The first solo album from Tony Iommi in two decades will, inevitably, draw comparisons with Black Sabbath. He spent decades weaving his guitar magic through that band and it’d be impossible not to hear that same skill at play on From the Dark, his eight-song latest and possibly last. He’s not the most prolific of solo artists, the guitar greats never are. Between Iommi, David Gilmour, and Mark Knopfler, there’s a real lack of great solo works. Coast off the legacy of a bigger band, that’s only fair. They’re instrumentalists, not lyricists, but Iommi knows that and uses it to his advantage over a tight and compact album. What you expect from Iommi is what you get. A heavily gothic rock-tinged experience where the instrumental experience does much of the heavy lifting. But that’s all Iommi needs. There’s satisfaction in the long stretches of instrumental work, and while he has the vocal strength to carry these songs, it’s better without them.
Perhaps that’s the hangover, though. Hearing Iommi shout and screech with all the usual takeaways of doom metal backing him is hardly refreshing. It’s new, because Iommi doesn’t release much music as a solo artist, but he’s tackling the same tone, with the same tools, as bands he has previously been in. A blackening sky here, a violent notion there, hardly daring when you’ve heard it all before. What separates the expected from the interesting is what Iommi does instrumentally. It’s somewhat damnable that it sounds just like his Black Sabbath work, wailing guitars and heavy intonations with just a bit of breathing room for a decent solo. That’s not a slight, though. For fans of Black Sabbath this’ll hit a sweet spot that the band’s later works never quite managed. You can hear all you’d need to hear from opening song Over the Violent Sun. Iommi has the vocal chops, the instrumental legacy, but it doesn’t come together as it should for that first track. He never quite finds a settled place for his sound across these eight songs, which riff on wildly overused rock clichés.
That all changes, just a little, on Black Times. It’s plodding heavy rock, but it works. Iommi has a desire to riff through every song here and uses it as a bridge between verses. It works on occasion, but it does tire quite quickly, like how Brian May would strangle the neck of his guitar and out came a solo apparently worth hearing. Iommi does the same across From the Dark. For all those moments that sound like reheated Black Sabbath trimmings, Iommi strikes on a special feeling with Beyond the Dead, a staggering rock epic that comes out of nowhere. He has reigned in that guitar just a touch and it makes a world of difference. It feels as though his work has impact again, that deserved break for a solo built towards steadily and the payoff is exceptional.
From the Dark is an album that picks up tremendously in its latter half. Stormwatcher is a roaring bit of great rock fun, though Death Wake is a touch dull. Still, it’s there that Iommi hits his rhythm and figures out what makes From the Dark work. He has moments where he strikes on what works well for him, but that never offers up anything refreshed or exciting. It’s what you’d expect of him. It’s a bit of a shame too, his vocal work is exceptional, and he has a touch of the earthy, gruff tone that works so well for heavier rock songs. But what Iommi sings of is flat and redundant. He relies all too much on his guitar when he hardly has a thrilling instrumental in him. A few fleeting moments can be found in From the Dark, an album made for those who are desperate to hear more Black Sabbath-adjacent music from a legend of the genre. Ending your album with a song titled Legacy feels like a little nod to this being, perhaps, the last Iommi album. Just a shame he didn’t feature anything on that song, let alone the album, to remind us of his legacy.
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