Ozzy Osborne Declares No New Sabbath Album After All

Posted on October 30, 2015 by News Team

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

Black Sabbath Adds More North American Tour Dates For 2016

Posted on October 27, 2015 by News Team

Due to “overwhelming demand” Black Sabbath has announced additional North American tour dates for next summer. Additional tour dates for 2016 are below:

Due to overwhelming demand, the road to THE END just got longer.

On the heels of their much-anticipated performances in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, BLACK SABBATH will end the epic journey they began nearly five decades ago with another run of North American dates in fall 2016. These shows will follow a mix of summer headlining and festival performances throughout Europe.

The second run of North American dates kicks off August 17 at Jones Beach Amphitheater in New York and includes stops at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (where the band last performed a sold-out show on their wildly successful 13 world tour in 2014), Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Detroit, and Dallas, among others, before wrapping September 21 at AK-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, AZ.

The massive 2016 world tour by the greatest Metal Band of all time marks THE END for Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler as they close the final chapter in the final volume of the incredible BLACK SABBATH story with this tour. BLACK SABBATH’s THE END farewell tour promises to surpass all previous tours and will feature the band’s most mesmerizing production ever.

When this tour concludes, it will truly be THE END, THE END of one of most legendary bands in Rock ’n Roll history…BLACK SABBATH

Other Black Sabbath tour dates, 2016:

BLACK SABBATHTRIUMPHANTLY RETURN TO NORTH AMERICADUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND,“THE END” TOUREXTENDED INTO FALL…

Posted by Black Sabbath on Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Black Sabbath Books The End – Tour Dates For 2016

Posted on September 3, 2015 by News Team

Making good on their promise Black Sabbath has announced “The End”, the start of a final run of tour dates putting the finish on their nearly 50 year career in metal. The band, officially considered to be Ozzy Osborne , Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler, has announced a final US tour as well tour dates for Australia and New Zealand. More date to be announced for the final tour soon. You can watch the tour trailer at this link or below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYCvRV5ME3w&feature=youtu.be

Black Sabbath, photo credit Mark Weiss

Black Sabbath “The End” US tour dates

Jan 20: Century Link Center – Omaha, NE

Jan 22: United Center – Chicago, IL

Jan 25: Target Center – Minneapolis, MN

Jan 28: Sasktel Centre- Saskatoon, SK

Jan 30: Rexall Centre – Edmonton, AB

Feb 01: Scotiabank Saddledome – Calgary, ON

Feb 03: Rogers Arena – Vancouver, BC

Feb 06: Tacoma Dome – Tacoma, WA

Feb 09: SAP Center – San Jose, CA

Feb 11: The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

Feb 13: Mandalay Bay Events Center – Las Vegas, NV

Feb 15: Pepsi Center – Denver, CO

Feb 17: Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO

Feb 19: The Palace of Auburn Hills- Detroit, MI

Feb 21: First Ontario Centre – Hamilton, ON

Feb 23: Bell Centre- Montreal, QB

Feb 25: Madison Square Garden – New York City, NY

Black Sabbath “The End” Australia/New Zealand Tour Dates

Apr 15: Perth Arena – Perth

Apr 17: Entertainment Centre – Adelaide,AU

Apr 19: Rod Laver Arena- Melbourne, AU

Apr 23: Allphones Arena- Sydney, AU

Apr 25: Entertainment Centre -Brisbane, AU

Apr 28: Vector Arena – Auckland, NZ

Apr 30: Barr Stadium – Dunedin Forsyth, NZ

More dates to be announced in October 2015

Details on Tickets,VIP packages and more for the North American shows can be foundat: www.Livenation.com

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Orchid – Sign Of The Witch

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Steve Tovey

It doesn’t seem that long ago that “Grease” was the word. In fact it was the word right around the time that Black Sabbath were threatening to implode and spilled Ozzy out of the band and out of the back-end of the crest of a tsunami they’d been riding since their début. And then came the 80’s, a decade where every man, woman and child involved in rock and metal tried to distance themselves from the fuzzy, darkness of the Sabbath sound. The 90’s ushered back in a reverence for Sabbath and Zeppelin through the scuzz of grunge, before the nau/oughties eschewed the doom in favour of clinical metal(core) once more.

And so we find ourselves mid-way through another cycle, one where the Hand of Doom is not just welcomed, but feverishly worshipped and celebrated by the cult, the kvlt and the cunt alike. And here sit Kirk Hammett’s favourite occult doom quartet Orchid on their fourth EP, Sign of the Witch (Nuclear Blast) a four-track stop gap en-route to their third album. With bell-bottomed production values deeply steeped in the seventies, this is a warm EP of 70’s fuzzy doom.

The issue is that, while this is lovingly crafted and the first two tracks in particular are decent songs, Orchid are so close to being a Sabbath tribute band that Tony and the boys may be getting their copyright lawyers on the case. Theo Mindell warmly apes Mr Osborne, while Keith Nickel’s fuzzy, wandering basslines are pure Geezer worship.

Despite a strong start, matters lose impetus, meandering off down the blandest of paths with ‘Strange Winds’. There is a multitude who have taken the works of Sabbath and created many varied and beautiful things. Orchid have slavishly recreated the works of the masters, but without the requisitve song-writing skill.

5.5/10

STEVE TOVEY

My Favorite Concert Memory: Don Slater of Battlecross

Posted on June 4, 2015 by News Team

Don Slater of Battlecross, Photo by Emma Parsons Photography

We get lucky once in a while on tour. I mean *really* lucky. My most favorite memory comes from playing Nova Rock in Austria. This was one of the shows we played on our festival run in 2014 where our backstage laminates let us go anywhere we pleased. That rarely happens, to be honest with you. With festivals, you’re typically only allowed to go back stage at the stage you performed, and even then with limited access. Not Nova Rock. It started off as any festival does. A little bit of confusion, many faces (some familiar, most foreign to us), and a whole slew of music to be heard. We were to perform on one of the side stages to a very receptive crowd, and as pleasing at it was, I couldn’t get a simple yet nagging thought out of my head. As much as I tried, I simply couldn’t contain my excitement: Black Sabbath is here.

Not on the same stage, or anywhere near us, but the fact they were in the vicinity and performing that evening was tantalizing, to say the least. We finished our set, ate our fine catering, and after some rest (and many beers), it was time. Time for me to see good ol’ Geezer Butler in action. Being a bass player, I’ve always held a ton of respect for him, even before I picked up the low-end guitar. As I aforementioned, our passes were the golden ticket this time around. There’s a common misconception that backstage is the absolute best place to be. Sure, you’ll be seen by your peers, maybe get a thumbs up or a high-five from one of the band members on stage, but I wasn’t watching Black Sabbath to be noticed; I was there to watch them perform with the best audio I could from a live show. That only happens at one place, and that place is where the front of house mixing board resides. That’s where the sound gets mixed overall, adjusted, and quite frankly, you get to witness the whole show.

Black Sabbath in 1970, photo by Warner Brothers Records

With all that in mind, that’s where I went. The FOH was elevated, so I had no issues seeing the entire stage, the whole show, every effect and they even had large screens to show closeups of the entire band. I couldn’t take my eyes off Geezer Butler. As much as I wanted to watch Ozzy and Tony tear it up, Geezer’s playing is his own. He plays so hard, but his tone is second to none. I didn’t have to fight sweaty dudes or get crammed together to witness all of this, either. I simply had to make sure I stayed out of the way of the gentlemen that were working. Easy to do if you have respect, you know? As it goes, in recent memory, that was the best concert I’ve attended in a long time. I simply had the luxury of performing it as well. Such an occurrence doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, you’re a fool not to take full advantage of it. It goes without saying that I highly doubt I’ll ever have such an experience again, but if I do, you know damn right I’ll make sure to remember every bit of it.

Don Slater and Battlecross can be seen on tour on the ‘Summer of Doom’ tour with Crowbar and Lord Dying. Battlecross’ new album Rise To Power releases on August 21st from Metal Blade.

Black Sabbath – 13

Posted on June 21, 2013 by News Team

Iconic. Revered. Pioneers. Influential. Just a few words that describe the legendary Black Sabbath. Add one more. Reunited*. Note the asterisk, however. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, and bassist Geezer Butler have teamed up for the first time in 35 years but they did it without drummer Bill Ward. RATM’s Brad Wilk takes over on skins for 13, the Sab 4’s first album of new material since 1978’s Never Say Die! The Rick Rubin produced 13 sounds like Black Sabbath should sound in 2013. It’s been said that Sabbath are guilty of recycling their own riffs here but it’s more a case of Sabbath sounding almost exactly like Sabbath. It’s a trait that has appeared polarizing to critics but what did you expect?Continue reading →

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