Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said he’s sitting on “four or five CDs of riffs” that he would like to properly record. When asked by Guitarist about plans for new music or solo material, Iommi explained, “I’ve got loads of stuff…I’d like to put some stuff down, but it won’t be a touring band.”
Iommi hinted that he'd like to gather an all-star lineup of musicians for such a project, as he did with his self-titled 2000 solo LP. That project featured contributions from Dave Grohl, Philip Anselmo, Billy Corgan, Ozzy Osbourne and more.
He told us at the time that he enjoyed working with multiple singers on that album: “I wanted those people on the album for what they do and what they can contribute to it, their side of it, and to do what they felt was right for that track. So they'd done all the lyrics and all the melody lines, and it worked out really good. There was no egos, no, 'I wanna do it this way …,' or nothing like that. I gotta say it all went very, very smooth.”
The metal legend said he was encouraged to pursue a new project by an old friend, explaining, “Actually, (Queen guitarist) Brian May came over and I gave him four or five CDs of riffs, and he’s going, ‘You’ve got to do an album with these, just put them out like that.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to do that. I’m going to do them properly.'”
Iommi retired from touring after Black Sabbath ended its farewell tour in February 2017, citing his struggle with cancer a few years earlier and the rigors of life on the road. But he remains open to the occasional live appearance as well as more recording.