Tony Iommi has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to record a final Black Sabbath album with the band’s original lineup.
In an exclusive interview in the new issue of Classic Rock, Iommi reveals that Andrew Watt, who produced Ozzy Osbourne’s final two albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9, had approached him in the early 2020s about making a Sabbath album with the original lineup.
“I’d met Andrew Watt when he was producing Ozzy,” says Iommi. “He was very keen and a bit too excited. He also didn’t know what it was like working with the original Sabbath, working with Bill [drummer Bill Ward]. Also, we’d done 13, and I didn’t like the idea of: ‘Now here’s another album.’”
Ward was initially slated to appear alongside Iommi, Ozzy and bassist Geezer Butler on 13, but the recording lineup was eventually completed by Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk after Ward backed out of the sessions following a contractual dispute.
In early 2014, Ozzy told Classic Rock that 13 wouldn’t be the band’s final album.
“The whole Sabbath experience this time around was great,” he said. “We all made friends, we didn’t fuck around, we all knew that we had a job to do, and we did it. It was a lot of fun. So we’re going to do one more album, and a final tour.”
While Sabbath completed their year-long The End tour in early 2017, the only new release from the band was an accompanying EP, which included four previously unreleased tracks from the 13 sessions and four live tracks from their 2012–2014 reunion tour.
The new issue of Classic Rock is on sale now. Iommi’s forthcoming album, From The Dark, is due for release on October 23 via BMG.