Members of Black Sabbath are open to the possibility of another studio album

Members of Black Sabbath are sharing their honest thoughts on “13” and what might have been as the excitement surrounding the band’s final chapter ending on July 5 continues to build. Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward spoke candidly in an interview with Classic Rock the highs and lows of recording “13”, the impact of producer Rick Rubin, and whether or not there is still hope for another Sabbath album. Iommi disclosed that last year he went back to the early demo sessions for “13”—recordings done at his home studio with engineer and producer Mike Exeter prior to Rick Rubin’s involvement.

All the band had come over to my house and we put stuff down. I was listening to it and thinking, ‘Blimey, that sounds good.’ Tony Iommi

Although “13” was Black Sabbath‘s first album with the original lineup since “Never Say Die!” in 1978, Iommi believes that the formal production process with Rubin took away the unadulterated energy of those early home sessions.

I went to Los Angeles with three CDs full of ideas, but he made us strip everything down that I’d put together. He wanted it to sound like the first album. But you can’t recreate that. Some of the stuff sounded better when we were working at my house – it sounded more… alive. But it’s what it was. And it’s a shame Bill didn’t play on it, but it was difficult. Tony Iommi

Iommi hasn’t ruled out revealing the original material in spite of the conflicting opinions: the pre-Rubin demos might be released. Sabbath‘s longstanding songwriter and bassist, Geezer Butler, also voiced concerns about the album’s production.

There are some good songs on there, such as ‘God Is Dead?’, ‘Zeitgeist’, ‘Damaged Soul’ and ‘Dear Father’. I was led to believe Ozzy would write all the lyrics, but Rick Rubin insisted I write them. So I changed around some lyrics and ideas of Ozzy’s, then wrote everything in a mad rush. I like Sabbath’s lyrics to mean something, but trying to think of thirteen subjects to write about the night before committing them to recording gave me headaches. It would have been great if Bill was on it.

Geezer Butler

I’ve been approached about doing a Sabbath album. It could be good, but I don’t want to take the time of sitting down and writing stuff like last time and it goes willy-nilly. Tony Iommi

Do I wish we’d done another album? No, I don’t wish we had, but if anyone really wanted to do another, I’d be up for it. But not just for the sake of doing it. Geezer Butler