Black Sabbath

English rock band, Black Sabbath have just released their nineteenth studio album entitled 13 on June 10th via Republic Records. It is the first studio album released by Black Sabbath since Forbidden in 1995, and their first studio recording with original singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler since the live album Reunion in 1998. It is also the first studio album with Osbourne since Never Say Die! in 1978. The first single from the album, "God Is Dead?", was released to radio on April 18th. The album became available on June 3rd.

Black Sabbath was formed in 1968 in Birmingham and its members include guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, singer Ozzy Osbourne, and drummer Bill Ward. The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. Despite an association with occult and horror themes, Black Sabbath also composed songs dealing with social instability, political corruption, the dangers of drug abuse and apocalyptic prophecies of the horrors of war. Osbourne's heavy drug use led to his dismissal from the band in 1979. He was replaced by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio. After a few albums with Dio's vocals and songwriting collaborations, Black Sabbath endured a revolving line-up in the 1980s and '90s that included vocalists Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen and Tony Martin, as well as multiple members of Deep Purple and Rainbow. In 1992, Iommi and Butler rejoined Dio and drummer Vinny Appice to record Dehumanizer. The original line-up reunited with Osbourne in 1997 and released a live album Reunion.

Black Sabbath are cited as being the pioneers of heavy metal. The band helped define the genre with releases such as Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971). They were ranked by MTV as the "Greatest Metal Band" of all time, and placed second in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" list. They have sold over 15 million records in the United States and over 70 million records worldwide.

Prior to 13's release, Black Sabbath embarked on their first tour of Australia (initially kicking off in New Zealand) since 1974 in April and May. They also headlined Ozzfest Japan on May 12th. These dates had been arranged to allow Iommi to return to the UK for lymphoma treatment once every six weeks. From late July to early September 2013, Black Sabbath will embark on their first North American tour in eight years. After that, they will tour Latin America in October, followed by Europe in November and December.

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