The last hurrah

THIS IS HOW IT ALL BEGINS. It’s May 1969 and four men are crammed into a room in the Newtown Community Centre in Aston, Birmingham, England, inventing the future. Between them, they sport an array of

What is this that stands before me? Only the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH , gathered together for the final time! To celebrate the event, Uncut hears their story from the secret ingredient of the band’s heavy swing: drummer BILL WARD . “I jump into a song and explode,” he tells John Robinson

The BLACK SABBATH story will end definitively on July 5, when the band conclude 57 years of sui generis heaviosity and tragi-comic conflict at an epochal mega-gig at Villa Park. Or will it? With less than a month to go, it's still unclear quite how these gallant yet frail septuagenarians make it to the stage... or off it. "We'll probably keel over after two songs!"

Lessons on how to assemble “the greatest day in the history of metal” WHEN SHARON OSBOURNE approached Tom Morello about being Back to the Beginning’s musical director, his response was immediate: “If

Bill’s Top 10 Sabbath masterworks

When the Irish band were a folksy blues three-piece, it was Eric Bell who defined Thin Lizzy on their 1971 self-titled debut and early 70s follow-ups, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds Of The Western World