Iommi
Fused

THE REVIEW

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.