Despite previous comments from its members, Black Sabbath will release a brand new 8-track album this year that includes 4 previously unreleased songs. However, it will only be made available on their upcoming The End Tour, dates for which have already been released.
In September 2014, Ozzy Osbourne had stated that the iconic trio would be getting to work on a follow-up to their last record, 13, as soon as possible with producer Rick Rubin. Later interviews with both the frontman and guitarist Tony Iommi, however, revealed that the band would be putting all plans for a new album on hold to focus on their final The End Tour.
The band's bassist Geezer Butler has now told Billboard, "We thought we’d put out an album of 13 songs, but when we were in the studio we wrote another three songs, which brought it up to 16 and then we left it to Rick Rubin to pick which songs would go on the album, and to give it some light and shade he picked the eight songs that were on the 13 album."
He added: "We put a few songs on deluxe versions of the album and then we had the four left over, and we decided to do a gig-only CD." The eight-track record, which will only be available at the band's merchandise table on tour, will reportedly consist of unreleased tracks "Season of the Dead," "Cry All Night," "Take Me Home" and "Isolated Man," as well as live renditions of '"God Is Dead?," "Age of Reason," "End of the Beginning" and "Under the Sun." Most of the material was recorded during the band's final 2013 recording sessions.
The band's latest album, 13, was released in 2013 and is their nineteenth overall studio album. It marked Osbourne's return to the band, which ultimately helped them win a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
