In an interview Ozzy Osbourne has contradicted previous statement, now saying there will be in fact no new Black Sabbath album to coincide with “The End” World Tour dates. The band had spent several years touting the work towards one more album following the smash success of 2013’s 13 comeback album.
Ozzy on the change of direction about a new Sabbath album:
“We were gonna do one before the tour, but I’m 67 in December, it would take three or four years to write and record an album, by which time I’ll be f—ing 73 or 72 or something,” Ozzy tells veteran rock journalist Gary Graff in a new interview. “So we decided just to do a farewell tour. If we did an album and it went to No. 2, people would go, ‘It’s over.’ There’s only one more place you can go after No. 1 and that’s No. 2, you know.”
You can here the entire interview between Ozzy and veteran music journalist Gary Graff at this link:
Both Ozzy and Tony Iommi had both gone on record confirming a new record was in the works. A second US leg of the “The End” tour dates went on sale today (pre-sale) and go on sale tomorrow.
Black Sabbath USA tour dates, summer 2016:
Aug 17: Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Aug 19: Philadelphia, PA Susquehanna Bank Center
Aug 21: Washington DC Jiffy Lube Live
Aug 23: Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug 25: Boston, MA Xfinity Center
Aug 27: Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
Aug 29: Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Aug 31: Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theater
Sept 02: Indianapolis, IN Klipsch Music Center
Sept 04: Chicago, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Sept 07: Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
Sept 09: Albuquerque, NM Isleta Ampitheater
Sept 11: Salt Lake City, UT USANA Ampitheater
Sept 13: Portland, OR Sunlight Supply Arena
Sept 15: Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
Sept 17 :Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
Sept 19: Hollywood, CA Hollywood Bowl
Sept 21: Phoenix, AZ AK-Chin Pavilion
Other Black Sabbath tour dates, 2016:
Jan 20: Omaha, NE CenturyLink Center
Jan 22: Chicago, IL United Center
Jan 25: Minneapolis, MN Target Center
Jan 27: Winnipeg MN MTS Centre
Jan 30: Edmonton, AB Rexall Centre
Feb 01: Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
Feb 03: Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Feb 06: Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
Feb 09: San Jose, CA SAP Pavilion
Feb 11: Los Angeles, CA The Forum
Feb 13: Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay
Feb 15: Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Feb 17: Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
Feb 19: Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
Feb 21: Hamilton, ON First Ontario Centre
Feb 23: Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Feb 25: New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Feb 27: New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Apr 15: Perth, AU Perth Arena
Apr 17: Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
Apr 19: Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
Apr 23: Sydney, AU Allphones Arena
Apr 25: Brisbane, AU Entertainment Centre
Apr 28: Auckland, NZ Vector Arena
Apr 30: Dunedin, NZ Forsyth Barr Stadium
Jun 01: Budapest,Hungary Groupama Arena
Jun 08: Berlin, Germany Waldebuhne
Jun: 11 Donington, UK Download **
Jun 13 Verona, IT Arena Di Verona
Jun 15: Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadon
Jun 17: Dessel,Belgium Grasspop **
Jun 23: Halden, Norway Tons of Rock **
Jun 25: Copenhagen, DE Copenhell **
Jun 28: Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
Jun 30 Prague, Czech Rep. 02 Arena
Jul 02: Krakow, Poland Tauron Arena
Jul 5: Riga, Latvia Riga Arena
Jul 07: Helsinki, Finland Monsters of Rock **
Jul 09: Stockholm, Sweden Monsters of Rock **
Jul 12: Moscow, Russia Olympisky Arena
**Denotes festival appearance
Full Of Hell are nothing if not busy. A plaethora of releases including this year’s Rudiments Of Mutilation (A389 Recordings) and a hellish tour schedule keep the band plowing full speed ahead. Vocalist Dylan Walker talks through a number of topics related to their craft with Ghost Cult’s Matt Hinch. 
Earlier this year the highly regarded Cult Of Luna released Vertikal. A concept album based on the proto-sci-fi movie Metropolis by Fritz Lang, it was met with widespread acclaim. Certainly for long time fans of the band Vertikal could very well land high on respective year end lists. Personally, the album never quite clicked until the impending release of Vertikal II forced me to revisit the full length. Vertikal II being the EP that completes the Vertikal picture. Three tracks plus a remix by JK Broadrick. Perhaps digesting CoL’s Vertikal vision in a smaller portion helps to appreciate the grandeur of the full meal to a greater degree.
Earlier this year Atlanta’s Dead In The Dirt dropped a sonic maelstrom of grinding mayhem and emotional catharsis with their album, The Blind Hole (Southern Lord). Ghost Cult’s Matt Hinch posed some questions to band mouthpiece Blake Connally about the band, the album and life in general. He was only too happy dig in.
Just because Earthless’s cosmic tunes may not have a cosmic origin, but that doesn’t mean their newest LP, From The Ages (Tee Pee) is content to stay within the confines of our atmosphere. Guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcada drop four tracks spanning a staggering hour and five minutes on their first full length since 2007.
Ramesses is a British doom/sludge trio consisting of guitarist Tim Bagshaw (ex-Electric Wizard), drummer Mark Greening (Electric Wizard) and vocalist/bassist Adam Richardson (ex-Lord of Putrefaction). Unfortunately Ramesses has been put on hold. Bagshaw moved to the US to form Serpentine Path with the guys from Unearthly Trance, and Greening rejoined Electric Wizard, leaving Richardson out in the cold. Thankfully Ritual Productions decided to reissue debut full length Misanthropic Alchemy for those who just can’t get enough. This exhausting 2-disc set spans over two dominating hours and includes MA on the first disc. The second is made up of the We Will Lead You To Glorious Times EP, the Tomb EP and Glorious Dead’ from the split with Unearthly Trance.
The old school cut and paste photo collage style cover art on Full of Hell’s Rudiments of Mutilation is a somewhat misleading visual representation of the sonic devastation found within. Not to say the randomness, deformity and disease depicted is any different than the caustic mix of doom, grind and noise though. No, the cover betrays how artful Full of Hell can be. But I have a feeling that is all part of the plan.
Oh my dark lord, what just happened? 25 minutes ago the world made sense. Now all I know is pain. I feel everything yet I feel nothing. My body is broken. My body is weak. My mind feels distorted. But something flows within me stimulating every fiber of my being. I feel surrounded by darkness. Something burns with euphoric clarity. Am I even breathing? I can’t move. Am I trapped or am I free? It’s becoming clearer. I’ve been assaulted. Violated. Forgotten. My skin is coarse. And cold. I am alone. I feel…I feel…Dead In The Dirt.
I’m not much for putting stock in band names, unless they’re ridiculously cool or ridiculously appropriate. So I would assume Pyres are named thusly due to the trail of such burning monuments left in the wake of their fiery brew of sludge, post-sludge, and doom-sludge. On debut LP Year of Sleep, these Torontonians set fire to the scene with six torches of tone over 40 dominating minutes.