Black Sabbath founders Tony Iommi and Bill Ward each took to social media to give fans and followers an end-of-year update, and it turns out both are in the studio working on separate projects.
Iommi shared a short video on Facebook, recapping his 2023 and dropping some hints of what we can expect from the Sabbath guitarist in 2024.
While he didn’t offer any specifics, Iommi has been “working in the studio” and “writing and doing plenty of stuff,” presumably for his previously mentioned solo LP.
“It’s sounding really good,” he said. “I’m very happy with it. I might use some orchestration, I might not. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Iommi also shared an update on the long-awaited Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath box set, which Iommi teased in his year-end message last year. The collection is now expected to drop in a May after a period of delay.
“I did say we’d have a box set coming out,” said Iommi. “Well, now I’ve been informed that it’ll be out in May. It’s been held up with paperwork and legal stuff. But anyway, it’s coming out in May now, if you’re interested, and I hope you are.”
Meanwhile, Iommi’s longtime Sabbath bandmate Bill Ward has also been recording music and “making records.” The drummer shared a similar New Year’s message to fans on Instagram while surrounded by some of his fellow musicians in the studio.
“We’re in the studio, and, these people behind me actually work with me in the studio and I work with them,” Ward said. “This is my crew that I work with throughout the year and some other guys that won’t… They’re not in the picture; they don’t even wanna be in the picture. But we’re making records still, so we’ll see how all that works out.”
Ward has released three solo albums, with 2015’s Accountable Beasts being the most recent; and Iommi’s only recent solo output is the excellent instrumental one-off “Scent of Dark,” in addition to a collaborative track with Serj Tankian.
Below you can view their respective year-end messages.