Ozzy Osbourne believes 13 “really wasn’t a Black Sabbath album,” lamenting the fact that original drummer Bill Ward did not play on it. In a new interview with Stereogum, Ozzy discussed the Rick Rubin-produced LP, which was released in 2013 and remains Black Sabbath’s final studio recording.
When asked if he felt like 13 provided closure for himself and the band, Ozzy replied, “Not really, because, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really get a charge from the album. Although [producer] Rick Rubin is a good friend of mine, I wasn’t really… I was just singing.”
He continued, “It was like stepping back in time, but it wasn’t a glorious period. Though Geezer [Butler] did a lot of lyric writing for me, which he’s very, very good at. It wasn’t an earth-shattering experience for me.”
13 also didn’t feature the original Black Sabbath lineup, with Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk filling Ward’s role behind the kit — another reason Ozzy isn’t satisfied with the album.
“The only thing I really regret, to be honest, is that Bill Ward didn’t play on the [13] album,” Ozzy said. “It wasn’t really a Black Sabbath album… I’m not saying that one day we might not all go in a room and come up with the perfect Black Sabbath album. But I’ll say, [13] wasn’t recorded the way Black Sabbath recorded records. We’d gone right back past the point where we took charge, back to when someone else had full control of our recording. Which we never did from Vol. 4 onwards.”
Ozzy’s remarks second those of bassist Geezer Butler, who blasted Rick Rubin’s production on 13 in an interview earlier this year.
“I still don’t know what he did,” Butler said, adding, “It was a weird experience.”
Though it seems unlikely that we’ll get another Black Sabbath album, Ozzy is still going strong. He recently released his new album Patient No. 9, notching his first No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Album Sales chart. You pick up a copy here.