Headbangers’ Brawl is a weekly column where Metal Insider’s Bram and Zach take a moment to debate and analyze two opposing sides of a topical issue occurring in the world of metal and/or the music industry.
Earlier today, Black Sabbath’s website was updated with the band’s logo and “11/11/11” written underneath. This mysterious posting has led many to believe that some sort of announcement will be made on November 11 (aka, next Friday). But what in world could Black Sabbath possibly announce? With there being so much talk and buzz about the original lineup reuniting, the suspense is understandably high. So with that in mind, Bram and Zach debate what the “mysterious announcement” could possibly be.
Zach: As much as I, and possibly everyone, would love for Black Sabbath to announce their (inevitable) reunion next Friday, I doubt that’s going to happen. Given all the back and forth contradictions regarding the possible reunion (from Tony Iommi alone), it would seem a little out of the blue if the original lineup suddenly got their act together and were ready to announce plans for a reunion. So unless they’ve been hiding a lot from us (which granted is likely), I doubt the “announcement,” if it even is one, will be regarding a reunion.
As lame as this would be, I could easily see it simply being the launch of a revamped website with an announcement about some new CD/DVD compilation release. You have to keep in mind that 11/11/11 is the perfect cheesy date to release or announce something regarding metal thanks to Spinal Tap. So I’m sure that someone in the Sabbath camp thought “Ooo, we should do something on 11/11/11 to capitalize on the Spinal Tap reference!” I’d love to believe it’ll be an announcement about something bigger, and maybe I’m just trying to not get my hopes up, but I doubt something “major” will be revealed next week.
Bram: I think they’ll announce their reunion next week. Ozzy certainly hasn’t been busy touring or anything, and talk of a reunion have been happening for the better part of this year. Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi haven’t really been up to much lately, so I’m sure they’d be interested in blowing the cobwebs off of Sabbath. 11/11/11 is “metal day” according to VH1 Classic, so it makes sense that they make the announcement then. I mean, what else would they be talking about?
That being said, I’m not quite sure what to make of a Sabbath reunion. While seeing them live would definitely be an amazing experience, it’s been a long long time since Sabbath with Ozzy put out anything truly compelling. The several studio tracks on Reunion that came out 13 years ago weren’t anything to write home about. That being said, Sabbath at their worst is better than most bands at their best, and whatever winds up happening should be good news for Sabbath fans.
Zach: Yeah, “talk” has been happening since this past Summer. But at best, the talk has been at most “we’re still talking”. Ozzy’s most recent comment was that it’s in the “early stages,” and though Iommi said that they “rehearsed for the first time in a while,” that was shortly followed by a contradictory statement to Rolling Stone. Granted, it’s really hard to tell exactly what “stage” Sabbath may be at right now since you can’t really pin point exactly when each statement was made (for all we know, Iommi may have talked to Rolling Stone way before Sabbath’s first rehearsal).
And trust me, I would LOVE for them to officially announce the reunion, and not just because I’m tired of reporting on rumors and “he said/she said” stuff. I love seeing Ozzy with his solo group, but there’s a special chemistry between the four original Sabbath members that’s truly remarkable, especially live. And while new material could be promising, I wouldn’t mind just seeing the four onstage at least one more time. Plus, there’s been a rumor floating around that Sabbath could be touring with Judas Priest and Motorhead in the near future. Now THAT is something I would love to see happen.
Bram: I can’t think of why they’d want to post about something happening and have it be anything less than a reunion. I mean, it’s not like they’re going to re-release their catalog again. They’ve done it before plenty of times, and there are more than enough live albums. My guess is that they announce that they’ll be touring again and mention that they’ve begun working on a new album, which will come out sometime in 2012. Mark my words. Either that, or they’re as excited about Skyrim coming out as I am.
