“WE’D known each other for 60 bloody years. It was a hell of a shock.”
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is still coming to terms with the loss of his brother in arms, Ozzy Osbourne.
“The night before he passed, I was talking to him — and the next day he was gone,” says the affable guitarist in his soft Brummie tones. “God, that was strange.”
As members of the hard-rocking trailblazers, Iommi became “The Godfather Of Heavy Metal” and Ozzy “The Prince Of Darkness”.
They came from humble backgrounds with precious little cash but a combination of inspiration and perspiration carried them to phenomenal global success.
Recalling their first gigs together in the late Sixties, Iommi says: “We could just about afford enough petrol to get us home in the van — and to share a bag of chips.
“It’s mad when you think about it, but I’m so proud of what we did because we stuck to what we believed in.”
It was Iommi, the only ever-present member, who laid the foundation on which Sabbath — and a whole new genre of music — was built.
His immense, doom-laden riffs adorned songs like Iron Man and Paranoid, providing a platform for Ozzy’s manic vocals and wild stage antics. The best part of six decades later, Sabbath are no more but Iommi is still creating vibrant new variations on his signature sound.
He is releasing an album under his own name filled with some of those immense riffs, called From The Dark.
He has done it by assembling an ace band including Norwegian singer Jorn Lande, who, with his flowing locks and beard, looks every inch a Viking marauder.
In the words of the guitarist himself, “It rocks!”
I find myself speaking to Iommi a few days after he had visited Windsor Castle to receive his MBE from Princess Anne.
“I don’t know how she does it,” he says of the redoubtable royal. “She was really nice, professional and relaxed.”
For Tony, it was official recognition of not only his guitar and songwriting heroics but also of his unstinting support for hospital charities in Birmingham.
Having been treated for lymphoma in 2012, he says “it’s been lovely to give something back” to the health sector “because they work hard and were so good to me”.
As our chat moves back to music matters, it’s clear that the events of last summer are still very much on his mind.
On July 5, 2025, he and fellow Sabbath founders Geezer Butler (lyrics, bass) and Bill Ward (drums) joined ailing Ozzy for one last hurrah at Villa Park in their hometown.
The momentous Back To The Beginning shindig featured a who’s who of hard rock royalty paying their respects — Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Alice In Chains among them.
Next Tuesday, a concert film opens in Birmingham cinemas, and the next day, it goes nationwide.
A mere 16 days after that momentous show, Iommi phoned Ozzy for what turned out to be the last time. The next evening, on July 22, came the sad news that his bandmate had passed away aged 76.
Describing the call, he says: “Ozzy was going, ‘I’m really tired. I just can’t seem to pull myself together’.
“I said, ‘You’re bound to feel like that — it’s been a tough few weeks’.” Iommi adds that when Sabbath convened for the Back To The Beginning rehearsals, he wasn’t prepared for his bandmate’s declining health..
Poor Ozzy had been battling Parkinson’s as well as the effects of injuries caused by his quad bike accident in the UK and a fall at his LA mansion.
Iommi says: “The last time I saw him was when we did the Commonwealth Games together (in 2022). I didn’t fully realise quite what he was going through.
“When he was back in LA, we’d talk on the phone every other week but I didn’t get to physically see him.
“He’d be telling me he had this pain here and that pain there — and I sort of took it with a pinch of salt.
“I’d be saying to him, ‘Well, I’ve got a pain in my neck. I’m suffering, too’. That would be the extent of our bloody conversation!”
Iommi recalls the moment he, Butler and Ward set eyes on Ozzy again: “We were all shocked — and it went very quiet in the room.”
But thankfully their time rehearsing in an Oxfordshire studio proved to be a life-affirming chance to catch up and indulge in a trip down memory lane.
Iommi says: “We sat down on the couch, the four of us, and we were having a laugh and taking the piss out of each other.
“It felt like the old times, but then Ozzy would get tired and lose concentration.” By that stage, however, Black Sabbath were on course to perform four of their best-loved, bone-shaking numbers, War Pigs, N.I.B., Iron Man and Paranoid.
It’s important to note that Iommi needed persuading to take part. He says: “When I was first asked to do the show, I said I didn’t want to do it.
“We’d done a tour called The End in 2017 — and to me it was the end.
“But then Bill (Ward) wasn’t on that tour and we hadn’t played with him for 20 years. Then they said the show was for charity, so I said, ‘Of course I’ll do it’.”
When it came to finally appearing on stage, Iommi, Butler and Ward had to deal with a new dynamic — Ozzy stuck on a big black throne adorned with skulls and a huge bat.
Iommi says: “It was really strange for myself, Geezer and Bill because we had Ozzy in front of us in that chair.
“We couldn’t see him! In the past, we would watch him running around.”
Despite that, the band played their socks off and gave their final bow after Paranoid had ended with a spectacular pyrotechnic display.
Iommi continues: “When we came off, there was a big, chaotic backstage and I went to my dressing room and Ozzy to his.
“But as Ozzy was leaving, they wheeled him into mine. He said he was so pleased we did it, that he’d even been able to do it and that he’d enjoyed it.
“I thought he did an incredible job, given the state of his health.”
If that night truly marked the end of Sabbath, Iommi had already been keeping his hand in by working on new music that is eventually appearing on From The Dark.
There is also the not-so-small matter of the barnstorming first track on Robbie Williams’ latest album Britpop called Rocket, which Iommi co-wrote and played on.
“That was something I never expected but really enjoyed,” he affirms. “It was so different for me to do that.
“Robbie was great, asked a lot of questions — but he was always honourable and polite.
“He actually asked me if I’d join him on stage when he played Birmingham but I was away at that time.”
Iommi has another connection with Robbie in the shape of Karl Brazil, the singer’s studio and touring drummer.
He plays on From The Dark along with bassist Becky Baldwin and the aforementioned singer Lande, who reminds Iommi of Sabbath’s other great vocalist aside from Ozzy, the late Ronnie James Dio.
Recommended by Mike Exeter, co-producer of the album, Brazil turns in a powerhouse performance.
“Karl’s a good player and he loves doing what he does,” says Iommi. “That’s the thing with this album — I wanted people who enjoy playing.”
As for Lande, he worked with Iommi on sessions as far back as 2005, as well as a Ronnie James Dio tribute concert in 2010.
“I liked Jorn’s voice and he is a nice person to get on with,” he says.
“I had him in mind for a while so he was the obvious choice when I decided not to make an instrumental album but use a vocalist.”
It was up to Lande to provide lyrics to songs such as the searing opener, Over The Violent Sun, and next track, Black Times, both informed by the dangerous times we live in.
Iommi says: “When Jorn first sent me the lyrics, I was, like, ‘Blimey! This is what’s happening in the world, isn’t it?’
“It reminded me of old Sabbath stuff like War Pigs, which was about the Vietnam War but could be about today.
“I was happy for Jorn to do his own thing — and he came out with real power and feel.”
This brings us to bassist Baldwin, who, like Iommi and Brazil, is from Birmingham.
“Apart from Jorn, I wanted to keep things as local as I could. First, I asked Geezer if he wanted to play on the album but he was away so Mike (Exeter) suggested Becky.
“The good thing is she’s a fan of Geezer. She’s got his playing style.”
Iommi reports that Sabbath bassist and chief lyricist Butler has given his new album his seal of approval.
“We always keep in touch and as soon as the single (World Alone) came out, Geezer emailed to say he really liked it.”
The cinematic video for the song includes black-clad Iommi playing guitar against a backdrop of menacing black clouds.
“To be honest, I don’t like being in videos,” he says.
“I’m a guitar player, not an actor, and I always feel uncomfortable.”
But he adds that the video makers were a “good bunch” and “great to work with”.
“And all they wanted me to do was ‘just stand there and play’.” It’s fair to say that of all From The Dark’s ten tracks, World Alone has the most upbeat guitar passages.
Iommi smiles and says: “When I started writing this album, the immediate thing for me to do was come up with a doomy riff.
“Then I’d come up with another doomy riff, and another one — so I had to do something up-tempo to give it a break.”
Rather than call on several of his high-profile musician mates from down the years, there’s just one special guest on From The Dark.
He is Iommi’s close friend — Queen’s legendary guitarist, Sir Brian May, who applies an epic solo to standout track Death Wake.
“Brian comes up to see me when he’s got time and we sit and play,” Iommi says.
“When I told him about the album, he brought his guitar and played on Death Wake, which was really great.
“After that, I said, ‘Play on another one’. Brian went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album and your solos are good!’”
Iommi says he first met May more than 50 years ago “and we hit it off from day one”.
“He’d be in a studio. When Freddie (Mercury) and everyone left and he was on his own, I’d go round to keep him company.
“Then when I’d be doing some Sabbath stuff, Brian would come and sit with me.
“It became a really good friendship.”
So would they ever make an album together? I venture.
“Do you know how many years we’ve spoken about that?” laughs Iommi.
“Then, of course, he gets busy and I get busy. We’ve gone on and on about it for so long that it’s become a joke.”
For now, metal fans the world over will have to make do with Iommi’s From The Dark, guest starring Brian May.
It’s got plenty of those epic “doomy riffs” we’ve come to expect from The Godfather Of Heavy Metal.