After guitarist Tony Iommi confirmed that Black Sabbaths upcoming tour will be their last, front man Ozzy Osbourne has reaffirmed that stance, saying that the group will break up after the album, leaving the individual members to focus on their respective solo careers.
Photo Credit: Aisha Humphrey
Sadly, it is official: legendary seventies metal group Black Sabbath will reconvene for another album and one final tour before calling it quits. Guitarist Tony Iommi went on record to say that the upcoming album and tour could conceiveably be their last as group, and it seems that Ozzy has finally come to terms with the end of the band that made him famous, driving the final nail in the coffin:
I’m doing one more Black Sabbath tour, one more Black Sabbath album, and then we’re disbanding the name, I believe. And then after that, I’ll be doing my solo stuff.”
While a majority of the group reunited in 2011, the most noticeable element missing from the group was drummer Bill Ward, who backed out of the tour for what was assumed to be a contract dispute. Osbourne himself hopes that Ward will come around to the idea of one last hurrah before officially calling it a day:
It would be great for him to get it together and sort all the problems out for the next tour. It would be a great way for the four of us to end such a wonderful experience of being Black Sabbath, and what we achieved.”
All disputes aside, it would indeed be a shame if these giants of the heavy metal genre didn’t reunite in their original lineup for one last tour before they retire from the business, but only time will tell at this point if Ward will be involved in the effort. For now, both Osbourne and Iommi have been in contact, attempting to put together enough material for the new album to supplement the hits that they will surely perform on the final tour:
…I texted [guitarist] Tony [Iommi] the other day. I said, ‘It would be a great idea if you could send me some musical ideas so I can try and work some melodies around so we don’t have to go searching for the song structure.’ So I’m not starting from a cold block, you know?”
Both the tour and album will hopefully be released sometime in 2015. Until and after that inevitable time, we are fortunate to have a massive back catalog from the group that arguably started the whole metal scene. The four talents of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and (ideally) Bill Ward will leave behind not a legacy, but a legend recorded in the annals of rock history.
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