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Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Plans Album With Queen's Brian May

Guitarists ponder a compilation of riffs for fans to build on

Tommy Iommi, Brian May
James Lemke Jr/FilmMagic; Oli Scarff/Getty Images
February 15, 2013 8:15 AM ET

If you've always wanted to jam with Tony Iommi, you may get a chance: The Black Sabbath guitarist has plans for a "riffs album" with Queen's Brian May that would allow fans to build their own songs around the musicians' unused material.

Word of the prospective project slipped out in an interview May did with Kerrang! magazine in which fellow musicians asked him questions. As reported by NME, Iommi asked, "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together? You know what I'm talking about." May replied, "Yes, I do know what he's talking about, and I'm very, very keen. The record he's talking about what supposed to be a secret, but I guess he's blown it now."

Black Sabbath's Dark, Twisted Resurrection

May got the idea for the album while visiting Iommi's studio, where he was struck by the amount of unreleased material the Sabbath guitarist has piled up over the years. "I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May said. "The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so that people could build their own songs from them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar!"

There's no word on a possible release date, or whether the album will actually happen. Iommi is busy for now working on Black Sabbath's upcoming 13, which will be the band's first album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years. Rick Rubin is producing the LP, which is due in June.

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