Wall spends a lot of pages on the various substance abuse problems of the four original members (Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Bill Ward) and how it affected their personalities, music, and inter-band relations. In fact, Iommi has his nose exploring in "mountains of coke" so often, you'd think he need his own goddamn Sherpa guide.

There are also ample details about Osbourne and Dio's solo careers as they weave in and out of the Sabbath story. And if anything, it's Dio's reputation that gets burnished most positively on a number of levels (the singer's own posthumous autobiography is slated for publication sometime this year). Houston even gets a few mentions in the form of M.D. Anderson Hospital, where Dio sought treatment for his stomach cancer, and were he eventually died in May 2010.

There have been many other Black Sabbath bios and memoirs, including those for former roadies, Osbourne and Tony Iommi, and Joel McIver's fine (if hagiographic and Ozzy-era-heavy) 2007 effort Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. But Wall's is the most comprehensive effort, bringing the still-unfolding story up to date with the controversial Bill Ward-less 13 album release/tour and Iommi's ongoing cancer battle. Thus, it gets two (devil's) horns up!

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