Black Sabbath soaring to First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart; No. 1 on NZ charts; top UK charts

 Tony’s iconic band Black Sabbath is heading for its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. Industry sources suggest the group's new "13," released on Tuesday (June 11), may sell over 120,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, June 16.

The new Billboard 200 chart's top 10 will be revealed on the morning of Wednesday, June 19.

Sabbath's projected sales figure should easily be enough to trump the rest of the week's new albums, along with fighting off any challenges from holdover titles.

Black Sabbath's "13" is the band's first studio album with singer Ozzy Osbourne since 1978's "Never Say Die!" The band has notched just one top 10 album so far, 1971's "Master of Reality," which reached No. 8.

See Sabbath’s position on Billboard.com

Black Sabbath is currently on the top of New Zealand charts – the absolute Number 1!
See Sabbath’s position on The Official NZ Charts

And of course Black Sabbath are to have their first number one album for 43 years at home in UK!
The “13” album has drawn acclaim and is 4,500 sales ahead of Beady Eye.

See Sabbath position on  Official Charts Company  

Rock on Tony and guys! We wish you a well deserved great success! Long live Black Sabbath!

Watch the End Of The Beginning single official video made after Sabbath's appearance on CSI series.

 15 June 2013
Photo by Vertigo

Tony, Ozzy and Geezer interviewed by USA Today: dark past, colorful reunion, hazy future

Edna Gundersen of USA Today recently sat down with Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, and bassist Geezer Butler to discuss their first album of original music together since 1978, titled 13, and their tour to support it.
"I thought we'd have to keep Ozzy on track, but he was there all the time," Iommi says. "He's been really good." Osbourne explains, "For the first time, I felt people were listening to me."
Tony Iommi arrived at the studio with loads of ideas and CDs full of guitar riffs, the cornerstone of Sabbath classics.

"We had plenty of ammunition," says Iommi, reached by phone in London. "Rick brought us back to our roots and the vibe of the early stuff. He said, 'Treat this like the second album and wipe out the last 40 years. Rick wanted 30 songs. I told him, 'No chance of that.' He said, 'Can you get 25?' No. I said he'd be lucky to get 10."

Sabbath crafted 16 without unearthing six shelved in 2001. Recording was a democratic, collaborative joy, in contrast to past stints when Osbourne was AWOL until late in the process.

"I thought we'd have to keep Ozzy on track, but he was there all the time," Tony says. "I haven't seen him like that. He's been really good."

Osbourne explains, "For the first time, I felt people were listening to me."

It wasn't all smooth wailing. Diagnosed with lymphoma in 2011, Iommi is undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment that will continue for the next year. Cancer didn't stand in the way of Sabbath's return.

"Making an album, going on tour took my mind away from it and gave me something to aim for," he says.

Iommi's resolve inspired his bandmates, Butler says. And once Osbourne was assured Iommi could manage the task, he was keen to finish.

"It was now or never," he said.

Misconceptions didn't dissuade fans who bought 75 million albums the past 43 years.

"We wanted to make scary music," Osbourne says. "We weren't created by some business guy and we didn't read a book. We did this naturally. We had a dream and it became fantastically true. People called us The Beatles of hard rock. It's hard to get your head around that."

Iommi, too, was stunned by Sabbath's profound influence on bands from Metallica and Judas Priest to Guns N' Roses, Nirvana and Van Halen.

"When you're creating it, you don't realize what you've done," he says. "Years later, some of the biggest names in the music world would say, 'Without you, we would have never done this.' We did something to stir them along. You couldn't wish for better than that."

Read more on Usa Today

Edna Gundersen for  Usa Today,  11 June 2013

Milan show cancelled ... no luck for Italian fans ...

Black Sabbath has issued the following update via the Official Facebook Page:

"We regret to inform you that, due to logistical reasons, the Black Sabbath show scheduled in Milan on Dec 5, 2013 will not happen. Tickets will be refunded until Jul 31, 2013 thorugh all the Ticketone stores. All the other european shows remain confirmed."

Italian fans truly have no luck ... sad thing ...

 11 June 2013

New video for "God Is Dead?" released; Tony and Geezer interviewed by NME

The images used to create the nearly nine-minute-long Black Sabbath video for “God Is Dead?” come from a wide range of places. Little new footage was shot for the just-released clip. Instead director Peter Joseph borrowed from his previous works and archival Sabbath footage.

The question asked by the new single from “13” is how can God still be alive with so much evil and death happening daily. War footage is spliced between images that depict gross commercialism, glutonly, greed and vanity. The main character is a middle-aged white man trapped in New York City. Life is literally racing past him.

“When will this nightmare be over tell me / When can I emtpy my head / Will someone tell me the answer / Is God really dead?” Ozzy Osbourne sings on a song that is thin on lyrics, but thick with heavy guitar riffs. Joseph is liberal with his artistic interpretation, often relying on crude but effective sketches as symbols. Shapes and free-form expression dominate other scenes. At times it resembles a Pink Floyd laser show.

Joseph is best known as a social activist and “Zeitgeist” filmmaker. The controversial director says the band told him his work inspired the song, while admitting he’s a longtime fan of the band.

Watch the new video for "God Is Dead?"  on Ultimate Rock

Black Sabbath’s new album “13” is officially released today, available at music stores tomorrow 11 June.

Tony and his right hand man Geezer Butler were interviewed by NME about the recording of “13”. Watch the video interview on NME.

Billy Dukes for Ultimate Rock; NME, 11 June 2013

The Power Of The Riff reviews “13”

With our great pleasure we publish this wonderful review written by a hugest Sabbath fan and our brother blogger Austin Sheils. This words come directly from the heart and soul of a true die hard:

“Here it is the final day of judgement, the day all Sabbath fans have awaited for what has seemed like an eternity and then some. The first album be bear the Sabbath name in 18 years and the first Sabbath album with Tony, Ozzy and Geezer in 35 years, that my friends is older than a lot of those who will pick up a copy of this album myself included being only the ripe old age of 32. It's not been an easy road by a long shot for Sabbath to finally get to where they are today we all know the history which I will not go into only to say this is the single most important Sabbath album ever. An album born from human heartache, struggle and the undeniable bond of friendship. Like the mythical phoenix from the ashes a Sabbath reborn and here we have the musical document that is 13, a triumph of Sabbath proportions. A good title for the album would have been Perseverance such is the hardships the band had to go through in order for us fans to have this new Sabbath album. And what about the music how does it live up to the Sabbath of old. This album it is clear from the moment the first note comes like a proverbial storm from your speakers to be exactly how the band envisioned it and said it would be, a modern version of how it was back then. This album really could of followed the first three albums and only for the modern production nobody would tell the difference. I hear a lot of detractors saying how Ozzy can't handle it anymore that he couldn't sing as well as he once did although Ozzy in his prime was able to sing a song like "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' or "Symptom of the universe" two extremely demanding songs which he may no longer be able to sing but yet he still has that one thing no other singer could ever have and that is his unique Ozziness which he still has in abundance, the ever eternal peter pan of metal. Ozzy with out a doubt puts in one of the performances of his life and at times reminds of his Blizzard of Ozz period. Geezers bass lines are forever the pummelling backbone to Tony's riffs and yes the master still has more than one or two tricks up his sleeve and then some after all these years, churning out memorable riff after riff in only the way the he can. It is something truly beautiful to behold Tony Iommi with a guitar in his hands. Geezer still has a lot of interesting things to say in his lyrics and it seems age has not quieten or dampened his curiosity to explore those deepest darkest corners of the human mind. And the big question is Bill's presence missed and the answer honestly is no. Brad Wilk puts in a great performance and really adds an extra touch to the music with his drum fills, that said for any Sabbath fan Bill would of been the icing on the cake but sadly it wasn't meant to be. Of course there are familiar moments but this is only to be expected coming from a band who has such a unique and distinct signature sound. It feels like meeting a dear old friend after many years out in the wilderness once you press the play button on this monster of an album all the years in between fade away as if 35 years ago was yesterday. "The beginning of the end" gives us an up to date "Black Sabbath" and "God is dead" is a thought provoking journey through pure Sabbath perfection. We also get a surprising part two to "Planet Caravan" in "Zeitgeist" which just floors me to hear such magic again after all this time, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would hear Sabbath do a song remotely like this again, it almost brought a tear to my eye. My favorite song has to be "Damaged Soul" which brings the band full circle to the first album with an unbelievable blues jam and some of Tony's greatest guitar work evoking the spirit of the greatest blues men who have gone before. I can understand the casual Sabbath listener being disappointed but for all those veteran Sabbath fans or those who own all of their albums I can not understand this being anything less than a welcome return of a dear old friend and another timeless album to add to our collections and become another part to the soundtrack of our lives. Welcome back Sabbath in all your glory. I write a lot about music but Sabbath are the only band where the English language fails me for I could never put into words what the music of Sabbath means to me and at the end of the day any review of this album is a mere futile attempt to describe the perfection of the universe.”

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Austin Sheils for Power Off The Riff,  9 June 2013

Tony, Ozzy and Geezer will participate on a special live event – Town Hall Google+ Hangout

Sabbath guys will mark the release of their new “13” with a special live event the day of the album’s release (Tuesday, June 11). All three members Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler will participate in the Black Sabbath Town Hall via Google+ Hangout streamed live on YouTube and Google+ and broadcast Live On Ozzy’s Boneyard On SiriusXM at 7:00 PM (ET). Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler will appear from the live event at Angel Orensanz Foundation, For Contemporary Art, with Tony Iommi beaming in from Birmingham, England, while 13 drummer Brad Wilk and Jack Osbourne (who directed the clips to launch the album) will join live face-to-face via Google+ Hangout from Los Angeles. The event will be hosted by comedian Jim Norton (a host on Ozzy's Boneyard and a co-host on The Opie & Anthony Show on SiriusXM).

Viewers around the world will join the celebration, the event will also air live on Ozzy Osbourne's SiriusXM channel Ozzy's Boneyard, via satellite on channel 38, and through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com.

8 June 2013

 Photo by Vertigo

Birmingham Mail reviews Sabbath’s “13”

“I have to admit that it’s not what I expected,” says Tony Iommi , “In a good way, that is. I could never have imagined that the album would turn out so well, but it has. I think it sits comfortably with our first three albums – Black Sabbath, Paranoid and Master Of Reality. We wanted it to sound like the way we played in our early days, back to basics, and we recorded pretty much all of it almost live as a band. We didn’t want to go through the usual trip of recording the drums, the guitars and the vocals separately. So we played together.”

Birmingham Mail’s Paul Cole listened to the new album and this is his track by track verdict:

End Of The Beginning

Sabbath’s return is announced by an explosive power chord leading into a four-note mirror image riff as Ozzy pleads: “Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?”

It’s a classic Sabbath plod for close on three minutes until a faster rock and roll riff kicks in, topped by a tightly controlled guitar solo one minute spitting more bullets than a Kalashnikov, the next sparingly melodic.

“All right, OK,” chants Ozzy as the song winds down, a surefire stadium response ploy. It’s old school Sabbath but dressed in crisp contemporary production rather than the muddy mixes of old.

God Is Dead

The album’s longest track, at almost nine minutes, boasts a similar reverse riff to the opener but is a more doomy, gloomy affair.

“Is God alive or is God dead?” sings Ozzy before rambling on about “rivers of evil through the dying land” and warning that “sinners will be damned” somehow stretching the last word into three Brummie syllables.

It’s inspired by the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Centre, not that you’d necessarily know it.

Again, there are time changes aplenty, including a kickass stop-start boogie which gets the adrenaline flowing round about the three-quarter mark, and a near-progressive riff at the close that is destined to defeat Guitar Hero wannabes.

Loner

Easily accessible and radio-friendly, Loner ups the pace, driven by Geezer Butler’s bass and Brad Wilk’s tight drumming. Classic Sabbath hallmarks are still in evidence but it’s the album’s most lightweight contender.

Just when you think you’ve got it figured as a good highway song, Tony Iommi pulls the rug from under your feet with a tricky riff and searing solo.

Zeitgeist

Remember Planet Caravan from the Paranoid album back in 1970? Well, here it is again. Sort of.

Opening with Ozzy’s manic laughter, it’s all acoustic guitar and bongo percussion given a psychedelic twist. Think the sort of songs Led Zeppelin offered on their third album but without the blues roots.

Iommi’s flanged guitar adds to the period piece, until he breaks into some Wes Montgomery-style jazz licks. If you listen again to early Sabbath, there’s a surprising amount of jazz amid the monolithic metal.

Age Of Reason

Stadium rock drumbeats herald another huge riff on the album’s best track. “Always felt there would be trouble,” sighs Ozzy, perhaps mindful of Iommi’s lymphoma diagnosis, Bill Ward’s departure and his own addiction.

Musically the most ambitious outing here, there are tricksy time turnarounds, and Wilks adds drum fills all over the place much in the way that Ward once wandered. There’s a tighter middle section that smacks of his day job in Rage Against The Machine.

It’s a song Sabbath fans Metallica would love to cover, old school but shiny new at the same time. Iommi tops it off with a clean, stylish solo set against the murmurings of a heavenly choir.

Live Forever

Phew! What a scorcher! Opening like Iron Man, this motors along like a runaway Eddie Stobart truck before slowing down for Ozzy’s anguished “I don’t want to live forever but I don’t want to die!”

The troubled frontman has rarely sung better in recent years, and is in far better form than on his ill-advised outing with Slash a couple of years back. It’s short but sweet – by Sabbath standards – at under five minutes.

You could imagine this having been released around the time the Sabs stormed the charts with Paranoid, and Deep Purple replied with Black Night.

Damaged Soul

Sabbath board the Tardis and make an unashamed trip in time right back to their beginnings.

It’s a slow, slow riff shot through with the blues, even adding blues harp to the nostalgia. It’s also the first track to escape the polished production process, more organic than the rest.

“Satan is waiting for the righteous to fall,” whines Ozzy and there’s an Iommi solo so natural, warts and all, that it sounds it was done in one take, just like the old days. Diehards will love it, newcomers may be unconvinced.

Dear Father

The album closes with a chilling tale of child abuse, seemingly condemnation of the sex scandals that have dogged the Catholic church.

“You preyed upon my flesh then prayed for my soul,” seethes Ozzy.

But, and here’s the surprise, it’s actually the most melodic song on the album, with an unlikely hook that might have emerged from The Beatles’ classic White Album sessions.

That wouldn’t be enough, of course, so there’s another runaway riff in the mid-section of the song, which finally closes to the sound of thunder and rail amid which a church bell mournfully tolls.

Read more on Birmingham Mail

Paul Cole for Birmingham Mail, 8 June 2013

Jim Simpson – first Sabbath manager pays tribute to Tony, Ozzy and Geezer!

According to Birmingham Mail, Jim Simpson, who masterminded the group’s rise to the top of the charts with their iconic second album Paranoid in 1970, said their quality – coupled with a lucky break – had guaranteed their long career.

Black Sabbath's original manager has praised the Brum rock legends’ staying power – after frontman Ozzy Osbourne said their reunion was ‘jinxed’.

Simpson, now director of the annual Birmingham International Jazz and Blues Festival said: “I think it’s a great credit to everyone involved that they’ve kept going for all these years.

“The Rolling Stones have set the pace for all of them, and Sabbath are made up of the same thing. If you get the music right, you’ve always got an audience for it. The week I lost them, Paranoid the single was at number two, Paranoid the album was at number one, and Black Sabbath, the first album, was back in the chart at number 16.

“The fact they’re here now is justification for what we all believed in those days. I took their first album to 14 record companies and they all turned it down.

“We got a lucky break as Olav Wyper, the guy from CBS who had rejected them, was headhunted by Phonogram’s new underground label. He had a rethink and said ‘that record you played me – we’ll do a deal’.

“And the rest is history.”

Read the whole article on Birmingham Mail

Steve Bradley for Birmingham Mail, 8 June 2013 

 Photo Chris Walter, Getty Images

Black Sabbath guest on Daniel P. Carter's Rock Show on BBC; New Video soon

The June 3rd edition of BBC Radio 1's Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter is available on Bravewords.com.

The Black Sabbath special features interviews with Tony Iommi and his bandmates Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), and Geezer Butler (bass), discussing their new album, “13”.

Black Sabbath will premier their new video, for the “13” album track, “God Is Dead?” on June 17th.

The new album “13” will be officially released on June 11, the entire album is now available as a free stream via iTunes.

Read David Swan’s interview with Tony’s bandmate Geezer Butler on FasterLouder.

6 June 2013
Photo Facebook.com/blacksabbath  

Iommi’s band will guest on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

According to the Late Night TV Page, Black Sabbath will guest on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Monday, June 10th. For more details and air-times on NBC visit LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com.

With Black Sabbath's much-anticipated 13 album just a week away, the entire album is now available as a free stream via iTunes.

“13” - which is already available as a pre-order in the iTunes store - topped the iTunes charts as the #1 Rock album and single, the #1 Metal album and single, and the #19 Overall album in the first 24 hours of availability.

Sabbath fans who pre-order the standard or deluxe edition of the album, with three additional tracks , will immediately receive a download of the single “God Is Dead?”

Read more on Bravewords.com

Bravewords.com, 4 May 2013
Photo by Vertigo