A brand new single from legendary guitarist Tony Iommi has been released today. Titled Stormwatcher, it rides on a signature guitar riff from the man who was the driving musical force behind Black Sabbath‘s garlanded career and can be heard below.
Stormwatcher has a maritime theme, based around a ship stuck in a storm, accompanied by a dramatic animated video, bringing the lyrics and imagery of vocalist Jørn Lande to life.
“It channels something from within, something real,” Lande explains, describing how the lyrics tell a powerful story about struggles and sorrow as life voyages from birth to death, and beyond. “We are the captain of our own vessel, a ship crashing through unknown and sometimes challenging waters, always navigating forward, steering steady through every storm, driven by dreams of new horizons and longing for something new.”
One of numerous highlights from Iommi‘s upcoming solo album From The Dark, Stormwatcher perfectly captures the dark atmospheres and yearning passions that permeate the record. Iommi is joined throughout the LP by 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 Jørn 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 (listen here), 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 is a limited-edition seven-inch single of World Alone, backed exclusively with an instrumental version and housed in a deluxe, foiled sleeve which was released on September 4th. The song is also available on the Gibson learn-to-play-guitar app, more details here.
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.
