Ozzy Osbourne: '13' Wasn't Really a Black Sabbath Album | Revolver

Ozzy Osbourne: '13' Wasn't Really a Black Sabbath Album

Prince of Darkness has second thoughts about Sabbath's swan song
black sabbath 2013 PROMO
Black Sabbath, 2013

Black Sabbath's last album, 2013's 13, hasn't aged that well. Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler have both expressed misgivings about the recording sessions, specifically, the work — or lack of work — done by producer Rick Rubin. Now, in an recent interview with Stereogum, Ozzy Osbourne has shared similar sentiments.

Asked if he looks back positively on 13 and how it dropped the curtain on Sabbath, the Prince of Darkness responded, "Not really, because, to be perfectly honest, I didn't really get a charge from the album. Although Rick Rubin is a good friend of mine, I wasn't really … I was just singing. It was like stepping back in time, but it wasn't a glorious period. Though Geezer did a lot of lyric writing for me, which he's very, very good at. It wasn't an earth-shattering experience for me."

As for whether Sabbath might ever reunite again, Ozzy said, "I would like to say it's completely done. I think it's time." His only regret? That, due to a contractual issue, OG drummer Bill Ward didn't play on 13 or join the band on their farewell tour. (Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk drummed on the album; Ozzy's Tommy Clufetos, on the tour.)

"The only thing I really regret, to be honest, is that Bill Ward didn't play on the album," the singer admitted. "It wasn't really a Black Sabbath album. I'm not saying that one day we might not all go in a room and come up with the perfect Black Sabbath album. But I'll say, [13] wasn't recorded the way Black Sabbath recorded records. We'd gone right back past the point where we took charge, back to when someone else had full control of our recording. Which we never did from Vol. 4 onwards."

Ozzy and Iommi notably reunited recently, first on two songs off the singer's new solo album, Patient Number 9, and then onstage at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where they played Sabbath's "Paranoid."