Coming this fall to Gibson TV, Iommi: The Godfather of Heavy Metal will examine the legacy of guitarist Tony Iommi and his iconic Black Sabbath riffs. Gibson previewed the documentary series this past week at a press event celebrating the return of the Tony Iommi Signature Humbucker, featuring an interview and brief performance.
Gibson did not share a release date for the project, but did publish a four-minute trailer. The series will include new interviews with Iommi plus his contemporaries and generations of metal musicians he inspired, including Brian May, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Dave Mustaine, Kirk Hammett, Steve Vai, Scott Ian, Rex Brown, and many more.
“I think the great thing about Tony and Black Sabbath is, you hear a nanosecond of it and you know who it is,” May said in the trailer, with Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime guitarist Wylde adding, “he’s Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart of the riff. He’s not just one of them, he’s all three. Between all of us that play guitar, that’s the meeting ground for everybody.”
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Iommi: The Godfather of Heavy Metal will take a career-spanning look at the guitarist who formed the basis for heavy metal with Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. From hardscrabble roots in industrial Birmingham, England, Sabbath charted the path for what was to come following the death of the 1960s, clearing a path for ’70s hard rock and generations of metal offshoots. From thrash and death to groove and stoner, all roads of metal lead back to Tony Iommi and his riffs from the first several Black Sabbath albums.
“Geezer and myself used to go and watch a lot of horror movies, and we loved them,” Iommi recalled of the band’s infancy in the trailer. “And I thought it’d be great to do music, you know, like horror. To create the same vibe as a horror film.”
Check out the trailer for the Tony Iommi documentary series, Iommi: The Godfather of Heavy Metal, coming to Gibson TV.
Iommi: The Godfather of Heavy Metal | Trailer