughes.  That was recorded, but has never been released for one reason or another.  So I was quite overjoyed to hear Jorn on a studio album with Tony.   Absolutely wish it had happened sooner.  Mike Exeter has been with Tony for awhile, doing production work on various remixes and remasters, several studio albums – a good long time collaborator.  He also gets some writing credits on this album too which I really liked.   Karl Brazil handles drums.  I can’t say I know him terribly well, so I don’t have a ton to add there.  Becky Brazil handles bass, and not Geezer Butler, who I think everyone expected to play the four string.   I know her from Youtube, and I’m super glad to see her on this high level of a project.   That’s the band.  Some I know, some I don’t, but the combination is excellent.   Getting slightly ahead of myself in these reviews, nothing this combo laid down on the record is bad, boring or uninteresting.  It’s a killer album.   Speaking of Becky & Geezer, she has some funny remarks about Geezer in her thank you’s.  When you buy the album (you will buy it, right and not just stream it – which is legal theft), make sure and read that.  Funny stuff.

Going back to some personal stuff here, and in the interest of full disclosure..  As I’ve said earlier, I’ve been doing the fan Sabbath site for three decades now.  Also in later years, I’ve worked with Tony on various online things here and there, so I’m known to him as well.  hell, back when Black Sabbath was touring the “The End” tour, I got invited to Tony’s hotel to hang out for an hour on an off day on the tour.  Due to all of that I had access to this album for almost two months now.  Normally when I write about a new album like this, I have to temper my remarks with the expectation that I’ve not listened to it a lot.  This one I have.  A LOT.   I know the album quite well on release day, and to that I’m grateful to Tony for the access.  I recognize it’s a special thing I have there, so thank you Tony.  Both for the tunes, and allowing me access before release.

Speaking of access before release – BMG hooked me up with all the vinyl variants and both CD variants – which is why above it says N/A for date purchased.  I got my copies a few weeks ago from the label – I didn’t technically buy them.  Although if I didn’t have the access, I would anyway.  A few basic facts on the vinyl pressings.  All of them are two discs.  They are all also 45 RPM – which is clearly noted.  Also, all of them (white/blue/red) have the color of the vinyl appearing on the front – but when you take the sleeve with the platter out, that’s what makes the color on the front.  A nice design touch.  The only exception to this is the black vinyl one which has a red color on the front, not black.  The others all match what their vinyl color looks like.   There’s some more photos of that at the bottom of the article.

I think that’s enough intro on this album.   Let’s get to some music.

Over the Violent Sun – A very good opening riff.   It starts with just Tony, and then when the rest of the band kicks in the same riff continues on only harder and heavier.  Harder and heavier is also always a good thing when Tony’s playing.   I can tell I’m already into it, when I got to the guitar solo in the song and I haven’t thought of a single word to write.  It’s a track that sucks me in, and get lost in the feeling of it.  When Tony’s solo starts, I’m like oh yeah.  Say something.  More heavy as shit riffs from Tony during the solo.  That section has a nice melodic feel when it slows down a bit before the vocals start again.  Nice change of pace.  I also like what Jorn does with his vocal delivery in the last section of lyrics he has, which seems to match the slower part of the solo.  If you’re a fan of Tony’s work, you’ll love this.  It’s a deceptive punch in the face for the first song.

Black Times – This song starts off with a nice riff, then immediately slows down to a doomy slower sound – something that sounds right out of 70’s Black Sabbath.  Great mood.  Jorn’s vocals have a slightly pained delivery that reminds me of some of the early Ozzy era vocal stylings.   This song definitely has different styles and moods to it.  Some heavy stuff, some not so heavy stuff, and a slower Iommi guitar bit in the middle that sounds like it could have been on the Heaven & Hell album to my ears.   You might disagree with that, but I’m hearing all different parts of Tony’s career on this album in terms of the guitar work.  Then it gets heavy again for the back half.  I adore all the different styles in here.  The song is 5:56, so it has some time to explore these different sounds.

World Alone – Well, here we go.  World Alone.  It’s the chef’s kiss. It was the first single from the album and the first taste anyone got from the album.  It also had a full conceptual music video.  Not just the band standing in a blank room playing the song.  But a full video with an actor, sets, special effects, and a plot.  As I mentioned earlier in the piece, I had access to this album for awhile, and that included the music video.  I ADORED the music video, and I probably watched about 30 or 40 times in two days.  As such this song REALLY clicked for me.  If you’ve spent ANY time reading my reviews, you’ll know my sweet spot is a 3-4 min long faster paced track.  I like the sludge tracks that Sabbath does too, but I prefer the faster stuff (Neon Knights, Turn Up the Night, Trashed, Never Say Die, stuff like that).  That’s what World Alone is.  It’s fast, it’s in your face, and was the absolute perfect pick off this album for everyone’s first taste.   Grabs you by the balls from the start, and for me doesn’t let go.  I love the lyrics, and Tony’s guitar work is stellar here.   The rest of the band is on fire as well.  I know for most people the first single isn’t the best song in the album, they like something else – a deeper cut or something, but for me – World Alone is the best song in the album.  It’s everything I like about a song with Iommi playing guitar.   It’s EASILY my most listened to track on the album, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Two parts of the song musically I wanted to single out.  First is a drum fill with about 11 seconds left in the song after Jorn is done singing.  The other is at 12 seconds into the song when Tony does what I can only think to call a “guitar slide”. A buddy of mine informs me it’s “Tony stomping on a wah pedal”, but it feels like a “slide” sound to me.  Oh well.  Either way, sounds awesome.  Love those two parts a lot.

I’m also fond of the last part of song’s lyrics.  Not so much for the meaning, but the juxticpasion of the words delivered.

“In the waters of your well, life is on the rise
Children to the morning where no one feels
Running wired from the wait, revolution giving birth
They never needed anyone to change the world alone”.

As I said before..  Chef’s kiss.

Beyond the Dead – The opening guitar sound feels familiar, but I can’t place what I’m thinking of here.  My favorite part of this is the guitar solo.  It’s a slower meandering solo.   But what’s interesting about it is what the rest of the band is playing behind that is heavy shit, so Tony’s “not as heavy” solo works as a good difference.  This is one I’m finding harder to put words down for, but I enjoyed it – especially the variations in Tony’s playing.

Stormwatcher – This is one I have conflicted feelings about.  When it first came out, I remember thinking it wasn’t that big a deal of a song.  I think that’s because my first taste was the music video.  I didn’t care much for the animation style.  The song was never bad or anything, but it didn’t grab me.  That’s until my fun package arrived from BMG and I listened to just the song.  It clicked.  It’s probably my second favorite song on the album, now because of that.  Once I just LISTENED to the song, I loved it.  I think this would carry over well to live shows if this band ever did any (which I do not think they will).  Very interesting how the music video changed my opinion of the song.

I also love the chugging that runs through the song – something else I find enjoyment out of it.   And it’s odd, but I ADORE the last note of the song.  The hard cut ending echoing just for a second or two is something I really dug.

Also as a side note.  Two days after the video dropped, someone emailed me an unsolicited AI recreation of the song where they took Jorn out and put an AI Ronnie Dio on.  Don’t do that shit people.  Just no.

Death Wake – Parts of this song remind me of the track “Eternal Idol” and some remind me of some good Vol 4 era sludge.  The early part has a feel that I think if I still got high I would be SUPER into.  The sludge drops at 1:49 – fuck does that sound ripped from Volume 4 era heaviness.  Once that hits, I just ride that wave.  Around 3 minutes or so there’s a great sequence where Iommi’s guitar and Jorn’s vocals are married together quite well.  That leads into the guitar solo, which brings in our old mate Brian May for his second appearance on a Tony Iommi recorded album.   His contribution on this album to me is far more noticeable then the last time he did that (When Death Calls from the Headless Cross album).  But the absolute sludge here really works for me – and flies in the face of my own remarks earlier about faster songs.  this is *NOT* that, and stellar as hell.

FUCK THIS IS A HEAVY AS SHIT SONG.   

Return of the Arbalist – This is set up similar to World Alone, a 4 min song with a generally faster paced sound.  If there was a third single this probably would have been it (there isn’t one).   In fact, as I sat here I listened to the entire song, and couldn’t think of a single word to write.  Another one that just grabbed me and sucked me in.  Didn’t think to break it down, I was just enjoying it too much.  Jorn’s vocals are quite good for me here.  Tony’s got a nice guitar fill that weaves into parts of the verses I liked – not in the solo, but elsewhere.  I always like a good accent like that.   This song also has a hard finish – no fadeout.  I prefer that to fadeouts, actually.  Good song.

Legacy – The last song is the longest song on the album at 7:07.  This probably grabs me the least of any of the eight songs of the album.  By no stretch is it bad – nothing is bad that Tony is on, but I can’t put my finger on it.  It’s got some nice strong vocals, good guitar work, and as I said before, nothing is bad.  But I kept waiting for the real hook to hit, and it never did for me.  I get the feeling I’m going to be in the minority on this song, though.   Granted I said much the same thing about the Black Sabbath song “I” that people mocked me for, so shrug.  I have to say I liked Scent of Dark more than Legacy.

This is where the base album ends.  It has just eight songs.  But the deluxe edition of the CD has two more.   They are the two perfume songs that were released online within the last five years.  I’m not doing separate posts on them, but I did want to mention them.  They’re titled “Scent of Dark” & “Deified“.  They’re both instrumentals, and are the same recordings as before, which means that Lande/Baldwin/Brazil do not play on them.

Speaking of extra tracks – I did inquire.  There’s no extra tracks lying around waiting for some other release or a B-side.  the eight songs on the album are it.

Thus brings us to the end of “From the Dark”.  The first solo album by Tony in ages, and I HOPE HOPE HOPE not the last one ever.   I want these five to go immediately back into the studio.  This worked super well for this fan.  Bring on more mates!

I don’t have a ton to add for the wrap-up.  It’s a killer album, with a lot of heavy as shit riffs, a ton of great guitar work.  Please please go buy the album.  Don’t just stream it.  Streaming is legal theft IMO.  Buy the album.  It’s worth your coin.