Black Sabbath could have recorded one final album with the original lineup. But according to Tony Iommi, he passed on the opportunity.
That’s what the guitarist has said in a new interview with Classic Rock. The final Sabbath album, 13, did not involve Bill Ward after the drummer failed to reach an agreement regarding his contract. After its release in 2013, there had been talk about a follow-up, but nothing really happened.
Now Iommi has revealed that producer Andrew Watt – who had helmed Ozzy’s final solo albums Ordinary Man from 2020 and 2022’s Patient Number 9 – had approached him earlier this decade about getting the original line back for one more album.
"I'd met Andrew Watt when he was producing Ozzy," Iommi said. "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. Also, we'd done 13, and I didn't like the idea of: 'Now here’s another album.'"
In other Iommi news, the guitarist has apparently signed up for William Shatner’s metal album, What The F is Heavy Metal? Well, according to Brian May he has.
May confirmed his friend’s appearance on Zoe Ball’s show on Greatest Hits Radio. Talking about Shatner, he said: “He's a very active man, and for him to step into... Well, it's not... I don't call it heavy metal; I call it rock, really. But it will probably be a heavy metal album because I think Tony Iommi's gonna play on it now as well. Tony's really my best mate, so it's easy for me to pick up the phone to him. And Tony's like me - he loves a challenge."
News about the 95 year old actor’s latest wheeze has filtered through gradually during 2026. We know that Rob Halford of Judas Priest, John Moyer of Disturbed and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo have all put their names down for the project. May confirmed his involvement last week, and now it seems Iommi too. Shatner is set to preview some of the tracks at Chicago’s Riot Fest next week with a band that includes Phil Sossan (Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol) and Britt Lightning of Vixen.
“What a great guy,” May said of Shatner. “He's 95. And he's full of life and vitality and ambition and anger and all this stuff. He's like a kid. I really enjoyed meeting him... I mean, I've worked hard on it. He loves it, and I love the song 'cause you might think William Shatner... I mean, if you don't know Star Trek, it doesn't mean anything perhaps, but if you've lived like we did through all those editions of Star Trek, he's a hero, and he's, in later life, become a real luminary in the world. He does so much for children, so much for the outreach of science.”
