While his Black Sabbath comrade Ozzy Osbourne has turned himself into an A-list celebrity thanks to the marvels of reality TV humiliation, Tony Iommi has been quietly getting on with being a bona fide rock legend. Most riffs you hear in metal songs these days are at least in some way ripped off from what Iommi did in the 70s. But does he have any musical relevance with this new album?

Somewhat surprisingly, the answer is a resounding 'yes'. With former Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes on vocals and bass and session drummer extraordinaire Kenny Aronoff pounding away behind them, Iommi the band have come up with a really good record.

Obviously, there are parts of it which betray that these are rockers from a bygone era, but Hughes' occasional hair metal extravagances are very well restrained, but Iommi's bludgeoning riffs sound as ageless as Sabbath's classic tunes.

It helps that they have found some great melodies to overshadow the sometimes iffy and stereotypical heavy metal lyrics. What really helps Fused is that unlike Iommi's self-titled solo album five years ago, this one isn't overburdened with special guests, and is able to build an identity of its own, with just the three musicians forming a tight unit.

Another factor that helps it is that Fused was performed live in the studio, rather than being recorded seperately and built up in layers. It gives it a real powerful and organic sound that so much heavy metal is lacking these days. However, the most important factor is that producer Bob Marlette has managed to give these old warriors a modern but timeless sounding-record.

The album was built around some riffs that Iommi had been putting together, with Hughes adding the melodies and themes, working especially well on the slow-burning Deep Inside a Shell and Wasted Again. However, the album's real climax comes in final track I Go Insane, which lasts over nine minutes and sees Iommi really getting to let fly with his axe, so to speak.

Apparently, Iommi, Hughes and Aronoff plan to go on tour together as soon as the guitarist's day job with Sabbath on the Ozzfest Tour is over, so hopefully they will come up to Manchester, because it promises to be quite a show...