BLACK SABBATH's TONY IOMMI Launches 'Deified' Music Video And Perfume

Tony Iommi and Xerjoff launch the second chapter of the Xerjoff Blends venture, with the release of Deified, the brand new perfume, accompanied by a new track of the same name written by Tony Iommi together with a mind-blowing music video, directed by Donato Sansone.

Xerjoff's founder and CEO Sergio Momo worked alongside BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi in the second experiment between sound, scent and sight on the creation of a new scent to enter the Xerjoff Blends collection, while Tony Iommi wrote the new song, produced by Iommi and Mike Exeter, with Sergio Momo also playing on the track which can be seen in the mostly animated music video.

Iommi says: "Here we go again, another collaboration with my dear friend Sergio Momo (Xerjoff) with a new perfume called Deified. I'm really excited about our new perfume and after the success of our last one (Monkey Special) I hope that you'll like Deified as much as I do. We've gone through the same process of trying different samples of perfume over the last year until we came up with this one and I really like it."

Momo adds: "Everything has its own cycle. A riff, a melody, a perfume. In the '70s, playing a vinyl backwards was a phenomenon that became a popular way to hide subliminal messages. The palindromic nature of a riff and backmasking became the catalyst for the creation of this journey with Tony."

Mystery possesses the mind in a dark and decadent experience that casts subliminal shadows on the wearer.

"Deify: to worship or regard as a god." A forceful combination of multisensory elements that play on the palindromic nature of sound, scent and sensorial sequences see the theme of back and forth in the music, scent and video. Tony Iommi Deified is the second perfume to be created by the duo after a huge success with the first Xerjoff Blends perfume created together, Monkey Special.

Created on a duality of leather and spice, Deified perfume plays in a loop with no beginning and no end, its notes hitting emotions in the same way a music track uses notes to hypnotise and mystify the senses. Authentic and warm accents of saffron meet powdery and leathery facets that dance with the delicate touch of gourmand freshness. Cinnamon exalts spicier notes, complemented by gentle rose at the heart. The woody base of papyrus and patchouli leaves the senses longing for more in a rhythmic exchange of back and forth.

The scent can be purchased on Xerjoff.com and in Xerjoff boutiques worldwide. After the crystal collector's edition, Deified Tony Iommi Signed Edition, sold out, Deified was released in a dark and gothic flacon following the limited edition of the signed flacons.

Especially for the release of the music video on July 26, another 25 Tony Iommi Signed Edition Crystal flacons will be available to purchase on Xerjoff.com.

"Deified", the new track written by Tony Iommi and produced by Iommi and Mike Exeter, is a heavy and mysterious masterpiece that, like the scent, possesses the mind in a dark and decadent vortex of mystery and wonder.

Iommi says: "'Deified' is a heavier, more medieval track than 'Scent Of Dark'. We've added voices and beefed up the overall sound."

With a heavy and hard riff throughout the track, Iommi sparks incredible heights with the intricate and mystifying bridge which leads to haunting voices, drawing the whole composition to a climatic close.

"Deified" music and video credits:

Guitar, producer - Tony Iommi
Keyboards, producer - Mike Exeter
Drums - Karl Brazil
Bass - Laurence Cottle
Orchestration - Ben Andrew

Animation director - Donato Sansone
Production and art direction - Sergio Momo, Xerjoff Group CEO

Recorded at Tone Hall and Pig Music Studios

In an animated music video starring Tony Iommi and Sergio Momo, directed and animated by Donato Sansone, "Deified"'s concept is given strength and delivers a powerful message that implies a theme that continually repeats itself throughout history.

The video's foundation is that of the entire project, the way man destroys itself is witnessed through a child's eyes. The story unfolds only for the child to want to go back to the beginning. The concept for the music video was created by Donato Sansone and Sergio Momo.

Sansone says: "The 'Deified' music video born from the Xerjoff and Tony Iommi collaboration is a strong and powerful experience that I had the opportunity to personally experience as director of the project. The meeting with Sergio Momo, a brilliant scent artist with whom I have been collaborating for some time, led us to develop a video concept that was the visual and narrative extension of a truly powerful perfume and musical track. When I listened to the piece, I had the feeling of being faced with something threatening and fascinating at the same time and in the little brainstorming session we had with Sergio we felt the need to tell something "dramatic" and emotionally strong without losing hope towards the future. Thus a story is born that somehow tells of a disastrous event, like that of the wars that infest our world, with notes of positivity and optimism towards the future. Deified is a palindrome word that can be read in both directions and the idea of the video lies precisely in this mirror game whereby it ends as it began, with the idea of being able to start rewriting a human story that seems to have a continuous decline towards the abyss."

Iommi and Momo recently chatted about "Deified" — the new track, perfume and music video — with Julian Marszalek and Suzy Nightingale. Check out the discussion below.

Regarding how the "Deified" song came together, Iommi said: "Well, it's the same way as I've done most stuff, really. I come up with a riff, and then [my engineer] Mike Exeter, I'd put the riff down, and he'd put a programmed-drum thing to it. And he'd play bass or keyboards or something, just to make it something to present, really. And then, in our case, then it would go to Sergio and see if he likes it, and then he'd do his part. And then we'd go in the studio with the drummer, and he'd put the drums on and bass. So we do it that sort of way, really."

He continued: "Doing the [recordings] live [in the studio], I haven't done [anything] where we all played live for a good many years. Well, the last album, '13', when we'd done that with SABBATH, was all live. But you tend to sort of, especially in our state, where Sergio's in Italy and we're here in England. It works just to send the ideas and see what he thinks. Or when he's come over, play him something. And he said, 'Oh, I like that.' As we did with [our first collaboration] 'Scent Of Dark'. We played a few things. And that's it. And he went away and came up with some bits."

In a November 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi stated about his interest in cologne: "Ever since [BLACK SABBATH] went on tour to the States, really, I started getting more and more into it. I'd go to the mall or stores, and I'd buy some different perfumes and scents until I'd find one that I really like. And then I'd stick to one for a while. Then I'd change, from Cartier to Tom Ford, or whatever. I've been doing that for years. Now I've got my own custom ones — an abundance of them now."

Asked which aromas he liked best when he first started working with Sergio, Tony said: "Oh, God. I think some of them threw him because a couple of the samples were horrible. But others were great. I like the smell of when you get in a new car, the leather smell, and obviously coffee and just stuff like that. Patchouli is the main ingredient in this perfume, which just goes back to the '60s. I knew the smell of patchouli in them days; they used to use it to mask the smell of people smoking dope. [Laughs]"

More than just a perfume collection, Xerjoff Blends is a journey which transports the wearer into universe that plays with all the senses, creating a space for sensory projects that break ordinary social patterns. Part of Xerjoff's uniqueness lies in the exploration and creation of multisensory experiences through blending perfumes with various forms of art, including; music, cuisine, art, automotive and much more, each perfume containing its own unique chapter in the Xerjoff story told through multisensory experiences to embrace in their totality.

Founded in Turin in 2007, Xerjoff was launched by Sergio Momo and Dominique Salvo with the aim of blending the most luxurious raw materials to complement the most affluent global lifestyles through the combination of old world craftsmanship, the finest raw ingredients and a contemporary artistic sensibility resulting in a collection of some of the most exquisite, unique scents available in the world today.