TONY IOMMI, RONNIE JAMES DIO, GEEZER BUTLER, BILL WARD To Tour As HEAVEN & HELL?

Madrid, Spain-based webzine Rafabasa is reporting that former BLACK SABBATH members Tony Iommi, Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward will rejoin forces once again under the HEAVEN & HELL banner for a number of festival appearances next summer.

According to Rafabasa, the four members cannot tour under the name BLACK SABBATH or "BLACK SABBATH with Ronnie James Dio" due to legal reasons.

No tour dates have yet been confirmed, but the band's booking agent is allegedly offering the group to the promoters of the most important heavy metal festivals that are set to take place next year.

If the report is to be believed, HEAVEN & HELL will play a set consisting of selections from every single SABBATH CD that Ronnie James Dio appeared on: "Heaven & Hell", "Mob Rules" and "Dehumanizer".

In an August 16, 2006 appearance on the syndicated radio show "Rockline", Dio had the following to say about the possibility of further collaborations with BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi:

"We've already written one [new] song together. The reason for that is that there's a release coming out, it's called 'Black Sabbath: The Dio Years' — they've already done one, of course, 'Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Years'; that was the beginning and, really, the best part of it all — but they've decided to do one, again, 'Black Sabbath: The Dio Years', and we wanted to make it a little but more special, not just give you things you've not heard from a live perspective. These are two things you'll never hear again — two new songs. We are going to do that. It's been fun already. The one we've done — the one that I've done with Tony has been really wonderful — just great to realize how magnificent a player he was. You forget that after 10 years at a time that you don't work with someone. So we are gonna be doing that. And I hope you'll like it. I think it'll be great."

On the rumors of him possibly rejoining BLACK SABBATH, Dio said, "There's always rumors about everything — about a RAINBOW reunion, about a BLACK SABBATH reunion. Our purpose was to do this because we wanted to have this product be a bit more special than anything else — not just, 'Here's a live track you've never heard before.' I mean, that's cool, but I'm sure people have heard that. We wanted to do something a bit more special, so the whole band would write and play these songs, and… They've wanted to hear them long enough, so here they are. But it's not anything that we've talked about leading to anything other than that. No, it's for that project."