Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell With Black Sabbath 5/5
At best, I would consider myself a casual fan of Black Sabbath. There's no denying the fact that they invented not only heavy metal, but paved the way for every other band after them to pledge their allegiance to Satan. I didn't get into the band until Ronnie James Dio joined and believe me, I got a lot of grief for not enjoying the original lineup as much as everyone else did. The point here is that Iommi's biography is meant for a wide audience. Even a casual fan can pick this book up and enjoy it which is cool. The book is merely the story of the band, not exactly Iommi and that makes the book a bit more interesting than most bio's.
What's interesting is that Iommi really doesn't hold anything back when it comes to Sabbath and even comes clean when it comes to the question of the band being Satanic, and their run ins over the years with people of different faiths. With any bio, you get to see what they want you to see. There's very little mention of Ozzy for obvious reasons, but I loved the inclusion of the Ian Gillen era of the band. For me, Born Again was a great Sabbath record so it was nice to be able to peek in and see how the record was created, and the story about the midget will make you laugh out loud. Iommi is almost careful in what he presents to the fans which means there's not a lot mentioned about his personal life including his two year relationship with Lita Ford.
This is all about Sabbath so for those with a passing, or even vested interest in the band this is actually better than Ozzy's book, and paints no one in a bad light. You see in the end despite all of the band's turmoil, Iommi doesn't hold grudges at all, and gives the fans something interesting about the band, and even a little about Iommi himself. My only complaint is that he seems a bit guarded, and leaves out things that may put him in a bad light, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The guy's a legend so why tarnish that? It's a great way to look inside the band and how everything progressed. It's the history of a band that influenced just about everyone so it delivers what it's supposed to without offending anyone.
At best, I would consider myself a casual fan of Black Sabbath. There's no denying the fact that they invented not only heavy metal, but paved the way for every other band after them to pledge their allegiance to Satan. I didn't get into the band until Ronnie James Dio joined and believe me, I got a lot of grief for not enjoying the original lineup as much as everyone else did. The point here is that Iommi's biography is meant for a wide audience. Even a casual fan can pick this book up and enjoy it which is cool. The book is merely the story of the band, not exactly Iommi and that makes the book a bit more interesting than most bio's.
What's interesting is that Iommi really doesn't hold anything back when it comes to Sabbath and even comes clean when it comes to the question of the band being Satanic, and their run ins over the years with people of different faiths. With any bio, you get to see what they want you to see. There's very little mention of Ozzy for obvious reasons, but I loved the inclusion of the Ian Gillen era of the band. For me, Born Again was a great Sabbath record so it was nice to be able to peek in and see how the record was created, and the story about the midget will make you laugh out loud. Iommi is almost careful in what he presents to the fans which means there's not a lot mentioned about his personal life including his two year relationship with Lita Ford.
This is all about Sabbath so for those with a passing, or even vested interest in the band this is actually better than Ozzy's book, and paints no one in a bad light. You see in the end despite all of the band's turmoil, Iommi doesn't hold grudges at all, and gives the fans something interesting about the band, and even a little about Iommi himself. My only complaint is that he seems a bit guarded, and leaves out things that may put him in a bad light, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The guy's a legend so why tarnish that? It's a great way to look inside the band and how everything progressed. It's the history of a band that influenced just about everyone so it delivers what it's supposed to without offending anyone.
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