OZZY OSBOURNE: TONY IOMMI Is 'The King Of All Demonic Riffs'

Ozzy Osbourne says that Tony Iommi has no equal when it comes to creating and playing riffs.

In an interview conducted by AVENGED SEVENFOLD frontman M. Shadows in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, the BLACK SABBATH singer says: “People always say we invented heavy metal. But I like THE KINKS, [LED] ZEPPELIN and THE WHO – and I think we spawned from that.

“But I do think that Tony Iommi, for what it’s worth, is the king of all demonic riffs. There’s just no one to fucking touch him. Considering he had his fretboard fingers chopped off — to this day, I’m still amazed he knows he’s touching the strings.

“He’s amazing. He’s one of these guys that you can give any instrument to and he’ll come out of his dressing room playing something on it. It could be the bagpipes, or anything, really.”

The full interview between M. Shadows and Ozzy can be found in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer magazine, which launched today (February 10).

Speaking to Absolute Radio at the 2015 Q Awards, Iommi was asked if he could imagine playing any instrument other than guitar. “As a matter of fact, I did play another instrument before,” he replied. “I used to play an accordion — only because all my family had bloody accordions and drums and stuff. My father used to play an accordion and my uncles and cousins and all that, so I had one, of course. I wanted to have a guitar, but… Well, I wanted to play drums, but they wouldn’t let me have any drums. As you can imagine, we were in a tiny little house, so a set of drums wouldn’t have gone down very well. But, yeah, I took to the guitar. I loved the idea of playing guitar. And I played it a few years before I had my accident [resulting in Iommi losing the tips of the middle and ring finger of his right, fretting hand], which then changed everything for me. But I stuck with it and made it work for me.”

Iommi also talked about the importance of writing music that comes from the heart as opposed to following a formula or constantly chasing commercial success. He said: “For me, playing and writing riffs and stuff has to come from within. I can’t just sort of do something what I think people wanna hear. I have to feel it and do it how I feel. Same with solos — I have to play ’em from the heart as opposed to… I can’t play a solo that’s written down… note for note. I just can’t do that. I have to play it how I feel it that day.”

BLACK SABBATH finished its year-long “The End” farewell tour on Saturday night (February 4) in the band’s hometown of Birmingham, England, closing out the quartet’s groundbreaking 49-year career with an emotional 15-song set.

The band decided to make this tour its last because Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011 and is currently in remission, can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.