Black Sabbath Guitarist Talks Ozzy, Dio

After spending the last decade with Ozzy Osbourne as frontman for veteran rockers Black Sabbath, guitarist Tony Iommi is back with Osbourne's successor, Ronnie James Dio, as Heaven and Hell. And while the two Sabbath incarnations have two distinct sounds -- Osbourne's penchant for no-holds-barred rock and Dio's taste for complexity -- it turns out that that's not the only differences between the two singers.

"When I sit down with Ronnie, I realize how creative he is," Iommi tells Spinner. "We bounce off each other really well and come up with ideas fast. With Ozzy, it normally takes longer because we put something down and then see if it's suitable for him. Or, he'll sing with it a bit and then we'll change it. Two great people -- it's just two different ways of working."

Iommi says that while he's proud of the Osbourne-era songs, he's happy to put them back in the vault for the Heaven and Hell tour. "We had a standard set list with Ozzy," Iommi says. "No disrespect to that -- I love the old stuff -- but this is a bit more adventurous. In 39 years, I've never been on stage without playing 'Paranoid' or 'War Pigs.' It's a huge step for me."