Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Black Sabbath have announced that their original line-up of singer Ozzy Osbourne, drummer Bill Ward, guitarist Tony Iommi, and bassist Geezer Butler have reunited for a new studio album and tour.

The as-yet-untitled album will be produced by Rick Rubin, who previously produced Metallica’s “Death Magnetic,” The Cult’s “Electric,” and numerous albums for Slayer, Danzig, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Tom Petty. It will be the first new studio album from this line-up since 1978’s “Never Say Die,” though the foursome did record the song “Psycho Man” for their 1998 album “Reunion.”

On the band’s Twitter feed, @officialsabbath, Rubin was quoted as saying, “When I’ve sat with them and they’ve played it sounds remarkably like Black Sabbath. As long as it sounds like that.”

Added Iommi, “It’s like putting on an old glove. It’s fantastic.”

The band also announced that they will headline the Download Festival in England on June 10, 2012, followed by a world tour, though no other dates were announced.

The announcement was made at The Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, where this same line-up previously played forty-one years ago today, on November 11, 1970. The event was hosted by longtime fan Henry Rollins, who was also quoted on the band’s Twitter feed as saying, “When I heard Iron Man, high school became powerless over me after that. This is true outsider music.”