It’s official: a certain golden age of heavy metal has officially closed. Although the genre is still alive and well in the music industry, the original unholy priests, Black Sabbath, have decided to call it a day, with Ozzy Osbourne finally bowing out from live performances for good. But since the original No More Tours tour happened in the 1990s, it’s safe to say that the members of Sabbath aren’t going to stop working anytime soon.
This was the music that they birthed out of nothing, and now that they are on their way to retirement age, they are only going to be taking a different form than the one they had. It would be insane to think that they would become a constantly touring entity forever, but there are a lot more riffs to be played and songs to be sung while they are still standing.
After all, since the new generation of fans is getting into Sabbath through people like Yungblood at the ‘Back to the Beginning’ shows, it’s easier for them to get exposed to some of the biggest riffs the metal icons have ever made. Everyone might have songs like ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’ ingrained in their psyche at this point, but looking through the band’s back catalogue, every piece of the original lineup was always working on making something new, whether that be a riff or adding the right instrument to every song.
That kind of creativity doesn’t suddenly leave once everyone reaches a certain age, and as long as they have the strength to pick up a pair of drumsticks, twinkle the keys of a piano, or get behind the fretboard, the members of Sabbath are always going to keep things rolling. It’s disheartening knowing that fans will never get to hear ‘The Prince of Darkness’ in his full glory live, but it’s important for everyone to keep tabs on where Sabbath will be in the near future.
Ozzy Osbourne
Let’s get one thing out of the way right now. Ozzy is DONE touring. This was billed as the final tour for a reason, and with his health worsening due to his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, it’s okay for the ‘Prince of Darkness’ to bow out with grace rather than have to live the rest of his life in hotel rooms. But The Beatles didn’t stop after they hit the road, and it’s only fitting that one of metal’s founders keeps the ball rolling from the comfort of a studio.
While the right project has yet to arise, Osbourne has left the door open for a potential collaboration with other artists for the right reason, saying, “As far as recording goes, I still enjoy doing my own work. I also enjoy singing on other people’s work. For the foreseeable future, I will keep on recording.” Osbourne is also putting the finishing touches on his memoir, Last Rites, but since he has worked so well playing alongside Post Malone on his latest releases, fans would be more than happy to see Osbourne keep his crazy train rolling for as long as he wants.
Bill Ward
During Sabbath’s first wave goodbye, Bill Ward was always the one left conspicuously absent. As much as jamming with him once more would have been a treat, Ward seemed to have contract disputes during the first tour, with his pounding drums being replaced by Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine on the album 13. But Ward is never one to rest, and even if the band is bowing out, he has always been looking to make some new music on his own.
After all, he had taken over for Osbourne behind the mic on a few occasions in the late 1970s, and since then, he has been working on his solo career, with Accountable Beasts coming out in 2015 and putting out Mon Dieu with the Bill Ward Band in 2022. Ward does have two albums still left in the vaults that are waiting to come out, but after contemplating whether to release them physically or not, fans will have to wait with bated breath for when his pulse-pounding thunder is coming back.
Geezer Butler
Of all the members of Sabbath, Geezer Butler has always had a big question mark around his solo ventures. Outside of playing with Sabbath, he has usually lived a quiet life at home, and even in his book Into the Void, he hardly touches on much of his solo career compared to the times he was in Sabbath. But given what he has done in the past, the door might not be totally shut on him making something new for us.
While Butler has said that nothing he has written thus far has been good enough to see a mainstream release, there have always been pieces of his solo career that could bring back that jazzy approach to heavy music. But since his solo ventures like Ohmwork and Black Science have had a slightly nu-metal twist to them, perhaps he could show the new kids in town that he can get just as dark as they can the same way that Alice Cooper did when he made Brutal Planet in the 1990s.
Tony Iommi
No matter what anyone says, Tony Iommi has always embodied everything about Black Sabbath. The band lineup may have changed countless times, but even when Osbourne wasn’t behind the microphone, there was no one who listened to Iommi’s licks and didn’t think it was anyone else but Sabbath. But now with the name being officially retired, Iommi felt that it was time for him to step into his solo career for the first time in two decades.
While the Iommi record was fun in the early 2000s by bringing together pieces with different singers, Iommi said that he’s not sure if the material he’s using today needs a round-robin approach or is going to be completely instrumental. It would be a welcome return to see Glenn Hughes team up with Iommi again like he did on the record Fused or Sabbath’s own Seventh Star album, but at this point, Iommi could give fans nothing but his riff tapes and they would still be among the most sought-after recordings in the metal canon.
