HEAVEN AND HELL BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL SABBATH

Ronnie James Dio says that Heaven And Hell by any other name is still essentially Black Sabbath.

Heaven And Hell, the new band featuring Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and former Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward is essentially Black Sabbath according to vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Dio took over for the departed Ozzy Osbourne in the late ’70s and the band came out with some classic material including Mob Rules.

We caught up with Dio at the Hollywood Rockwalk where he was enshrined on Wednesday, and he said that the current project can be called anything anyone wants, but it’s still Black Sabbath.

“They’re gonna call us Sabbath anyway. It doesn’t really matter. We can call it Heaven And Hell or the Boys On The Block. It doesn’t matter. That’s what we were, that’s what we always will be. I think they’re trying to make a definitive line between them being inducted into the Hall Of Fame. It kind of ended that era again. They’ve been doing OzzFest for the last four or five years. So now it’s something a bit more fresh. It’s still the same band we were when we were Sabbath with Ronnie Dio. We’re back again. The name doesn’t matter really. Everyone’s still gonna think it’s just what we were, Sabbath with Ronnie.”

Bill Ward pulled out of the project a few months ago, and was replaced by former Sabbath drummer Vinnie Appice. Dio was asked if it was good to work with his old Sabbath mates.

“Absolutely. Absolutely, it’s gonna be a joy. They’re such monsters, and they’re such bashers. From Vinnie to Tony to Geezer and to me, we only think about one thing, ‘Check this out!,’ but then we do the nice thing like “Children Of The Sea” and “Sign Of The Southern Cross.” It’s gonna be a great show with songs that people deserve to hear again and we deserve to play again.”

A tour for Heaven And Hell is in the works, and in addition to Sabbath songs from the Dio era, there will be new tracks from the band performed live as well.