Ozzy Osbourne is about to release his 13th solo album, Patient Number 9, but fans also have Black Sabbath on the mind. The record features Osbourne's former Sabbath bandmate, Tony Iommi, on a couple tracks, and last month the pair reunited onstage for a run-through of Sabbath's "Paranoid." Between those two events, it's reasonable to wonder whether Black Sabbath are gearing up for a return to the stage — or even a new trip into the studio.
However, in a new interview with Kerrang!, Osbourne shot down the potential of a proper Sabbath reunion, saying that if Iommi makes another record under the Sabbath name, then "I'm not doing it!"
"If Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi do an album together, it's going to sound like a Sabbath album," Ozzy said, upon being asked if he has more music in store with Iommi. "Tony was the sound of Sabbath. There's no getting away from the fact that, when he plays with me, it'll be some kind of a reflection of that. Maybe the tracks he did on my album was like what Sabbath should have been had we stayed together, but I want to take it away from Sabbath.
"We put that band to bed," he continued. "And if he wants to [make it another] Sabbath album, I'm not doing it!"
While Ozzy seems to have no interest in reuniting with his pioneering metal bandmates, he does have a clear goal in mind for the near future — getting back onstage for full shows. The Prince of Darkness has undergone numerous surgeries over the last few years, but he's currently in recovery and has a plan to get back out there to play for his adoring fans.
"I've just got to get back into a rhythm again," Ozzy told Kerrang!. "My balance is all fucked up, but I've got to keep going. I mean, I'll probably always have a limp. But I don't mind, as long as I can fuckin' walk around without falling on my head. I have a goal: that next summer I will be onstage. If I put every effort into it and I still can't, at least I can't say that I haven't tried."
"I am going to put 110 per cent into getting myself out there," he latter emphasized. "Time is my most valuable asset now. I'm 73. I don't think that I'll be here in another 25 years. I've got a goal: the goal is to get back onstage. I had my last surgery in June, I can't have any more. So whatever I make of it is entirely up to me now.
"Even if I manage one show, then fall over, [I'll have done it]. But I know that I'm going to carry on. I know I can beat it. I know that I can get back onstage. It's just that I've got to get off my butt and go for it."
