As Black Sabbath prepare to bring the curtain down on their half-century reign with one final thunderous performance at Villa Park in Birmingham on July 5, one of their founding pillars isn’t retreating quietly into legacy. Bill Ward, the thunder-handed heartbeat behind Sabbath’s dark groove, is stepping forward with a surprise announcement of not one, but two solo albums — both of which are nearly complete.
Ward revealed the news during the debut of his new LA Radio Sessions show on 99.1 KLBP-FM. “We’ve been in the studio. We’ve been living in the studio, is what we’ve been doing,” he said. “And we’ve got two albums that are nearly finished. And we will put them out… We’ve gotta go back in the studio in about another week. And we’ve got four days left to finish our final overdubs for the newest album.”
For longtime Sabbath fans, this isn’t just a footnote to the band’s final bow — it’s a revelation. Ward, who sat out Sabbath’s reunion-era tours due to health issues and contract disputes, isn’t looking back in anger. He’s looking inward, channeling something raw and deeply personal.
“I’ve just let everything go. I basically don’t give an ‘F’, and I think it shows up in the record,” he admitted. “I wanted to play something that plays in my heart and then comes out of my soul… I’m swearing a lot. I’m using a lot of profanity on this new record, on these new records. But the profanity seems to work really well.”
The records, according to Ward, are an exercise in freedom — a sonic reckoning with memory, mortality, and artistic growth. He’s playing piano and bass in addition to drums, pushing into jazz territory and embracing imperfections that once might’ve kept him up at night. “I’ve done something where I feel like I’ve abandoned my critical self… I said to that guy, ‘Listen, sit down and take a chair, ’cause we’re stepping out and we’re gonna take more risks.’”
One of the most poignant moments comes with a song rooted in his childhood in Aston — the same Birmingham neighborhood that birthed Sabbath. “One of the tracks… I’m talking about when I spent time playing in the graveyards at Aston Church… I wanted to write it because I’ve been spending some time thinking about my childhood years in Aston… It’s still like a metal thing.”
That track even features a guest appearance from Slayer legend Dave Lombardo. “There was some drumming that I knew Dave could play a lot better than I could,” Ward says, without ego. “I don’t mind backing away sometimes… I love being interactive with different musicians. So it’s been a blessing for me.”
If Villa Park represents a funeral for Black Sabbath, then Bill Ward’s solo records feel more like a resurrection. As the godfathers of heavy metal prepare their last rites, Ward is already somewhere in the shadows — building something new, something haunted, and something still very much alive.
