As per usual, Joe Siegler from BLACK-SABBATH.com has offered some interesting insight into HEAVEN & HELL's forthcoming album, The Devil You Know, due out on April 28th via Rhino. BraveWords.com received an official press release here a few hours ago, but you need to check out Siegler's commentary below:

Well, the official cover art for the new studio album has been released. Turns out it's mostly the same as the leaked one from a week ago. At that time, I was told it was not exactly the same, and that appears to be the case here. It pretty much mostly looks the same as the leaked one, except there's some minor tweaking of stuff in the banner.

Speaking of the artwork, I've gotten quite the reaction from fans in emails so far. Most think it fits the theme of "Black Sabbath" well, but it definitely is up there in terms of negative reaction from what I've been seeing in emails. I can see why. As a Christian myself, the cover art is a bit strong in content, but to be honest, is a depiction of what likely the Devil thought at Christ's crucifixion anyway. OK, enough of that. The cover art does continue in a tradition of the band using existing artwork for cover art. The Heaven & Hell album used Lynn Curlee's "Smoking Angels" painting, and Mob Rules used Greg Hildebrandt's "Mob Dream" artwork. Dehumanizer was commissioned artwork I believe, but Devil You Know uses pre-existing artwork again. The base art for the cover comes from a painting called "Satan" which appears to be Per Øyvind Haagensen from Norway. The version used on Sabbath's cover is tweaked slightly. If you want to see the original, you can click here.

I also have a press release for the album, which I will show below. I have queried my contacts at Rhino and got some answers to some questions about the album. Here goes with my mini FAQ about the album.

- What versions will be out there?: I was told that there is no two disc version with a DVD, no additional "special edition", there is just one version of the album, a single CD release. That's actually quite refreshing in this era of double and triple dips.
- That horizontal band - is that always there?: There was some theories posted in the week since the art leaked that the horizontal bar with the band name on it was part of the shrink wrap. I was told that is not the case. It is part of the cover art itself, and "not removable". :)
- Will this be on iTunes, Amazon MP3, etc? Yes, it is being released to all DSP's per my contact at Rhino.
- What about an iTunes exclusive track? These are pretty common, but I was told there might be one, but no decision has been made yet.
- What about a Japanese exclusive track? I was told this.. "I don't think Japan will have exclusive tracks - but it isn't a Rhino release there so I don't know for sure."
- What is the catalogue number? R2 518862
- What is the first single? It is Bible Black. I'm told that it will be available on iTunes on March 31st.
- Will there be a music video for Bible Black? Yes, there will be one. It will not be out at the same time as the iTunes release, but it is hoped it will be out before the album is.
- Will it be released on vinyl? Rhino told me they plan on a vinyl release, but it likely will not happen on the same date as the CD release.

Interesting thought about the iTunes exclusive track. If they haven't made up their minds, and there is still a possibility of that happening, it raises this issue. They've recorded more than the 10 tracks on the album. So what's lying around in the can, guys? :)

Now, about the 25 / 41 on the cover art. That's one of the things that's different from the leaked version from a week ago.

My immediate thought was "What the hell does that mean?" My first thought on the 41 was "that's the number of years since Black Sabbath was formed" (1968-2009). I queried my contact at Rhino, as well as Gloria Butler directly. I was told by both of them I was wrong. Gloria Butler more colorfully, as she told me "That's the best you can come up with?" Hahahaha... Truth be told, I hadn't put much thought into it, that was the knee jerk immediate reaction.

Read more here.