Black Sabbath: The Dio Years

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Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell chronology
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years

Studio album by Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell
Released	April 3, 2007
Recorded	1980-1982, 1992, 2007
Genre	Heavy Metal
Length	79:27
Label	Rhino Records
Producer(s)	Black Sabbath
Greatest Hits 1970-1978 (2006)	Black Sabbath: The Dio Years (2007)	Black Sabbath: Live at Hammersmith Odeon (2007)

Black Sabbath: The Dio Years will be a compilation CD of material taken from the recordings Ronnie James Dio made with the band . Originally it was thought that no material from Live Evil would make the album, however, a live version of "Children of the Sea" from said album will be included.[1] It will also contain three newly written and recorded songs.

It was originally thought of to be a boxset, however, this was disproven in an article posted on Blabbermouth.net[2].

In an interview conducted by Martin Popoff and posted at [3], Tony Iommi revealed that in fact three tracks have been recorded: "Shadow of the Wind" (a slow tune), "The Devil Cried" (a mid tempo rocker) and "Ear in the Wall" (a fast song). At this point, it looks like the original plan for 2 new songs has changed to accommodate all 3 tracks in the compilation. April 3 has been confirmed as the release date for the compilation through Rhino Records. "The Devil Cried" will also be released as a single on March 13, 2007. [4]

On February 8 2007 the song lineup of the upcoming compilation was released through Tony Iommi's website. The CD will contain full album length, remastered tracks culled from all 4 albums of the Dio era: Heaven and Hell, The Mob Rules, Live Evil and Dehumanizer.

On February 23, both Eddie Trunk and Sirius Satellite Radio unveiled the song "The Devil Cried" from the upcoming album. Rhino Records subsequently made the track available (for preview only) on February 26. And on the week of March 13 2007, it became available for download at all digital outlets.