The original line-up of Black Sabbath have reunited to record their first album since 1978 and then take the show on the road.
Black Sabbath
The group, featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill ward, announced their plans at a press conference at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in West Hollywood at 11:11am on 11:11:11. Black Sabbath played their first show in LA at the same venue exactly 41 years ago to the day.
The first shows announced for Black Sabbath will be the Download Festival in the UK in June 2012.
Between now and then they will be in the studio recording the new album with producer Rick Rubin.
Black Sabbath’s last album with this line-up was ‘Never Say Die’ in 1978. Ozzy left the band for a second time the following year and formed Blizzard of Oz.
There was a brief reunion for a tour in 1997-1998. The live album ‘Reunion’ was released from that time. It contained two brand new studio recordings ‘Psycho Man’ and ‘Selling My Soul’, both written by Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi.
In 2006, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi got together with drummer Vinny Appice and one-time Black Sabbath singer Ronnie James Dio and toured as Heaven and Hell, named after a Black Sabbath album featuring Dio on vocals. This line-up recorded just one album ‘The Devil You Know’. Heaven and Hell split after Dio’s death in 2010.
