Tony Iommi: “I Loved Working with Ronnie [James Dio],” Second Heaven & Hell Album Was Considered

Man, seriously fuck cancer. Had stomach cancer not claimed the life of mighty vocalist and short king Ronnie James Dio, the world would have been given a sophomore Heaven & Hell record, according to the legendary Tony Iommi.

During a recent interview with Metal Talk, transcribed by Blabbermouth, the iconic Black Sabbath guitarist and cancer survivor said he and Dio began discussing plans for a second album and another tour over dinner in Japan.

“It was real sad because we were really on a roll when we’d done The Devil You Know and we were touring and we were really enjoying it. And I remember talking to Ronnie when we were in Japan. We went for dinner one night. We said, ‘Look, we’re not gonna say we’re gonna go for five years or whatever. We’ll just try it and see where it goes’.

“So we’d done the tour; we loved it and we enjoyed it. And when we were in this restaurant, I said to Ronnie, ‘Do you fancy doing anything more?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ve gotta do another album. Let’s do another album, another tour.’ And that was the plan.

“That’s what we were gonna do. And, of course, Ronnie didn’t make it. But it was going so well and we had a great time being together. We loved working together. I loved working with Ronnie.”

Tragically, we only got four amazing years with Heaven & Hell on this Earth, as Ronnie James Dio passed away in 2010. Thankfully, that’s not the only music we have with Dio, Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice – they did play in Black Sabbath together, after all.

Still, The Devil You Know was a phenomenal record and more time with Dio would have been awesome in the literal sense of the word, if only so more people could have witnessed his unsurpassed talent in person.