Black Sabbath announce reunion

New album and world tour brings back the original lineup after almost three decades.

LOS ANGELES: Veteran British rock band Black Sabbath announced on November 11, that their original four-man lineup is reuniting for their first new album in 33 years and a 2012 world tour.

The four musicians — now all in their 60s — released their last studio album of all original material in 1978 named Never Say Die. Rumors of a possible reunion of the English metal band, regarded as one of the pioneers of heavy metal with hits like “Iron Man” and “War Pigs”, had been swirling for months.

Fans of rock were elated when the quartet featuring singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, bass player Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward confirmed in a press conference that they would perform at the Download Festival in England in June 2012 and then embark on a world tour. The band, which first got together under the name Black Sabbath in 1969, said that they were working on new material for the album which is expected to release in the fall of 2012. “It’s now or never. We are getting along great. Everything’s really good,” Iommi told reporters at the club where Black Sabbath had their first performance in Los Angeles exactly 41 years ago. “It’s like putting on an old glove. It’s fantastic,” Iommi added. The album, which is to be produced by Rick Rubin, does not have a title as yet.

Frontman Osbourne was fired from the band in 1979, leading to a revolving lineup for a number of years. The original foursome, however, came together in 1998 and released Reunion, and played together sporadically for shows in the early 2000s.

Now, Black Sabbath has also announced the launch of its first official website www.blacksabbath.com, and said it would be making its first foray into social media via Facebook and Twitter 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th,  2011.