Black Sabbath to record new album, final tour

Ozzy Osbourne hopes to begin writing sessions for the new album with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler in early 2015

Following the global success of their most recent album 13, heavy metal legends Black Sabbath have decided to record another album, Rolling Stone reported.

Lead vocalist Ozzy Osbourne says he hopes to begin writing sessions for the new album with guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler in early 2015. "We're going to do one more album, and a final tour," he said.

Osbourne said that the experience of making and touring for 13 was positive and that the band left things off on friendly terms after their tour earlier this year.

"Once the dust settled after the last tour we started discussing the idea – because we were getting asked about it all the time – I said to Sharon, 'What's going on? Because if there's no more Sabbath I want to get on with my own thing again,' and she came back and said 'Let me look into it,'" Osbourne told the magazine.

"Three weeks later, I asked her about it again, and she said 'Oh, I still have to talk to so and so...' And I said, 'Sharon, I ain't 21 anymore. If we're going to do [it], I want to do it before I'm 70. Time isn't on our side.' So she made the call and came back and said, 'Yeah, the record company wants another album.' I believe Rick Rubin is going to do it with us again."

Osbourne says the album will be out "sooner rather than later."

"Obviously a lot of it is coming down to Tony's health, he's obviously got his cancer treatment, but we'll get onto it next year," he said. "I don't know if we'll be writing in England or L.A., but I'll fly to the moon for it if I have to."

Osbourne in January told Rolling Stone that he was "down" to do another Sabbath LP, saying, "it's now or never." Iommi rejoined, "Absolutely." At the time, the guitarist reported that he was "feeling OK" from his treatments for lymphoma, which was discovered early in the making of 13.