Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi has posted a New Year’s message on his social media pages in which he reflected on the highlights of 2025, as well as the sad loss of his famous bandmate Ozzy Osbourne. The 77-year-old heavy-metal guitar legend also shared some news about his long-in-the-works next solo album.
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Starting with his plans for 2026, Iommi revealed, “I shall have definitely, definitely my solo album out. “And I’m really looking forward to that. I’m enjoying doing it and it’s been great fun, and I really hope you enjoy it. But I’ll keep you more up to date as we go on [with] what’s happening with that and when it’s going to be released.”
[RELATED: Tony Iommi Joins Black Sabbath Ballet for a Surprise Performance in London]
In his New Year’s message for 2023, Iommi talked about his plans to record a new album, so the project has been kicking around for quite a while. Tony has only released on full-fledged solo effort during his long career, Iommi, which came out in 2000.
Meanwhile, in a recent Q&A session that took place in early December as part of the Steel City Con event in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler also shared some tidbits about Iommi’s forthcoming album.
“Tony’s got this great album that he’s doing right at the moment,” Butler noted. “I think he’s in the process of mixing it right now, so it should be out sometime [in 2026]. He’s got this great singer from Sweden on it.”
Geezer added, “He wanted me to do three bass tracks, but he wanted me to do them in England, and I can’t go to England till June. So, if you can hang on that long … I might collaborate with him … in June.”
Iommi on Black Sabbath’s 2025 Reunion and Osbourne’s Death
Of course, in Iommi’s new video, he discussed Black Sabbath’s historic final reunion set at the star-studded Back to the Beginning concert in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, on July 5.
Leading up to the show, Birmingham officials presented Black Sabbath’s original members—Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, and drummer Bill Ward—with the prestigious Freedom of the City honor.
“That was absolutely amazing,” Tony said. “I mean, I never thought we’d ever get that, which is a great honor.”
Sadly, Osbourne died on July 22 at age 76 after years of serious health issues.
Regarding the Metal Madman’s death, Tony commented, “It’s just unfortunate and sad that Ozzy passed away a couple of weeks after that [concert], which, you know, may rest in peace.”
Some of the Other 2025 Highlights Iommi Mentioned in His Video
Iommi began his message by mentioning the reissue of 1987 Black Sabbath album The Eternal Idol, which featured Tony Martin on lead vocals. A limited-edition LP pressed on red vinyl was released as part of the 2025 Record Store Day event in April.
Iommi also talked about his contribution to “Rocket,” a single by veteran U.K. pop-rock star Robbie Williams. The track was released in May, and Tony also appeared in the song’s music video.
Another highlight for Iommi was the second run of the Black Sabbath – The Ballet dance production. The show was presented in five U.K. cities during the fall of 2025.
“[It] went amazingly well,” Tony said. “It completely sold out in England, and [director] Carlos Acosta and all the team [did] just a fantastic job.”
He added, “I did play on the [a couple of the] London shows … with them, and in Birmingham. So it went really good. They are so amazing, those dancers and choreographers and all that, and I take my hat off to them.”
In addition, Iommi mentioned that one of his guitars was raffled off in December to raise money for a new cancer unit at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham.
“We tried to raise money to buy beds and all the equipment that they need,” Tony noted. “And I’m glad to say we raised 53,000 pounds (about $67,300), which is amazing.”
Iommi ended his message by wishing fans a “very happy new year and take care. All the best.”
(Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation UK)
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