BMG has announced the worldwide release of the brand-new album from legendary guitarist Tony Iommi, titled From The Dark. Heralded by the first single World Alone, which received its premiere this afternoon at a special global streaming event hosted in Iommi’s hometown of Birmingham, England, a stone’s throw from the famous Black Sabbath Bridge across the canal, which was opened as a civic tribute to the iconic band in 2019.
World Alone (posted below) is a thunderous rock song that speeds along on a barrage of flying guitar riffs and solos, backed by a driving rhythm section and topped off with the powerful rock operatics of acclaimed Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande. The video is based around a retrofuture, dystopian universe where the lead protagonist, The Believer, is pitched into a twisted video game to save his life and ultimately find salvation.
From The Dark sees Tony Iommi joined throughout by Jorn Lande, who shares writing credits on all songs, as well as bassist Becky Baldwin and drummer Karl Brazil. Co-produced by Tony and Mike Exeter, his longtime creative partner, co-writer, producer and audio engineer, the sound is crystalline, vibrant and enormous, engulfing the listener in a state-of-the-art sonic experience that is as contemporary as it is timeless.
Iommi says, “It’s an album we’ve really enjoyed making. We’re not trying to prove anything — it’s a great album, it rocks!”
From the opening notes of Over The Violent Sun, featuring a classic, driving down-tuned guitar riff from Tony Iommi and the dramatic vocal prowess of Jorn Lande, it is clear that From The Dark is an outstanding album that can hold its place amongst the impressive Iommi catalog. Black Times continues the journey, a sucker-punch strike that takes no prisoners, leading into the barn-storming first single World Alone, before fourth track Beyond The Dead changes the pace, with a stately and sinister riff interwoven with epic orchestration.
The existential questioning of Lande‘s lyrics, full of dystopian imagery and ruminations on the fleeting nature of the human experience is writ-large throughout the album, especially on Stormwatcher with its nautical metaphors and dreams of new horizons. A brilliant centerpoint of this remarkable album, Stormwatcher is matched in scope and drama by the subsequent Death Wake, both music and lyrics combining to create a vivid picture of the cruelties of a life without love and humanity.
From The Dark‘s closing two songs, the furious passion of Return Of The Arbalist and the truly epic kaleidoscope of Legacy showcase the power and drama, the light and the shade that courses through the album. Coming a year after Black Sabbath‘s final-ever show, at 2025’s Back To The Beginning concert in Birmingham, it demonstrates the creative fires that burn ever-brightly in Tony Iommi and is undoubtedly one of the greatest rock albums to be released this year.
There will be a limited-edition seven-inch single of World Alone, backed exclusively with an instrumental version and housed in a deluxe, foiled sleeve which will be released on September 4th. The song will also be available on the Gibson learn-to-play-guitar app.
From The Dark will be available in several deluxe vinyl and CD formats. The double LP edition will be manufactured in four colors, available from different retailers. Cut at 45rpm on double vinyl for optimum dynamic range the deluxe, gatefold package is premium black card with a die cut of Tony‘s signature cross, that holds beneath a suitably dark and detailed, illustrative journey across the album. Part visible when in situ and with the full image revealing as the inner sleeve is drawn out. There will also be a CD Amazon exclusive that also has the same die cut sleeve and a deluxe 32-page CD media book edition that includes two bonus tracks.
Deluxe CD:
1. Over The Violent Sun
2. Black Times
3. World Alone
4. Beyond The Dead
5. Stormwatcher
6. Death Wake
7. Return Of The Arbalist
8. Legacy
9. Scent Of Dark (exclusive bonus track)
10. Deified (extended version) (exclusive bonus track)
Vinyl
Side A:
1. Over The Violent Sun
2. Black Times
Side B:
1. World Alone
2. Beyond The Dead
Side C:
1. Stormwatcher
2. Death Wake
Side D:
1. Return Of The Arbalist
2. Legacy
Lande previously performed with Iommi and other surviving Heaven & Hell members Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice at a very special tribute to their fallen bandmate, Ronnie James Dio, at the 2010 High Voltage festival at Victoria Park in London, England. The musicians were also joined by legendary former Deep Purple vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes.
Iommi is widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in modern music. As the founding member and primary composer of Black Sabbath, Iommi is credited with helping create the sound and vocabulary of heavy metal.
