Listen free for 30 days

  • Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath

  • Written by: Tony Iommi
  • Narrated by: Bev Bevan
  • Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (24 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath cover art

Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath

Written by: Tony Iommi
Narrated by: Bev Bevan
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $31.27

Buy Now for $31.27

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

Iron Man chronicles the story of both pioneering guitarist Tony Iommi and legendary band Black Sabbath, dubbed "The Beatles of heavy metal" by Rolling Stone. Iron Man reveals the man behind the icon yet still captures Iommi's humor, intelligence, and warmth. He speaks honestly and unflinchingly about his rough-and-tumble childhood, the accident that almost ended his career, his failed marriages, personal tragedies, battles with addiction, bandmates, famous friends, newfound daughter, and the ups and downs of his life as an artist.

Everything associated with hard rock happened to Black Sabbath first: the drugs, the debauchery, the drinking, the dungeons, the pressure, the pain, the conquests, the company men, the contracts, the combustible drummer, the critics, the comebacks, the singers, the Stonehenge set, the music, the money, the madness, the metal.

©2011 Tony Iommi (P)2012 Tony Iommi

What listeners say about Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Series of Amazing Anecdotes

This book is less a biography than a retrospective chronicle of interesting events in Tony's life.
He has lived through some incredible things: Drugs, legal battles, band break-ups, and Lymphoma. His experiences with the paranormal pop up now and again throughout the archives. Ghosts - demons - angels. Wow.
At the end of it, though, I still don't know much about Tony Iommi or anyone else in his life (family, band-members, etc.).
He describes stuff that happened, but doesn't really touch on "why".

Bev Bevan is a decent reader, and reads clearly and with emotion. He actually makes sound effects, and even sings a bit when describing some of Tony's iconic riffs. After awhile, though, Bevan starts to sound like Pete Postelthwaite"s"s Mr. Kobayashi in 'The Usual Suspects'....kind of weird pauses and strange tone upsweeps at the end of sentences. He does a fair job throughout the reading, but the sound of him occasionally smacking his lips and swallowing saliva can get pretty gross.
Avoid listening to this recording on earphones.

Overall, this underwhelming autobiography is worth 6.5 out of 10 stars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

poor performance

Fairly interesting story. Struggled with the performance. Listening to him sucking his teeth every 30 seconds plus fiddling with the pages constantly very difficult. And a very boring monotone voice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Iexellant book Tony along with Bev Bevan

I really loved your book Tony plus lt was well peformed by Bev Bevan.What also is ironic is I play guitar and also am left handed plusj i suffered a severe injury at a rail car steel plant (Hawker Siddely) IN WHICH I had my right hand crushed with over six ton's of steel I had to have surgery .Since my right thumb and index finger were literly severed I had a hand surgeon repair my thumb and finger .before they put me to sleep I had given up the t houghtf that My thumb and index finger would be there but thank god they were and like you I had to relearn .Now irony is rellly strange. approx 5 years ago I was diagnosed with lymphomia but instead of undergoing treatment i decided to put it in the greatest physician on earth In Jesus Chirsts hands.its been over 5 years and since I also started attending the local gospel hall and accepted Jesus Chirst as my personal savior I have prayed to .my savior Jesus to heal me of this dreaded cancer And I truly believe that Jesus is answering my prayer I do hope you are getting on well as I have said a prayer for you. My first experience with Black Sabbath came by accident this goes back to 1972 I was only 12 yrs old and of course there was no hard Rock I curiously went i nto my cousins room whilst I spied a stereo with a long play record on the record player and also a set of huge head phones which back in the day were huge .I had never tried headphones before so i hopped onto my cousins bed slipped on the headphones pressed the on button lifted the needle to the groove
.y first introduction to a music I had never heard before and in a beautiful stereo The long play was called Black Sabbath I really liked this uniqe music and one of the tracks where you do an awesome jazz riff with Bill tapping his cymbals man I didn't realize that i was listening to the very first creation of hard rock or what they now call heavy metal where the term heavy metal came from is a mystery to me also besides falling totally in love with your unique heavy vibrato I also THOUGHT that ozzy's voice sounded so cool your book was so cool Tony Iommi the true creator and inovator of Hard Rock (Heavy metal) rock on Tony peace & love

Robert Gordon Wilson

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!