BLACK SABBATH's IOMMI: 'I Don't Know If That Would Be An Anticlimax If We Wrote Another Album'

BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi (guitar),Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) and Geezer Butler (bass) spoke to Revolver magazine about whether there will be another studio album from the band following the chart-topping success of SABBATH's comeback effort, "13".

Iommi, who claims to have "hundreds" of unused riffs, refused to give a definitive answer. "I don't know if that would be an anticlimax if we wrote another album," he explained. "I'd like to, but we haven't actually spoken about it, you know? I don't know if that would be a good idea after this one, because this one's done so well. I'm sure we'd all like to do one. But I don't know. Maybe I should talk to the others about it."

"I really haven't thought about it," Butler concurred. 'I'm just glad that we made this one. It can't be something where you go in and go, 'Well, that one was No. 1, so let's do another No. 1 album.' I think we'll know if we can do it or if we can't. If we have to force it, then we won't be doing it."

"I don't want to say there's going to be another album, because I don't want you to ask me in another year, 'What happened when you said you were going to do another record?'" Ozzy said. "I'll leave it open. I'm open for anything. I have three albums to deliver of my own solo thing to my record label.

"We'll all still be doing music," he continued. "It's been a lot of fun doing it with BLACK SABBATH, and I'm not sorry at all for getting back together.

"Somebody said to me a while ago. 'You've got a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. You've got all the acclaim or whatever. What have you got left to achieve?' I said, 'Well, I haven't had a No. 1 album in America.' But now I have. So I mean, I try to carry on. I don't know. Time goes by so quickly. I just leave the door open.''

Iommi revealed in January of 2012 that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma, which is described by the Mayo Clinic as "a cancer of the lymphatic system, the body's disease-fighting network."

Butler told Revolver magazine that he found himself writing at least one song, of the estimated 16 the band composed for "13", about what Iornmi was going through. "It was very much about dying, about giving your last breath and passing your spirit on," the bassist said. "But that song didn't make it on the album." When Revolver pressed Butler for a song title, he first said he didn't think he ever named the song. Then he said, "I think it might have been 'Hanging By A Thread'. That was just the working title. We never carne up with the finished thing."

"13" is SABBATH's first album in 35 years to feature Iommi, Butler and Osbourne playing together.