Ex-BLACK SABBATH Singer TONY MARTIN Signs With BATTLEGOD PRODUCTIONS And DARK STAR RECORDS For New Solo Album

Former BLACK SABBATH singer Tony Martin has signed with Battlegod Productions and Dark Star Records for the release of his long-awaited new solo album. Among the guest musicians set to appear on the LP are Danny "Danté" Needham (VENOM),Magnus Rosén (ex-HAMMERFALL),Scott McClellan, Greg Smith and Martin's youngest son Joe.

Martin said: "I have chosen two labels to work on the release of the new Tony Martin album. The first one I have chosen is Battlegod. These guys have shown immense faith and enthusiasm for this release. And I am really pleased to have them working on it for Australia, Asia, Europe and Japan. The next label I want to introduce is Dark Star. These guys have been super flexible in their approach to getting this on side... very happy to have them as part of this release. For all the Americas these are the guys that you will get the new Tony Martin album from."

Martin's last solo album, "Scream", was released in November 2005 via MTM Music.

BLACK SABBATH released six albums with Martin on vocals: "The Eternal Idol" (1987),"Headless Cross" (1989),"Tyr" (1990),"Cross Purposes" (1994),"Cross Purposes Live" (1995) and "Forbidden" (1995). Eventually, Martin and his "Forbidden"-era bandmates were ousted when guitarist Tony Iommi reunited with SABBATH's fellow original members.

In a 2012 interview with Über Röck, Martin said that he was "surprised" to see Iommi criticizing him in the guitarist's "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath" book (referring to the Martin period, especially the touring phase following the release of "Cross Purposes" in 1994, Iommi lambasted his former singer as "unprofessional" and having "no stage presence"). Martin said: "I mean, they never said anything to me. Surely, if you've got a problem, the first person you should say something to is the person that's in the band with you... It sounds like a really stupid thing to say, as they didn't say anything to my face — and, if that's the case, then more fool them for not saying anything, because, you know, we could have fixed it. I said to them, endlessly, that if there was anything they wanted changed, done differently, just to say and we could fix it, but clearly, they didn't, they hadn't got the guts to, obviously, and to write about it in a book afterwards seems a bit daft to me. I'm not bitter about it, but it is surprising... It seems a bit stupid to say that after the event."

Four years ago, Iommi told I Heart Guitar that "it's a shame" that "it took a lot for people to accept" Martin as SABBATH's vocalist. "It's taken all these years later for people to say, 'Oh blimey, that was a good band with good singing.' So it took a long time to get people to really realize how good it was."

In 2018, Iommi spent time in the studio remixing "Forbidden" for a future release. The LP, which features Martin, drummer Cozy Powell and bassist Neil Murray, is often regarded as SABBATH's worst studio recording.

Tony Martin photo credit: Rob Billingham