Deluxe 5-CD slipcase boxed set collects Black Sabbath's complete Dio-fronted catalog: Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil (2 CDs), and Dehumanizer. Each title was recently remastered for the first time ever and features extensive liner notes including new band interviews. Heaven And Hell (1980) is regarded as one of Sabbath's all-time best with its anthem tracks 'Neon Knights', 'Die Young' and the epic title track. Mob Rule's ('81) was the first Sabbath LP to feature Appice on drums (replacing Bill Ward), delivering high octane classics like 'Falling Off The Edge Of The World', 'Turn Up The Night' and 'The Sign Of The Southern Cross'. Live Evil, the group's 1982 double-live set, is an in-concert masterpiece and a testament to the raw power of Sabbath's Dio, Iommi, Butler, and Appice lineup on fourteen epic tracks. Dehumanizer ('92).

Customer Rating:
Summary: Black Sabbath Mk II Remastered...yeah!
Comment: This set includes Heaven and Hell, The Mob Rules, Live Evil (A two disc set) and 1992's Dehumanizer.

"We had to prove a lot on Heaven and Hell; we were written off by everyone." - Geezer Butler

With Ozzy dismissed former Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio was brought in for vocal duties to produce Sabbath's most successful album in years, HEAVEN AND HELL. It marked Sabbath's first million seller since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
"Neon Knights", the last track written for the album, kicks things off. Musically, Neon Knights is an aggressive challenge to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal including bands such as Judas Priest. It's an up tempo rocker filled with Ronnie's signature images of medieval lore.
The blues based "Children of the Sea" follows. Lyrically Children... is a cautionary tale warning against pollution featuring some kind of evil creature which rises from the sea.
Next is "Lady Evil" a tale about "a magical, mystical, woman." Just one of the many evil woman songs from the metal catalogue. Perhaps it even served as inspiration for Megadeth's She-wolf?
The title track, "Heaven and Hell," is quite possibly the best song Ronnie James Dio has ever been a part of. It is definatly his most recognized Sabbath era track and for good reason. It is an epic seven minute masterpiece filled with wicked guitar riffs and opposing lyrical images.
The albums weakest track "Wishing Well" is next, followed by the classic "Die Young."
"Die Young" is nearly as awe inspiring as "Heaven and Hell" Geoff Nicholls keyboard is a nice mix with Iommi's guitar skills. It starts nice and melodic followed by Ronnie's vocal "Oomph!" Then it rocks out to the end.
"Walk Away" is another forgettable track, but is followed by the classic "Lonely Is The World" (a song containing one of the most amazing guitar solos of the entire Sabbath songbook).

1980s "Mob Rules" is next album in the set. Vinny Appice is the master of the sticks on this album (Bill Ward left toward the end of the Heaven and Hell tour).
Mob Rules is often critized for being too much like it's predecessor, but it is still a great album.
"Turn Up The Night," kicks things off, and in many ways is reminicent of "Neon Knights." "Voodoo" is next. I really like this mid-tempo rocker because it showcases Ronnies theatrical lyrical abilities. Fan favorite "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" is the albums opus. It begins with acoustics and melodic vocals before Tony Iommi's bone crushing guitar riffing sets in.
Next up is "E5150" an instrumental intro to the title track. "The Mob Rules" exists in two versions, sadly only the studio version appears in this set. The other version was used in the animated film Heavy Metal (Collector's Edition).
The next track is the puzzling "Country Girl." It's ultimatly another evil woman track with a heavy metal melody, but it is only slightly better than the album's weakest track "Slipping Away." "Slipping Away" just feels too funkadelic for Sabbath. It's not a bad song; it just sounds more like Rainbow than Sabbath.
"Falling Off The Edge Of The World" is the album's second best cut featuring another melodic intro and lyrical poetry. Then the drum kicks in followed by some wicked riffing; then, the song turns up tempo and rocks to the finish
The album closes with "Over and Over," a soft, relaxed track with filled with melancholy and lyrical sorrow.

LIVE EVIL makes up disc 4 and 5 of this set. However, the two disks only contain a total of 15 tracks. It would have been nice to add more selections for the remastered version. In addition, only seven of the fifteen cuts are Dio era Sabbath tracks (E5105/Mob Rules, Children Of The Sea, Voodoo, The Mob Rules, and a Heaven and Hell/The Sign Of The Southern Cross Medley.) I am not a fan of medley's and I feel that Heaven and Hell and The Sign Of The Southern Cross are worthy of their own solo treatment; alas, they are mashed together.
The other songs on the set are all Ozzy era songs, (N.I.B., Black Sabbath, War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Children Of The Grave, and Fluff.) I'm not going to comment on the vocal performance of Ronnie on these tracks, but there they are. You can judge them for yourself. Thus ended the golden era of Black Sabbath Mk2.

Ten years pass Sabbath Mk2 is reborn for 1992's Dehumanizer. This album marks a departure from the traditional Dio/Sabbath material. There is much less magic and more technology based lyrics. The album as a whole sounds angry; plus it's slower tempo than earlier work. Even though the tracks are more mid or low tempo they are still heavy as Hades. Dio sounds p.o.d on this album and the music compliments it.
"Computer God" opens the album with lyrics that could be staight out of the Terminator and the The Matrix. "After All (The Dead)" is the second track, and it is a very creepy slow song about the afterlife, and how the dead are mad at the living.
Next is what many consider to be the albums best selection, "TV Crimes." It's one of the albums two rocker songs and it focuses on religious wolves in sheeps clothing. It has a hellatious guitar riff.
Following "TV Crimes" is "Letters from Earth," another slow ballad type song with sinister vocals.
"Master Of Insanity" picks up the tempo, and then there is "Time Machine." This song, like "The Mob Rules" has two versions. There is an album version and the soundtrack version to Waynes World, both are included. I prefer the Waynes World version myself, but you can judge for yourself. "Sins Of The Father" starts out with a warm and fuzzy atmosphere, and then the track erupts into the familiar doom associated with Sabbath. "Too Late" has an acoustic intro and then transforms into doom riffing. The song concerns a man who made a deal with the devil and the devil has come to collect.
"I" is a very self-centered, ego driven song, with a catchy hook. It's my favorite song on the album.
"Buried Alive" closes out the album (original album version without the Waynes World version of Time Machine, which is included in this set). "Buried Alive" is another doom crawling track. It slowly and methodically marches along to Vinny Appice's angry drumming.
In many ways Dehumanizer is a lost classic. It was released during the rise of grunge and got lost amidst the Seattle sound of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. While it isn't nearly as strong as Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, it is still a wonderful album. I consider it the best album Dio has been a part of since Vivian Campbell left.

The PROs - The remastered sound is great. The quality is vastly improved over the original recordings. You get a nice box to store your set in. You get the hard to find lost classic Dehumanizer.

The CONS - No booklet, no DVD, and the three new songs recorded for The Dio Years(The Devil Cried, Shodow Of The Wind, Ear In The Wall) are not included. The Heavy Metal soundtrack version of "The Mob Rules" is not included, and it would have been nice to have extra tracks included on the Live Evil set.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Black Sabbath - phase two.
Comment: I'm glad Warner/Rhino is continuing what they did in 2004 with the Black Box. Here's hoping they don't stop here and go all the way with the Gillan/Hughes/Martin era stuff next. If not, at least scrap up the old masters and get those elusive albums back into print!

I admit that I'm more an Ozzy fan than a Dio fan. Dio had the voice, but the band were simply at their songwriting peak with Ozzy (who went on to prove a thing or two of his own when he went solo). But that doesn't mean this material comes up short. After two disappointing albums, Ozzy left Sabbath and they recruited Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio to help them soldier on. The resulting debut of this new line-up, Heaven & Hell, turned out to be their best album since Sabotage. It rocks in a more straight-forward almost bone-headed way than the earlier material, but there's nothing wrong with that. The band got their fire back. The title track is the epic standout, but there isn't a bad song in the bunch. A five star album that shut a lot of naysayers up at the time. It remains this line-up's best.

The follow-up, Mob Rules, is only a notch or two below. Sabbath repeated the Heaven & Hell formula and wound up delivering another great record. Not much else to say, really. If you like one, the odds are you'll like the other.

Live Evil is where the fans get divided. Personally, I think it's fun to hear someone else try to tackle old warhorses we've heard a million times the same way. And when you've got a voice as good as Dio's, the odds are in your favor. He delivers here. Obviously doesn't sound like the Ozzy versions we all know and love, but, again, I appreciate the fresh take. It goes without saying the band does the newer material great justice. Sabbath's first OFFICIAL live album and the last they'd do with Dio until 1992.

Which brings us to that 1992 album, Dehumanizer. It's not awful, but it's not great. Twenty two years into their recording career, I gotta appreciate the effort they put into it, but it doesn't match the early stuff. It happens with most bands who've stuck around for as long as Sabbath has. I throw it on from time to time so that must count for something, I guess. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a solid three out of five.

So, how does this box set sound? Phenominal. A big boost in the vein of what they did with the original eight albums four years ago that, thankfully, avoids the over-compression nonsense that record companies seem to love so much these days. The old masters sound tinny by comparison. Dynamics count for a lot with a band like Black Sabbath and the guys who remastered these albums kept them intact. Well done, guys.

What I'd love next (aside from a continuation of these Sabbath remasters) is for Dio's early solo catalogue to get the remaster treatment. His band is the only "classic" metal one I can think of that's still riding on the old 80s masters. Listen to the Holy Diver CD and you just KNOW it could sound better. Anyway...

Highly recommended. If you like this particular version of Black Sabbath, this set is essential.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Dio Years
Comment: This is all of the Dio Sabbath albums in one set. You either like it or you don't. The remixing isn't the issue for me - just having all of ths albums in one nice neat little set is what I like.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Rules of Dio
Comment: The first thing I noticed with this box set was that the albums were packed in jewel cases rather than digipaks the way that the Black Box was. This causes an ugly look and feel presentation wise if you take all the remasters out of their respective boxes and line them up. However, all the CD's have the same all black tops on them that the Black Box did so there was some attempt at continuity here.

The first thing I noticed with the albums when I listened to them was that Heaven and Hell was the most obvious of the remasters as Bill Ward's drums and Geezer Butler's bass are so up front that it hurts (in a good way). Mob Rules has finally gotten past the muddy sound that has been a major hindrance to this album in the past. The sound is clear and crisp and much better than the 1996 Castle Remasters.

Dehumanizer is the least obvious of the remasters unless you go back and listen to the original Reprise release. Then, and only then, does it become obvious that the album was remastered at all.

Then there's Live Evil.

The sound overall on Live Evil is better than the original Warner release but it's Live Evil (which is nothing special to begin with). If you have the limited edition Hammersmith Odeon CD from last year than you really don't need Live Evil (unless you have a raging hard on for the two minute version of Sign of the Southern Cross on Live Evil).

Overall it's a good buy and the first two CD's are mixed much better than the 1996 Castle Remasters.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: THe Heaven and Hell remaster is worth it
Comment: The Heaven And Hell CD remaster is very good. Bill Ward's drums were buried in the original, but here they are sounding great. Geezer's bass lines, although present on the original, are sounding much better on this release. It was nice to have the other releases on something other than record or tape, but I really couldn't say that they were as much of an improvement as Heaven and Hell.

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