Interesting Sabbath Speculation...

[Denim n Leather]

There used to be a pretty detailed gear section on Iommi's site. Don't know if it's still up.
Why do all these biographies turn into either open assaults on ex-bandmates or tall tales of debauchery?

Because 9 times out of 10 if you take away the high school drama and rampant drug use there is very little left ...

[blue]

so the announcement was made, and it turns out the journalist Iommi slagged off was right :) 
the original line up reform, a new album early next year, playing Download in June and a world tour to follow.

i'll buy the album of course, but it's stranglely unexciting.  i think how good Heaven and Hell was kind of leaves a sinking feeling of "what if..."  about it all

[Philly Q]

i'll buy the album of course, but it's stranglely unexciting. 

I feel the same.  Is it us getting old, or them? 

[blue]

it's them of course, Philly!  8)

[gwEm]

i'd rather have heard a new Heaven and Hell album too.

cool news anyway!

[Elliot]

But will it happen?  Will Ozzy's famous insecurity around Iommi lead him to run to Sharon for protection and then cause a big bust up.  Still, I hope it does happen - and that, with Geezer's growing political edge in recent years, he writes the lyrics in the mould of the old skool Sabbath.

[MrBump]

Well, I'm excited about it.  True - I loved the Heaven & Hell stuff, but I'm hoping that that the new Sabbath album will hark back to a more raw, more stripped down band!

We'll see.

[Twinfan]

Looking forward to hearing how they sound, but they're going to have to go some to beat "Bible Black" for me.  Dio was awesome on that  :D

[MrBump]

Looks like some Sharon machinations are going on...

http://www.billward.com/

It's a shame - Bill Ward is a great feel drummer...

[Ian Price]

Sharon Osbourne in money grabbing contract shocker. This doesn't really surprise me. I know he doesn't name her but it is fairly obvious that she is involved in this.

[Sancho]

It's preposterous, that's what it is...

[Philly Q]

Sounds very dodgy, and it probably is Sharon up to her usual tricks.  She can't resist, seemingly.

However (rather like Paul Reed Smith and his "21 Rules of Tone"), it would be nice to know what the mysterious "unsignable" contract actually says.  Is it a serious financial issue, or something trivial which could be easily thrashed out?  It's like the MacGuffin in a Hitchc--k film.

[Andrew W]

There was, I fear, a grim inevitability about all of this. I feel the same as I did when Van Halen reformed but Michael Anthony got the boot as in, if they toured I'd go because I was too young to see them in their pomp and their music means a lot to me but it would be with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

[Afghan Dave]

I'm not a big Sabbath fan but this stinks. That wife of Ozzy's is a witch.  :x

[Twinfan]

Seems to be a done deal - no Bill Ward:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/black-sabbath-pledge-to-carry-on-without-drummer-bill-ward-20120203