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EXPLAINED: Sabbath - The Real Truth

10 obscure but brilliant 70s bands who should have been huge

These 70s bands came, they rocked, and they vanished without trace

Louder

“Equal amounts extreme anxiety and unbelievable pleasure”: Mastodon look back on the pressure and delight of playing Black Sabbath’s final show

The Atlanta metal band opened the last gig before Ozzy Osbourne’s death in July 2025

Metal Hammer

How Ozzy Osbourne conquered personal demons and bitter contract wars to eclipse Black Sabbath. "Part of me wanted to say to them, you fired me, and now I don’t need you, so f*** you"

Forty years after the release of The Ultimate Sin, this is the story of how a fragile but defiant Ozzy Osbourne took on his former band – and won

Metal Hammer

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“He and Eddie Van Halen were the only two I really stayed in touch with”: Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on collaborating with Queen guitarist and “best friend” Brian May for new solo album From The Dark

May contributes to the song Death Wake on Iommi’s long-awaited solo comeback

Metal Hammer

"I said to him, Do you want to play on something else? He said, No, no. Your solos are good." Why Queen's Brian May is the only guest musician featured on Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's forthcoming solo album

Tony Iommi's upcoming solo album From The Dark features his old friend Brian May on a song called Death Wake

Metal Hammer

“It rocks!”: Hear Tony Iommi's new single World Alone as the Black Sabbath icon announces his solo album

From The Dark will be released on October 23 and features Jorn Lande on vocals. Riffs guaranteed or your money back

MusicRadar

“We’re not trying to prove anything – it’s a great album, it rocks!” Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi releases solo single World Alone, announces long-awaited album From The Dark

The heavy metal architect’s first solo effort since 2005 drops in October

Metal Hammer

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“In loving memory of the Prince of Darkness”: Sophie Lloyd pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with a blazing shred cover of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid

The Machine Gun Kelly guitarist and YouTube superstar marks the first anniversary of Ozzy's death by giving a Sabbath classic the full-shred treatment

MusicRadar

“Randy said, ‘Maybe if you tried it in this key…’ He had the patience because he was a guitar teacher. He wouldn’t intimidate me. Because I’m quite easily intimidated”: Ozzy Osbourne on his special writing dynamic with Randy Rhoads

Blizzard of Ozz was the Prince of Darkness' solo debut – but it forever marked Rhoads as a guitar hero for the ages

Guitar World

Ozzy Osbourne’s bandmate Tony Iommi watches ‘dear friend’ on YouTube one year after Black Sabbath frontman’s death

Osbourne is famed for co-founding the chart-topping 1960s group alongside Iommi, bassist Terence "Geezer" Butler, and drummer Bill Ward

The Independent UK

Black Sabbath star Tony Iommi honours ‘dear friend’ Ozzy on anniversary of death

Iommi and Osbourne rose to fame in the chart-topping heavy metal group.

Evening Standard

"We thought, 'What the hell is going on around here?' They thought he was some lunatic who got into the castle." How a ghostly apparition ended Tony Iommi's writer's block and inspired one of Black Sabbath's greatest riffs

With Tony Iommi suffering from writer's block, Black Sabbath did the most logical thing: They hired a haunted castle

Metal Hammer

“I’m just catching a ride, I’m not in retirement or ill or giving up”: Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward declares he’s “still a drummer” despite needing to use a wheelchair

The pioneering heavy metal sticksman “can’t walk very far without needing to rest” but refuses to give up his instrument

Metal Hammer

"That riff is probably the very first heavy metal riff ever": The story of the Hendrix-inspired Cream classic their label boss thought was "psychedelic hogwash"

Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love was a slow-burning success, but it inspired a generation of future rockers

Louder

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Guitar World

“Without you, we wouldn’t be here”: He played bass with Robert Plant, gave Tony Iommi his sound and created an iconic British amp brand – the life and times of Lyndon Laney

The loved and respected founder of the Midlands amp company was behind the seismic sound of Black Sabbath and countless more

MusicRadar

“I always felt like I was the weak link in the band. I felt that my guitar playing was was too raw and unpolished”: How guitar hero Vivian Campbell overcame self-doubt to create a heavy metal masterpiece with legendary singer Ronnie James Dio

His solo in Dio's most famous song was cut in one take

Louder

"John orders 12 bottles of champagne. I thought he was going to treat everybody in the club, but he turned to me and said, 'Go on, drink it – that's yours.'" What happened when John Bonham was best man at Tony Iommi's wedding

Led Zeppelin's famously revelrous drummer John Bonham was Best Man at Tony Iommi's wedding in 1973

MusicRadar

“I was looking for it and he said, ‘Oh that? I threw it away. It was crap.’ I couldn’t believe it”: How Tony Iommi found the secret to his Black Sabbath tone (and how he lost it)

A moment of madness from an amp tech and Iommi's secret weapon was gone, never to be seen again

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Metal Hammer

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi named MBE in King's Birthday Honours

Tony Iommi says MBE is an "unbelievable honour" – Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood also honoured

Guitar World

“He only ever said one thing to me about sounding like anyone he’d played with before”: Rowan Robertson on the key piece of advice he received from Ronnie James Dio on how to faithfully play Tony Iommi’s riffs

Though Robertson was only 17 at the time he was hired for Ronnie James Dio's band, the legendary frontman had the utmost confidence in him

Guitar World

“This movie will absolutely happen... We're full steam ahead”: Jack Osbourne confirms Ozzy Osbourne biopic is still in the cards

The movie will reportedly feature Ozzy at the tail end of his Black Sabbath career – and will also include Randy Rhoads

Louder

"Substitute any Vietnam reference with any current war and the lyrics still stand up. I think the lyrics on Paranoid are timeless." How themes of war, madness and nuclear holocaust shaped Black Sabbath's second album

Black Sabbath ditched the hippy dream and faced brutal reality on Paranoid

Louder

"70s metal was definitely the coolest. AC/DC had some fly records, Sabbath had some cool s**t." Ten Beastie Boys songs featuring samples of classic rock anthems

"When hip hop DJs started using those chunky riffs, we started checking out old metal again"

Guitar World

“He got the same sound. It’s the way he played – it wasn’t his gear”: What happened when Brian May recorded with Black Sabbath – and played through Tony Iommi’s rig

The Black Sabbath legend weighs in on the ‘gear versus player’ debate

Metal Hammer

"We were just jamming, making stuff up. Our session went totally out of the window." The true story of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin's lost jam

Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi on the legendary Black Zeppelin jam – the greatest session you’ve never heard

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