For the first time in two decades, ANTHRAX is crashing BLACK SABBATH‘s party at the “Back To The Beginning” shindig on Saturday, July 5 at Birmingham’s Villa Park. These New York thrash legends last shared a stage with the metal gods at the 2005 Download fest – back when flip phones were cool and MySpace ruled the world. Fun fact: Their 1986 “Seventh Star” tour together was ANTHRAX‘s first arena experience… and probably the last time anyone used hairspray in industrial quantities.
“I’m a huge BLACK SABBATH fan,” admits ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante, “BLACK SABBATH was so, so instrumental in the sound of ANTHRAX back in the day.”
“Back in ’86, when we were working on our third album, we wanted to do a B-side of a BLACK SABBATH song. ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ was the song that we chose. We did it as a B-side, we played it live, and it became a big thing for us.”
“Growing up Catholic, in a Catholic household, my mom did not appreciate BLACK SABBATH. One day when I came home, my sister took me to the record store and I got one of those iron-on BLACK SABBATH t-shirts, it was the cover of ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’. I got it home, my mother saw it, she made my sister take me back to the store and return it. She would not have it in the house because it had the ‘666’ on it. I was still a BLACK SABBATH fan so I had to kind of keep it hidden from my mom.”
ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian shares his origin story: “I discovered BLACK SABBATH when I was about eight years old, sitting in my uncle’s room at my grandparents’ house. My uncle was 17 or 18, had a big vinyl collection and blacklight posters all over his walls, and I thought he was the coolest dude in the world.” (Fun fact: That iconic debut SABBATH album cover was inspired by a real-life creepy encounter – the “figure in black” was actually a theater employee they spotted near a medieval dungeon!)
Joey Belladonna, ANTHRAX‘s vocal powerhouse, isn’t shy about his fandom: “We toured with SABBATH on the ’86 tour, and it was so electric. That was a huge tour for us, and we were just overwhelmed to be part of it.” Let’s just say if metal karaoke existed, Joey would be nailing every Ozzy high note.
Bassist Frank Bello drops some wisdom: “I’m also a HUGE Geezer [Butler] fan. His bass lines make you want to play bass.” Because let’s face it – without Geezer‘s rumbling lows, metal would just be… loud.
The real backstage drama? Tom Morello played matchmaker for this reunion. When Scott Ian begged to get ANTHRAX on the bill, Morello responded faster than you can play “Crazy Train” – approval came in 5 minutes flat. Take that, Ticketmaster queues!
This sold-out nostalgia fest (gone in 10 minutes – bots 1, humans 0) features the original SABBATH lineup’s last rodeo. The supporting cast reads like Spotify’s metal playlist exploded: METALLICA, GUNS N’ ROSES, TOOL, plus a supergroup mashup with Slash, Billy Corgan, and even Wolfgang Van Halen. It’s like someone raided Rock & Roll Heaven’s green room.
Ozzy‘s final bow supports Parkinson’s research – the Prince of Darkness has been battling the condition since 2003. Despite health struggles (including COVID and that infamous quad-bike crash), he’s still outlasting most of us. Pro tip: Never bet against the guy who bit a bat’s head off.
