Tony Iommi has released a behind-the-scenes reel from the making of the "World Alone" music video, the first single from "From The Dark" — his first solo album in 21 years, due October 23 through BMG.
The video itself is set in a retrofuture dystopia built to look like a video game, and it follows a character billed as The Believer through a twisted run of levels in search of salvation. The footage shows how much of that was physically built rather than rendered, which is a choice worth noting from a guitarist whose visual language has always leaned on atmosphere over spectacle.
"World Alone" premiered on July 29 at a global streaming event staged in Birmingham, England, a short walk from the Black Sabbath Bridge. The track has been described as a thunderous piece that speeds along on a barrage of flying riffs and solos, driven hard from below and topped with the operatic delivery of Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande.
Lande is central to the record rather than a guest on it: he sings across the album and shares songwriting credit with Iommi. The rest of the band is Becky Baldwin on bass — the MERCYFUL FATE bassist who admitted earlier this year that she assumed the invitation was a mistake — and Karl Brazil on drums. Iommi co-produced with Mike Exeter, who has worked alongside him for years.
Iommi's own framing of the album is characteristically unbothered. "It's an album we've really enjoyed making," he said. "We're not trying to prove anything — it's a great album, it rocks!"
Coming from the man who effectively invented the vocabulary the last five decades of this music has been arguing with, that is either modesty or a statement of fact, depending on where you sit. It is also his first solo record since 2005's "Fused", and his first substantial new music since BLACK SABBATH's farewell.
A limited seven-inch of "World Alone" backed with an instrumental version arrives September 4, ahead of the album. "From The Dark" itself comes in an unusually deep spread of formats: a 45rpm double LP in four colours, a gatefold vinyl with die-cut packaging, and a deluxe 32-page CD media book carrying two exclusive bonus tracks.
Source: blabbermouth.net