Tony Iommi had the chance to help put Black Sabbath’s original lineup back in the studio for one more album, but the legendary guitarist decided the band was better off leaving its recording legacy where it stood.
Iommi has revealed that producer Andrew Watt approached him in the early 2020s with the idea of making another Black Sabbath record featuring Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.
Watt already had a significant connection to the Sabbath world. He produced Osbourne’s 2020 solo album Ordinary Man and returned for 2022’s Patient Number 9. His proposal offered the tantalizing possibility of getting all four founding members of Black Sabbath onto a new studio album.
Iommi, however, was not convinced.
Part of his hesitation came from knowing just how complicated the chemistry and working process of the original band could be. He also had fresh memories of the enormous undertaking involved in creating 13, Black Sabbath’s 2013 comeback album.
That record brought Osbourne, Iommi and Butler together for their first full studio album with Osbourne since 1978’s Never Say Die!, but the reunion stopped short of including all four original members.
Ward had initially been part of the reunion plans but withdrew amid a contractual dispute. Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave ultimately handled the drums on 13.
Despite Ward’s absence, 13 became a major final chapter in Black Sabbath’s recording career. The group subsequently embarked on extensive touring before launching The End, the farewell tour that concluded in 2017.
For years, however, the possibility of another record remained somewhere in the Sabbath universe. Osbourne had previously expressed interest in following 13 with another album, and Watt’s later approach to Iommi shows the idea progressed beyond simple fan speculation.
It just never received the guitarist’s blessing.
For Iommi, making another Black Sabbath album simply because the opportunity existed was not enough. After everything required to create 13, immediately reopening that chapter held little appeal.
The decision left 13 as Black Sabbath’s final full-length studio album and created one of rock’s great unanswered questions: what might the original four members have sounded like together in the studio one last time?
Iommi, meanwhile, has hardly stopped creating music. The guitarist is moving forward with his solo career and is preparing to release From The Dark on October 23.
Black Sabbath may have written the rulebook for heavy metal, but Iommi’s revelation shows that even one of rock’s most important bands knew there was a time to resist writing another chapter.
