Tony Iommi has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to record a final Black Sabbath album with the band’s original lineup.
In an exclusive interview in the new issue of Classic Rock, Iommi reveals that Andrew Watt, who produced Ozzy Osbourne’s final two albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9, had approached him in the early 2020s about making a Sabbath album with the original lineup.
“I’d met Andrew Watt when he was producing Ozzy,” says Iommi. “He was very keen and a bit too excited. He also didn’t know what it was like working with the original Sabbath, working with Bill [drummer Bill Ward]. Also, we’d done 13, and I didn’t like the idea of: ‘Now here’s another album.’”
“I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.'”
Tony Iommi
Iommi has also admitted that he had doubts about Black Sabbath performing at last year’s historic Back To The Beginning show at Villa Park in Birmingham. The metal legend reveals he was initially dubious when Sabbath were asked to reunite for the show, which saw Metallica, Pantera, Guns N’ Roses and Tool among those lining up to play a tribute to Sabbath, with proceeds going to several charities.
“I said to Ozzy: ‘I don’t think we should do it.’ I said: ‘We should just let the other bands play our stuff, and us come out at the end and say thank you.’ But it was for a good charitable cause, and eventually we said okay.”
Iommi had last seen Ozzy when the two of them performed Paranoid at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The singer had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003, but only made his condition public in 2020 when his symptons worsened.
“I hadn’t seen Ozzy for a bit, and it was difficult seeing him like that,: Iommi says. “Fucking hell…” He adds that he didn’t want Ozzy to play a solo set before Sabbath’s closing performance, either: “I was concerned he was going to blow himself out, and by the time we came on he’d be struggling.” Read more from Iommi – including the inside scoop on his new solo album – in the new issue of Classic Rock, on sale now. Iommi’s forthcoming album, From The Dark, is due for release on October 23 via BMG.
Ahead of the new Noctule album Extinguish Thy Flame, I found myself returning to my review of Wretched Abyss, the first album by Svalbard guitarist and singer Serena Cherry. Released during the bleak lockdown times, Serena put her creativity to good use with a debut that split opinion.
Some of the elitist folk were scathing in their comments. Yet reviews were generally positive, and many were effusive about the quality of a project totally delivered by one person.
I know nothing about Skyrim, the game upon which Cherry based the themes of Wretched Abyss. However, my final paragraph said, “With an ability to be more than just an aural experience, Black Metal at times is bleak, dark and uncompromising, yet as displayed here it can be warm, enlightening and emotionally gripping.”
Noctule – Extinguish Thy Flame, a richly layered and fiercely independent blend of Black Metal, Melodeath and atmospheric synths
Time has travelled, and although the dust is still settling on that final incredible Svalbard set at Arctangent mere weeks ago, Serena’s main musical vehicle for much of the past two decades, the follow-up to Wretched Abyss is here.
And it is Elden Ring which is the basis for Extinguish Thy Flame. According to Wikipedia, it is a 2022 action role-playing game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, with worldbuilding provided by the American fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. Now, I do know that Martin is the author of Game Of Thrones so there are no doubt dragons hidden somewhere here.
All the music is written and performed by Cherry and each song is about a different boss in the game. Credited as the game that saved her life, it is no wonder that Serena has thrown everything into this release, crafted over a two-year period.
Ten tracks over 38 minutes blend crushing Black Metal with Serena’s rasping rawness in a manner which is possibly too polished for the purist. But I think this provides an accessible avenue to those put off by the most Extreme. The use of synths, whether they be samples or otherwise, gives the album a rich, layered texture that merges Meldodeath with the bitter clutches of the Black Metal style.
There is certainly more to it than tremolo riffs and blast beats. Lord Of Blood, the first single, has an undeniably folky edge to it. It may be a little overpowering, with an overdose on the senses potentially overwhelming you at times, but Serena pulls it back and it turns into one of the most memorable tracks here.
“This song represents the joy and freedom of being in full control of the music you create, without having to make any compromises with bandmates or managers,” she explains. “I love creating music by myself and in Lord Of Blood I think that shows.
“This song is a celebration of pure musical independence as well as an ode to the towering, horned demigod Mogh: Lord of Blood from Elden Ring. I’m proud that it doesn’t sound like anything else in the Metal world right now.
“Honestly, Lord of Blood has some of my favourite guitar leads I’ve ever written. When it comes to making Metal music, I just can’t resist adding layer upon layer of guitar harmonies.”
Whilst Serena is clear that the link between the game and Metal is fitting, “Metal is intense, relentless and uncompromising – so is Elden Ring as a game”, there is enough here to push the album past those whose interest may well lie merely in the characters and the story.
I often let lyrics bypass me and absorb the music as it flows and envelopes. Goddess Of Rot is one such track. A sonically atmospheric soundscape that has various components contained within it.
There is plenty to appreciate and enjoy. I found this one a particularly impressive piece, majestically crafted and choreographed, with Serena’s emotionally filled vocals and an eerie, almost background accompaniment.
It is similar on the next track, Lament Of The Omen King, which has another huge-sounding, semi-orchestral element which soars above the powerhouse programming and visceral vocals. It is a song crying out for some choral accompaniment and has the potential for massive reworkings should the funding ever be in place.
Scurry forward to the final song, Hallowhorn Grounds, and there is almost a triumphant, joyous vibe. It is certainly a release that needs to be listened to through headphones, for there are many layers to explore and absorb.
For Serena, this is a welcome next step and for a non-gamer like me, Extinguish Thy Flame still has plenty to offer.
BraveWords Records has announced the Bandcamp digital release of Australian (Newcastle, New South Wales) fantasy power metallers Ilium‘s 2026 album, ‘Scythe Ballet‘. The band states: “The response to the physical release has been fantastic, and so we are happy to announce that from today, the album is available digitally via Bandcamp through BraveWords Records. Other digital […]
Canada’s own Cursed Blessings Records is putting out a split, Eye For A Pie between two Great White North’s skate punk bands, The Fomites and We Are Not A Cult.
First up is the Fomites, a three piece skate punk band. They sing about the holy trinity of pizza, Stephen King, and anti-fascism. We have a preview of their song Down the Drain, per the band:
…Equal parts melodic anthem and furious call to action, The Fomites wrote “Down The Drain” as a product of the times we find ourselves in: a boring dystopia wherein the rich get richer at the expense of everyone and everything else for as long as we allow them to do so…
What’s better than one skate punk band? Two! We also have a track from party punks, We Are Not A Cult. Their track is called “Taken Men”:
…”Taken Men” is about being the daddest, most married band on the planet. It’s a thank-you to the partners who could do better, and don’t. It’s a song that we couldn’t get out of our heads once we wrote it, and now it’s going to be stuck in yours…
Eye For A Pie split featuring The Fomites and We Are Not A Cult is out now at Cursed Blessings Records.
The Oslo duo performed their 2006 single K.I.N.G. on the catwalk at the 2011 edition of the Nordic World Ski Championships, playing the snarling metal track as models walked past in high-end dresses. Looking back during an interview with Metal Hammer, Wongraven, 50, calls the booking “bizarre” and admits he still has no clue who came up with the idea.
“The production was done by NRK, which is Norway’s equivalent to the BBC,” he explains. “And if you do anything with NRK, they will do it exactly the way that they want to. They’re not gonna sit down with a band and go, ‘How do you want it, guys?’”
The only theory Wongraven can come up with is that the organisers wanted to blend skiing, something “deeply rooted in our [Norwegian] sporting culture”, with black metal, “something else that is uniquely Norwegian”, and “show it to the world”. But, “I have no idea who came up with the idea to blend it with a fashion show!”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wongraven talks further about the creation of K.I.N.G., the lead single from his band’s 2006 album, Now, Diabolical. The heavy, groovy track – sometimes referred to as ‘black’n’roll’, a term Satyricon reject – saw the band remove keyboards and technical drum parts from their sound.
“Now, Diabolical was trusting more that a song could be more powerful if we strip it of unnecessary elements,” Wongraven recalls. “When you think of Iron Man by Black Sabbath or Let There Be Rock by AC/DC, you think of the signature riff, and when you have a riff that can carry a whole song on its shoulders, everything from this point onwards is about what complements that part.”
Upon release in April 2006, Now, Diabolical was the band’s biggest commercial hit, reaching number two on the Norwegian charts. It also charted in Finland, Sweden and the UK. K.I.N.G. became their biggest song: at time of publication, it has 19,800,000 Spotify streams, more than double their next-biggest track, 2002’s Black Crow On A Tombstone.
Satyricon’s last album, 2022’s Satyricon & Munch, marked a stark departure from their black metal sound. It was a single, hour-long, atmospheric song, designed to soundtrack the art exhibition of the same name that the band put on at Oslo’s Edvard Munch Museum. In 2024, Wongraven said that Satyricon’s next album will be “more conventional” but “very, very varied”.
The band will tour Europe from September to November. The first show will take place at the Floyd venue in Athens, Greece on September 18. On October 31, they’ll support Dimmu Borgir at Oslo Spektrum in their hometown, with Enslaved opening. They’re also booked to headline Damnation festival in Manchester on November 8.
Fountain Road’s What Great Light sits in the hazy space where chamber pop, art rock and shoegaze overlap, building an atmosphere that feels both intimate and expansive. Saturated guitars and angular grooves provide a restless foundation, while the melodies remain clear enough to linger through the layers of sound. There is a sense of tension running underneath the track, but also a quieter feeling of hope that gradually emerges from the noise.
The songwriting carries a reflective quality, balancing contemporary unease with images of nature and fleeting moments of beauty. Rather than relying on a huge climax, What Great Light draws us into its textures and allows its emotional weight to develop naturally. Atmospheric, thoughtful and subtly melodic, it is a strong introduction to Fountain Road’s distinctive meeting point between artful indie rock and dreamier shoegaze textures.
Soaring sonic soundscapes, a satisfying blend of Progressive and Post-Metal, cultivated in a modern, crisp production that is as immersive as it is immediate. The debut release from French duo Thibaud Lépicier [Guitar, Bass, Additional Production] and drummer David Annenkoff hits a nerve that is all good.
This is an outfit that has literally fallen into my inbox and struck the right spot. My journey through Post-Rock and Post-Metal in the past few years has been intense, and in Ølyp we are presented with a band that would sound ideal at Arctangent or Dunk! Fest.
Instrumental music must always have the power to capture the messages held within. The absence of lyrics means the music must really forge the story.
Ølyp – I(m)MORTAL: A Compelling Collision Of Beauty And Crushing Power
Ølyp explore humanity’s fractured relationship with nature, and although this album is a fiery burst, there is no doubting that there is also a melancholic feel to many parts of the record.
It is not at all surprising to trace the band’s early origins to the fjords of Norway, for it is at times as emotive and haunting as that country.
Ølyp may be a duo, but their cinematic approach is fully enhanced by an ensemble of guest musicians, including violinists Pauline Henric and Zoé Sallefranque, violist Sylvain Rullier, and cellist Eugénie Ursch. Songs such as Solace are impressive, a kaleidoscope of sounds that entwines the listener to places where the meanings behind the music can be explored.
There is plenty of heft in opener The Human Error, which strains at the leash with punishing riffs and thundering drums. The chopping work on 797 is in stark contrast, with a more abrasive delivery which is both aggressive and technically precise. Even on these two opening tracks, you can get the feel for what the band has to say. It is modern but without the overkill production and huge breakdowns that often damage newer soundings.
Throughout the album, there are shifts from crushing intensity to more beautiful contemplation. It is what makes this album interesting and enjoyable. Intricate passages that would sit well on an album by Opeth switch with gargantuan cascades of riffage that explode and burst in a sludgy doom broth. Then the band will hit another two gears and erupt into a chaotic frenzy.
This is an album that would sit well with purveyors of The Ocean, Russian Circles, the power of Psychonaut or Night Verses.
A compelling combination of technicality, sophistication and raw power, all overlaid by emotion that can hit you in the feels. A worthy addition to the ever-expanding selection of excellence emerging in the latter half of 2026.
Ølyp release I(m)MORTAL on 25 September 2026 via Klonosphere Records/Season of Mist. For more details, visit the band on Bandcamp.
