Black Sabbath guitar legend Tony Iommi’s first solo album has an embarrassing wealth of guest vocalists in harness, but with Skin from Skunk Anansie involved, as well as Dave Grohl’s serious Soundgardenish ‘Goodbye Lament’ and Billy Corgan’s turgid molten metal whine on ‘Black Oblivion’, things are in danger of becoming dreary indeed. Attempting subtlety in this company just doesn’t seem to work.

On the other hand, those who wisely opt to fulfil their dream of going at it hell for leather with the man they call the Eternal Icon fare a lot better. I reckon Henry Rollins really is just taking the piss on ‘The Laughing Man in The Devil Mask,’ but for ‘Flame On’, the growling Ian Astbury is on fantastic form, as is Peter Steele with the eye-rolling over-the-top theatrics of the hilarious ‘Just Say No To Love’, which proudly boasts the lines, “A party thrown, I’m so excited/Since you’re dead, you’re not invited.”

Iommi saves the most dangerously bombastic riff for his old mucker Ozzy Osbourne (‘Who’s Fooling Who’), but it’s Billy Idol (believe it or not ) who steals the show, proclaiming himself the ultimate lord of darkness on the ridiculously good ‘Into The Night.’

The guitars are inhumanly excellent throughout, but the standard of the songs swings between deadly and dire.