Metal
Bill Ward has a new album in mastering and isn’t ready to reveal the title yet. Black Sabbath’s original drummer explained as much in a conversation with Drum Talk TV, adding that over the past five years he’s recorded two or three more that are already finished and just waiting on the same process.
The one closest to release has eighteen tracks, which he himself describes as «very colourful». There are, he says, orchestrations, choirs, different vocal arrangements and a notable jazz presence alongside more straightforward rock. He deliberately avoids the word metal, while admitting he can feel where it comes from.
As for how to release it all, he doesn’t rule out packaging three, four or even five records together, and acknowledges he first needs to close a record deal. Landing one, he adds, is far harder than it was twenty or forty years ago, and the industry has turned almost chameleon-like in adapting to listeners’ habits.
As a solo artist, Ward has released «Ward One: Along the Way» (1990), «When the Bough Breaks» (1997) and «Accountable Beasts» (2015). He’s often said he grew up listening to Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, and in 2025 he sat back behind the kit with Black Sabbath’s original line-up for the farewell show at Villa Park.
For now, the record he’s mastering has no title, no label and no release date.
Text by Enric Vilaplana