MAGNUS KARLSSON Has Talked To Ex-BLACK SABBATH Singer TONY MARTIN About Collaborating On Full Album

Swedish guitarist, songwriter and producer Magnus Karlsson says he is open to recording a full-length album with Tony Martin after previously collaborating with the former BLACK SABBATH singer on three songs from his solo project MAGNUS KARLSSON'S FREE FALL. "I asked him, and we talked about it, but it didn't happen yet," Magnus told Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com in a new interview. "But maybe. He didn't say no, but he really wants it to be the right songs and we have to work on it. I already sent him some tracks, and he had to think about it. So he's a little picky, but that's great. He's also the only one on the FREE FALL albums that writes his own lyrics and melodies too. Because he said, 'When you hire me, you don't just hire a singer — you hire the whole thing, with my approach to melodies and lyrics.' And I said, 'Yes, that's fine.'"

Martin makes an appearance on the songs "Temples And Towers" and "Far From Over" from the third MAGNUS KARLSSON'S FREE FALL album "We Are The Night", which was released on June 12 via Frontiers Music Srl. Martin can also be heard on "When The Sky Falls", from 2015's "Kingdom Of Rock".

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 Tony 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."

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

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

Tony Martin photo credit: Rob Billingham