Black Sabbath Into Making a New Album on One Condition

Producer Andrew Watt has revealed in a new interview that despite Tony Iommi's comments last month about turning down a new Black Sabbath album, it was actually drummer Bill Ward who ultimately was not up for doing one last record.

As you might expect, with everything seemingly falling in line for last year's Back to the Beginning farewell concert, there had been discussion about doing one final Black Sabbath album. But Watt, who has success producing Ozzy Osbourne's final two solo albums, says in a new chat that Ward was actually the hold-up in doing another record.

What Did Andrew Watt Say About Trying to Do a Final Black Sabbath Album?

Watt was a guest on an upcoming episode of the Lipps Service podcast, but in a clip shared in advance on host Scott Lipps' socials, the producer breaks down what happened with a potential final Black Sabbath album.

"So what happened there was we had made these two Ozzy albums and Ozzy wanted to keep making another album but didn't want to do exactly the same thing that we had done before, so he was into the idea of doing a Sabbath album," shares Watt.

He adds, "So Sharon [Osbourne] and him said I had to call and talk to each guy and see if they were into it. So I called Tony to talk to him and he said he was into it as long as Bill was there. That was everyone's thing. Ozzy was like, 'If Bill does it, we'll do it.' Geezer said, 'If the other guys are in, I'm in to do it.'"

As for the call with Ward, Watt recalls, "So I had this 40 minute call with Bill, which was one of the weirdest and funniest phone calls just ever of all time. It was personal things that we talked about on that phone call that made Ozzy and Sharon crack up. It's like an inside joke. But long story short, it ended up that Bill was not going to be able to make the record, like he wasn't able to do it for a multitude of different reasons. So that's why that didn't happen, but the other guys were all into doing it and then Bill sent us all this long email and then it was over."

What Tony Iommi Previously Said About a New Black Sabbath Album

Just last month, guitarist Tony Iommi had a bit of a different story to tell in why a final Black Sabbath album didn't come together.

He shared with Classic Rock magazine, “I’d met Andrew Watt when he was producing Ozzy. He was very keen and a bit too excited.”

Iommi shared that Watt’s idea didn’t sufficiently appeal to him because Watt “didn’t know what it was like working with the original Sabbath” (including working with Ward). Plus, Iommi added: “[W]e’d done 13 and I didn’t like the idea of: ‘Now here’s another album.'"

A Black Sabbath Farewell

As it is, fans were treated to a pretty outstanding Black Sabbath finale in the Back to the Beginning concert that took place in July 2025.

That massive concert featuring a who's who of rock and metal paying tribute to Black Sabbath has now been condensed into a concert film that will screen in theaters for a limited run starting Oct. 28.

Ticketing for all showings are currently on sale through the Back to the Beginning website where you can sign up for updates and get the most current information on where screenings will be taking place. A trailer (seen below) and the full track listing of what made the cut for the film have also been revealed.

The Osbourne Family will also be on hand Oct. 14 in Los Angeles to host the "Purple Carpet" premiere for the movie at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets for that screening are currently available with 50 percent of each ticket sold being donated to Los Angeles homeless charities.