Tony Iommi has returned with his first new music in eight years with the crushing single Scent Of Dark. The Black Sabbath guitarist has also launched an accompanying perfume under the same name in collaboration with acclaimed perfumer Sergio Momo, who also features on the track.
Scent Of Dark is a deliciously-doomy trademark Tony Iommi track, featuring a menacing, Sabbath-style riff paired with cinematic, symphonic strings.
Alongside the track arrives a visually spectacular video that sees the guitarist sampling the perfume inside the gothic Sudley Castle in Winchcombe, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.
Iommi first established a friendship with Sergio over the pandemic, who is an accomplished guitarist as well as renowned perfumer and designer for Italia luxury perfume house Xerjoff.
Although Iommi's step into the fragrance industry might take some fans by surprise, the guitarist reveals that it's actually been a life-long interest.
“It’s something I’ve always been interested in, ever since the early days of products like Brut and Old Spice, which I’d always get given for Christmas,” remembers Tony. “Once I started touring the world with Sabbath though, I started discovering different sorts of fragrancies from other countries and began collecting them on tour.
“I met Sergio through another friend of mine Jimmy Crutchley (who plays bass on Scent Of Dark) and Sergio kindly sent me a box of his fragrances and asked if I’d be interested in creating my own, which I certainly wasn’t expecting,” laughs Iommi. “I had no idea how that would work, but Sergio suggested I come up with a list of things I like the smell of, which I did. He developed some different samples made up from my suggestions and I picked the one I liked; the project moved forward from there.”
Speaking of his friendship with the perfumer, he continues, “Sergio is a really creative chap, he plays great guitar on Scent Of Dark and has one of my collectable models, the 64 Gibson with the cartoon monkey image. He said it would be great to incorporate that, and he’s even managed to get it onto one of the bottles!”
Citing how he played an integral part in creating the perfume, Iommi notes, “I wouldn’t put my name to something that I haven’t been involved in and didn’t personally like or use. That’s been the same with all of the projects I’ve done from guitars onwards, this is no different.”
According to a press release, the fragrance has been comprised from "the finest materials" and "handpicked rare ingredients", all sealed within "exquisite packaging". The union between the song and product has been penned as the the world’s first "multi-sensory experience between sound, scent, and spirit".
Elaborating on the creation of the track, the guitarist explains, “I’ve had the riff for Scent Of Dark for quite a while and I’d never done anything with it, but it gave us a base to start from. We built up the track with programmed drums at first and then Mike Exeter demoed bass and keyboards on it, and I added my guitar solos, just to give us an idea of how it was going to sound. Eventually Jimmy (Crutchley) added his bass.
"Jimmy knew drummer Ash Sheehan and he fitted in perfectly, adding the final real drum track on top of our work. Then we added the strings. I’d worked with string sections on Sabbath albums before, but this was a whole new experience.”
“It’s been a really interesting project for me that has combined many of my different interests and a direction I’m really enjoying gong in,” concludes Tony. “I’ve got so many riffs; it would be great to do more instrumental and soundtrack work.”
Tony Iommi Signed Crystal by Xerjoff Blends with a Limited edition of 200 flacons, will be available from November 29, 2021 in selected retails and at Xerjoff Universe.
Watch the video for Scent Of Dark below:
