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Rating: Known to most as the guitarist and the historical leader of the Black Sabbath, one of the most influential bands in the history of rock and beyond, the legendary Tony Iommi released in 2005 his third solo work titled "Fused," after the self-titled "Iommi" from 2000 and "1996 Dep Session" from 2004 (the latter recorded before "Iommi" but, following the Sabbath reunion with Ozzy, released only in 2004). Actually, if "Seventh Star" from 1986 is considered a solo album of Iommi, "Fused" should be considered the fourth album.
It's a particularly successful album in which the great Tony (no adjective would ever do him justice) also tries different styles from those he offered with the Sabbath: we find more hard rock tracks, others decidedly heavy metal, then again, grunge, stoner, Nu, etc.
The formation recording this album sees Iommi alongside Gleen Hughes on vocals (at Tony's court since 1986 with "Seventh Star"), Bob Marlette on bass and also co-producer with Iommi, Kenny Aronoff on drums.
The album has 10 tracks plus three bonus ones on other releases ("let It Down easy" present in the Japanese version).
The album opens with "Dopamine", one of the most stylistically modern tracks on this album; it is a hard blues in a (slightly) NU Metal version with strong Zeppelin echoes reminiscent of that jewel that is "Physical Graffiti". It's incredible how Hughes' voice easily adapts to any musical genre.
More Sabbath-like is the following "Wasted Again", a decidedly hefty heavy rock with a flamboyant Hughes, great at shifting from one tone to another.
It returns to more modern sounds with the following "Saviour Of The Real", where Iommi's guitar occasionally touches sounds dear to Corrosion Of Conformity.
Sounds closer to the Seattle sound (Soundgarden first of all) can instead be perceived in the next "Resolution Song": a fairly decent track overall but a bit too pachydermic, though.
NU metal reigns supreme again in the following "Grace", also characterized by a earthquaking riff by Iommi. Toward the end of the track, there is one of the typical rhythmic progressions, so dear to the Black Sabbath! The track is a masterpiece, perhaps the best together with the opener and "I Go Insane".
An arpeggio introduces the next paced "Deep Inside A Shell", a track relatively good but not up to others. "What You're Living For" is a track alternating typically NWOBHM rhythm parts with others decidedly paced; beautiful the central break where Iommi delivers his sharp solo!
"Face Your Fear" returns to decidedly leaden and heavy shores dear to NU and certain stoner rock; Hughes is superb (at times unrecognizable!). Iommi is as always superb! It's hard to find a musician who, at sixty and more, delivers such fierce and hallucinatory riffs.
Extremely dark is also the next "The Spell" but it's the last track that alone is worth the purchase of the album. "I Go Insane" is the masterpiece of the album, a literally splendid doom ballad, which combines in itself the best Sabbath with Pink Floyd-like atmospheres ("Comfortably Numb"), acoustic parts, and much more.
To conclude, I would point out "Let It Down Easy", a granite hard style Montrose, present in the Japanese version of the album.
I think there's no need to add anything else: we are facing the best hard & heavy album of 2005; if Iommi hadn't wasted his time with the useless Sabbath reunion with Ozzy, he could surely have given us many more albums of this caliber.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Dopamine (04:11)
I don't mind and I don't regret
And I wanted you to know
You will find, and I hope you get
Everything you need to go
It won't fade away
It gets me through the day
And I am so alive
I've told you, I've told you
It's the dopamine
That gets me high
The dopamine connects me
It's the dopamine
I can rely
The dopamine reflects me
Escalate to a better day
You can hear my soul refrain
Educate, it's the only way
Feel the blood rush to my brain
It won't fade away
It gets me through the day
And I am so alive
I've told you, I've told you
It's the dopamine
That gets me high
The dopamine connects me
It's the dopamine
I can rely
The dopamine reflects me
And if you ask me why I feel this way
I know just where I'm going
And it is just because
I have no say
And there's no way of knowing
It's the dopamine
That gets me high
The dopamine connects me
It's the dopamine
I can rely
The dopamine reflects me
04 Resolution Song (04:57)
I see there is no vision
And I feel powerless
This is my resolution
I'm waiting to regress
No I won't let this demon
Kill me, I hold my stare
So tell me where is Eden
This is my only prayer
I can feel it pull me down
Fallin' from the darkest sky
Mother Mary make a sound
Tell me that it's just a lie
I know that what I've been sayin'
It's everything that I need I'm prayin'
I'm on the ledge so wake me
It's everything that I want so take me
I cast aside my grievance
For just another day
There have been disbelievers
It's always been that way
The blood is on the parchment
From those who lost their pride
The voices of the silent
Who have been crucified
I can feel it pull me down
Fallin' from the darkest sky
Mother Mary make a sound
Tell me that it's just a lie
I know that what I've been sayin'
It's everything that I need I'm prayin'
I'm on the ledge so wake me
It's everything that I want so take me
I'm feeling powerless
I'm waiting to regress
You had me crucified
This is a resolution
I know that what I've been sayin'
It's everything that I need I'm prayin'
I'm on the ledge so wake me
It's everything that I want so take me
08 Face Your Fear (04:46)
And you're livin' with a secret
That will cut you to the bone
And you have lived in shackles
That you've worn too long
You visualize a tragedy
That you buried long ago
And you'll never know
It seems somehow, you were wrong
It's all within you
You can hear the silence
When you breakthrough
Don't regret
And you must turn and face your fear
Go beneath the skin to the child within
Turn and face your fear
You will never see what is meant to be
And you're floatin' in the darkness
And you want my sympathy
And you only hear the sound
Of a fading distant voice
You medicate yourself with somethin'
So you can explore
You've lost your mind
And soon you're gonna lose your soul
It's all within you
You can hear the silence
When you breakthrough
Don't regret
And you must turn and face your fear
Go beneath the skin to the child within
Turn and face your fear
You will never see what is meant to be
Turn and face your fear
Go beneath the skin to the child within
Turn and face your fear
You will never see what is meant to be
Turn and face your fear
Go beneath the skin to the child within you
Turn and face your fear
You will never see what is meant to be
10 I Go Insane (09:13)
I just wanna live forever
But you just made other plans
There's a changing of the weather
And my life is in your hands
I saw you in the garden
And you turned and walked away
I don't think I can take it
Can you hear me when I say?
It don't feel the same as before
I won't take the blame anymore
When you leave I go insane
I can't breathe, I go insane
And you know inside my head I go insane
I want you to forgive
Cos I don't really want to live
To live
Now I'm standing on the platform
But it must have been a dream
And I fall into a chasm
Then you pulled me from a stream
I am lifted by your spirit
And it haunts me to this day
I don't think I can take it
Can you hear me when I say?
It don't feel the same as before
I won't take the blame anymore
When you leave I go insane
I can't breathe, I go insane
And you know inside my head I go insane
I want you to forgive
Cos I don't really want to live
Every time you leave, every time I go
I don't wanna breathe, you don't wanna know
Every time I leave, every time you go
I don't wanna breathe, you don't wanna know
When you leave I go insane
I can't breathe, I go insane
And you know inside my head I go insane
I want you to forgive
Cos I don't want to live
You've gone against the grain and I will surely go insane
I want you to forgive
Cos I don't wanna live
You've gone again the grain and I just go insane
Insane
Insane
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Other reviews
By CycoCiccio
"There is finally a fusion between musicians, suggesting the intent to go beyond their own inclinations."
"The penultimate track of the album, 'The Spell,' best represents the Birmingham guitarist’s inclinations, melodic and heavy, liquefied in the heavy blues appeal of the vocals."
