Ex-BLACK SABBATH Singer TONY MARTIN Is Open To Doing Something With TONY IOMMI Again

In a new interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen of RockSverige, former BLACK SABBATH singer Tony Martin was asked if he would be open to doing something with Tony Iommi again in the future. He responded: "I would, and I've already said that if he felt like doing something I'd be up for it. I don't think Tony is really… What's the word?… I think he's come to the end of his need to do things. He doesn't need to do this stuff. As you get older, and he had that problem with the cancer thing, he's definitely not interested in touring, really. He could do the odd appearance, but he doesn't need to, so I don't know. I'd like to, but it's one of these things… Whilst everybody's still alive, there's always a possibility. I mean, they could still get Bill Ward back in the band and start again, in theory. Once people start passing along, you can't sort of do that anymore. I've already said that I wouldn't mind doing something if they were interested. We'll see how it goes."

As for whether he was involved with putting together the "Anno Domini 1989-1995" box set of the Martin-era SABBATH recordings, which was made available on May 31 via Rhino, the singer said: "No. I had nothing to do with putting it together. They did tell me that they were going to do it and I put a few suggestions forward of what we could possibly have on it. Some of the missing material that I've got that hadn't been used before, but they couldn't do that because of the contract thing so they couldn't really have anything considered 'new BLACK SABBATH' so they had to concentrate on what they already had. They did tell me, but they did it all themselves, Iommi and his engineers, and they did a really good job with it. I went round to his house a few months ago and just sitting there listening it was, 'Bloody hell, sounds really good.' And even 'Forbidden', they remixed it and that sounds like it's grown up, become an adult. They sound like SABBATH songs should sound now. It's more guitar based and slightly less keyboard, but it's SABBATH-y sounding."

BLACK SABBATH released six albums with Martin on vocals: "The Eternal Idol" (1987),"Headless Cross" (1989),"Tyr" (1990),"Cross Purposes" (1994),"Cross Purposes Live" (1995) and "Forbidden" (1995). Eventually, Martin and his "Forbidden"-era bandmates were ousted when Iommi reunited with SABBATH's fellow original members.

For the "Anno Domini 1989-1995" box set, which comes with either CDs or LPs, Iommi has remastered the albums "Headless Cross", "Tyr" and "Cross Purposes" and even remixed "Forbidden".

"There's some great stuff with Tony Martin," Iommi told DPA in a recent interview. "The funny thing is, though, when we had that lineup together, it was difficult because people wouldn't quite all accept it at the time.

"I financed that whole project, the touring and buses and everything else. I paid for it personally," he said. "I really enjoyed the band, I enjoyed the stuff we were doing."

Several albums make their vinyl debut in the LP version of "Anno Domini", while the CD version contains three exclusive bonus tracks: the B-side "Cloak & Dagger" and the Japan-only releases "What's The Use" and "Loser Gets It All". A booklet comes with the set featuring photos, artwork, and liner notes by Hugh Gilmour. The collection also contains a "Headless Cross" poster and a replica concert book from the "Headless Cross" tour.

"Anno Domini" picks up BLACK SABBATH's story in 1989, two decades and multiple lineup changes into the band's groundbreaking career as metal originators. At the time, membership had solidified around riffmaster and founding member Tony Iommi, legendary drummer Cozy Powell (JEFF BECK, RAINBOW, WHITESNAKE),singer Tony Martin, and longtime BLACK SABBATH collaborator and keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (QUARTZ, BANDY LEGS).

The group originally released "Headless Cross" in 1989 on I.R.S. Records, the first of four albums SABBATH recorded for the label. Praised by fans and critics alike, the band's 14th studio release produced three singles: "Devil And Daughter", "Call Of The Wild" and the title track. Bassist Neil Murray (WHITESNAKE, GARY MOORE) joined for the "Headless Cross" tour and stayed to record SABBATH's next album, 1990's "Tyr". Named for the Norse god of war, the album explores similar mythological themes in songs like "The Battle Of Tyr" and "Valhalla". On "The Sabbath Stones", the band channels Old Testament fire and brimstone into a classic bruiser.

In 1992, following a successful world tour, this incarnation of BLACK SABBATH was put on hold when the band reunited temporarily with Ronnie James Dio. Two years later, Martin and Nicholls were back in the studio with Iommi to record 1994's "Cross Purposes". The band was completed with the addition of founding SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bobby Rondinelli of RAINBOW.

The "Tyr"-era BLACK SABBATH lineup reunited in 1995 when Powell and Murray returned to record "Forbidden". It was the band's 18th studio album, and its last for nearly 20 years. (In 2013, Iommi, Osbourne and Butler released BLACK SABBATH's final studio album, "13".) "Forbidden", produced by Ernie C of BODY COUNT, the hard rock band fronted by rapper/actor/SABBATH fan Ice-T, who appears on the song "Illusion Of Power". Since its release, sonically improving the album has been one of Iommi's pet projects.

He explained: "I was never happy with the guitar sound, and Cozy was definitely never happy with the drum sound… So, I thought it would be nice to do it for him in a way." He adds, "I just felt that, without changing any of the songs, there was an opportunity to go back and bring out some of the sounds and make it more what people would expect SABBATH to sound like."

In January 2022, Martin reflected on his time with SABBATH during an appearance on "The Ron Keel Podcast", saying: "It doesn't haunt me. It's not a bad thing. I've got a lot to be grateful for. SABBATH is the reason why you, and the world, knows about my voice. So there are things to be grateful for. It was hard work for me. I'm 12 years younger than the rest of the guys, so even just circle of friends was different — they're hanging out with Ian Gillan and Brian May, and my best friend is Dave down the road. So that was a gap. And also the experience — they were way ahead of me in experience, at least 12 years further up the road from me, and I never could quite catch them up; they will always have that much more experience than me. So that was hard work."

He continued: "When I first got the gig, it was actually 1986 that I was put on standby when they were with Glenn Hughes on the 'Seventh Star' album. And I don't know what the issues were, but something went wrong with Glenn and they put me on standby. That scared me to death, 'cause it's Glenn Hughes. I can't sing like Glenn Hughes; nobody can sing like Glenn Hughes. Only Glenn Hughes can sing like Glenn Hughes. So that was really scary. Then they got Ray Gillen in. Then he left — he left to join BLUE MURDER with John Sykes, so they called me again and said, 'You'd better come down to the studio and try this out.' And they gave me one song, which was 'The Shining' off 'Eternal Idol', and then two days later said, 'Okay. You've got the job. You've got a week to finish the album.' So right from the start it was scary — it was huge; suddenly being the frontman of BLACK SABBATH was just ridiculous. And yeah, the whole association with me and my voice lasted 11 years."

Seven years ago, Iommi told I Heart Guitar that "it's a shame" that "it took a lot for people to accept" Martin as SABBATH's vocalist. "It's taken all these years later for people to say, 'Oh blimey, that was a good band with good singing.' So it took a long time to get people to really realize how good it was."

In a 2012 interview with Über Röck, Martin said that he was "surprised" to see Iommi criticizing him in the guitarist's "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath" book (referring to the Martin period, especially the touring phase following the release of "Cross Purposes" in 1994, Iommi lambasted his former singer as "unprofessional" and having "no stage presence"). Martin said: "I mean, they never said anything to me. Surely, if you've got a problem, the first person you should say something to is the person that's in the band with you... It sounds like a really stupid thing to say, as they didn't say anything to my face — and, if that's the case, then more fool them for not saying anything, because, you know, we could have fixed it. I said to them, endlessly, that if there was anything they wanted changed, done differently, just to say and we could fix it, but clearly, they didn't, they hadn't got the guts to, obviously, and to write about it in a book afterwards seems a bit daft to me. I'm not bitter about it, but it is surprising... It seems a bit stupid to say that after the event."