It's been 35 years since the classic original lineup of Black Sabbath recorded a full-length album together. After 1978's Never Say Die!, Ozzy was relieved of his duties as the iconic front man, and moved on to a successful but stormy solo career. That's a long, long time.
Last year, the original membership of Ozzy Osbourne, "Geezer" Butler, Bill Ward, and Tony Iommi elected to re-form and produced a new album with mostly respected studio guy, Rick Rubin. The classic and anticipated reunion was hampered by a contractual disagreement involving drummer Bill Ward, who elected to disengage himself from the production of 13. Ward would be replaced by Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, "And so it goes."
The completed album is currently streaming via iTunes as a free listen. That's a pretty good deal (if you ask me). With a robust pre-order, the album already ranks as the #1 Rock Album on the iTunes chart, and 19th Overall Album sales just in the first 24 hours. The new Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath set actually goes on sale June 11 everywhere there is music being sold in this wide, wide world of ours.
