13 [Best Buy Exclusive 2CD/XL T-Shirt]

About 13 [Best Buy Exclusive 2CD/XL T-Shirt]

13 is the 19th and final studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. The album was released on 10 June 2013 in Europe and 11 June 2013 in North America, via Vertigo Records and Republic Records in the United States, and via Vertigo Records worldwide. According to Geezer, the title 13 comes from the record company pressuring the band to write thirteen songs although the band wanted to stop at ten. It is the only studio album released by Black Sabbath since Forbidden (1995), and was the band's first studio recording with original singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler since the live album Reunion (1998), which contained two new studio tracks. It was also the first studio album with Osbourne since Never Say Die! (1978), and with Butler since Cross Purposes (1994), the first since Never Say Die! not to feature longtime keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, and the first since The Eternal Idol (1987) on the Vertigo label (outside the United States and Canada). Black Sabbath's original line-up first began work on a new studio album in 2001 with producer Rick Rubin. The album's development was delayed over a 10-year period, as Osbourne resumed his solo career while the rest of the band members went on to pursue other projects, including GZR and Heaven & Hell. When Black Sabbath announced the end of its hiatus on 11 November 2011, the band announced that they would restart work on a new album with Rubin. In addition to original members Osbourne, Butler and guitarist Tony Iommi, the band was joined at the recording sessions by drummer Brad Wilk, of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, following original drummer Bill Ward's decision to not participate in the reunion, due to a "contractual dispute. more »