Black Sabbath

What began as fondly jamming to the post-Ozzy Osbourne Black Sabbath tracks "Heaven and Hell" and "The Mob Rules" during Sabbath's Ozzfest 2005 soundchecks eventually led to a reunion with former singer Ronnie James Dio, according to bassist Geezer Butler.

"We just thought it was a bit of a shame that we can't play those songs again," he tells Billboard.com. "And then earlier this year [Sabbath guitarist] Tony [Iommi] went to see Dio. They wrote a couple of songs together and it just went from there."

Not only will an upcoming Dio-era Sabbath anthology feature three new songs ("Shadow of the Wind," "Devil Cries" and "Ear in the Wall"), but, as previously reported, a world tour is planned for 2007 as Heaven And Hell, the title of Sabbath's first post-Ozzy album from 1979.

"The [Dio-era had] really good songs [that were] a lot different to the old original Sabbath stuff," Butler says. "They really are fun to play because a lot of them have a lot of space, where you can improvise a lot instead of sticking to the rigid formula."

To read the rest at Billboard.com, click here