This is in honor of yesterday’s Black Sabbath farewell extravaganza at Villa Park, Birmingham, England, appropriately titled, “Back to the Beginning.” 40,000 metal strong came out to say goodbye to the founding fathers of the genre, united one last time with the original lineup of Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy Osbourne.

It was an all-day festival which featured Sabbath and Ozzy solo material homages by Metallica, Guns n’ Roses, Slayer, Mastodon, Lamb of God, Pantera, Tool, Alice in Chains, Gojira and others. Not to mention twenty supergroup sections spanning royalty from the metal and hard rock leagues such as Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar, Lzzy Hale, Tom Morello, Dave Ellefson, Mike Bordin, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, The Rolling Stones’ Ron Wood, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Frank Bello, Disturbed’s Dave Draiman, former Ozzy Osbourne band guitarist Jake E. Lee and many others. Also, a pre-recorded rendition of Ozzy’s dirge classic, “Mr. Crowley,” led by School of Rock headmaster, Jack Black.

This morning, I’m heavy sighing all over the place as I scroll through my social media accounts and finding countless photos and videos of fans and metal icons attending “Back to the Beginning.” I’m jealous AF, but also incredibly happy for everyone who made the trek for this momentous valediction. Of Black Sabbath’s entire rollcall of members, I got to interview Bill Ward, Ronnie James Dio, Glenn Hughes, Vinny Appice, Bobby Rondinelli and session drummer, Tommy Clufetos. Not too shabby.

This sense of finality feels genuine for once, unlike other so-called “farewell” tours of legacy bands that were anything but. Yes, Black Sabbath dropped The End: Live in Birmingham, a 2017 concert document of the final show from a long stretch with the Ozzman back at the helm. Yet this event, “Back to the Beginning,” carries a sense of purpose to close the book on Sabbath’s teeming psalms of boom and let it rest while the foundation is still alive to savor the moment.

Like everyone else in the metal community, this week I’ve spent time spinning the Sabbath catalog. In deference more so than a sense of loss, as I hear some people referring to this moment, as if we’re mourning instead of celebrating. As if. From Sabbath’s iconic Ozzy days (inclusive of 2013’s revival album 13), I found myself spinning Sabotage, Master of Reality and Vol. 4, my favorite albums from that era, before inevitably dipping to the Dio era (which I have tremendous affection for) and a run through Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell. In my story, “Meteor Shit” from my just-released horror collection Bringing in the Creeps, my lead character, Kevin, is a chastised middle schooler with a love of Stephen King and Black Sabbath. I concentrated on the Dio era in that story in keeping true to its 1982 setting, when we kids could never project this pivotal curtain call in 2025.

Would that the late Ronnie James Dio could’ve made it to this moment in time to share the stage with Ozzy, who sang from a black throne onstage. Ozzy claims this show is his final live performance, period, due to his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s disease. Dio and the core of his tenure in Sabbath at least had their own glory ride moment as the rebranded Heaven and Hell before Dio succumbed to stomach cancer.

Yet I can only imagine the titanic feeling in Birmingham from the metal community last night when the original foursome splintered the air one last time. I’m seeing and reading pictures of tears being shed, a cavalcade of horns-up salutes, a pair of superfans hopping the gate and getting selfies at Mapledurham Watermill, the location of Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album. Plus none other than Jason Mamoa wishing his friend Phil Anselmo of Pantera well at the stage before leaping over the iron barrier and swimming his way through the throng into the mosh pit. An immediate all-time metal moment.

Farewell, Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne, there’s nothing left to prove. Supernaut lords of this world and the next.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.