As the hype continues to rise around Black Sabbath's final chapter closing on July 5, the band's members are offering candid reflections on 13 and what could have been.
In an interview with Classic Rock, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward spoke openly about the highs and lows of recording 13, the influence of producer Rick Rubin, and whether the door remains open for one more Sabbath album.
Iommi revealed that he revisited the early demo sessions for 13 last year — recordings made at his home studio with producer and engineer Mike Exeter, before Rick Rubin became involved.
"All the band had come over to my house and we put stuff down," Iommi said. "I was listening to it and thinking, 'Blimey, that sounds good.'"
While 13 was Black Sabbath's first album with the original lineup since 1978's Never Say Die!, Iommi feels the raw energy of those early home sessions was lost during the album's formal production process with Rubin.
"I went to Los Angeles with three CDs full of ideas, but he made us strip everything down that I'd put together," Iommi recalled. "He wanted it to sound like the first album. But you can't recreate that. Some of the stuff sounded better when we were working at my house – it sounded more… alive. But it's what it was. And it's a shame Bill didn't play on it, but it was difficult."
Despite the mixed feelings, Iommi hasn't ruled out sharing the original material: "There may well be" a release of the pre-Rubin demos.
Geezer Butler, Sabbath's longtime bassist and lyricist, also expressed reservations about how the album came together.
"There are some good songs on there, such as 'God Is Dead?', 'Zeitgeist', 'Damaged Soul' and 'Dear Father,'" he said. "I was led to believe Ozzy would write all the lyrics, but Rick Rubin insisted I write them. So I changed around some lyrics and ideas of Ozzy's, then wrote everything in a mad rush. I like Sabbath's lyrics to mean something, but trying to think of thirteen subjects to write about the night before committing them to recording gave me headaches."
He adds that he would rewrite some lyrics if given the chance, and like Iommi, laments the absence of drummer Bill Ward: "It would have been great if Bill was on it."
Ward, whose absence from 13 remains a point of contention among fans, has made his own position clear: "I'd love to do another album," he said. "I'll be direct about that."
Could there be another Sabbath studio album? Iommi is cautious but hasn't closed the door entirely: "I've been approached about doing a Sabbath album," he said. "It could be good, but I don't want to take the time of sitting down and writing stuff like last time and it goes willy-nilly."
Butler is more ambivalent: "Do I wish we'd done another album? No, I don't wish we had, but if anyone really wanted to do another, I'd be up for it. But not just for the sake of doing it."
While the future of Black Sabbath in the studio remains uncertain, one thing is clear: the final word has yet to be written. Whether through unreleased demos or a miraculous reunion, the spirit of Sabbath endures… and fans will be watching closely.
