The stars aligned on 11/11/11, when Black Sabbath confirmed the worst kept secret in rock, which is that they are reuniting. Speculation about the reunion brewed for months and now it's confirmed. With a Download Festival appearance, a tour and a new album to be produced by Rick Rubin on the way, it's going be a Sabbath-filled 2012.

At yesterday's press conference at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, where the band played exactly 41 years ago to the day, not opening for Alice Cooper, by the way, singer Henry Rollins served as the "press liaison." He asked the band "Why now?," to which Ozzy Osbourne so eloquently replied, "It's just time." Guitarist Tony Iommi concurred, stating, "It’s now or never. We get along great. Everything’s really good."

Iommi also revealed that Rubin was somewhat of a persistent architect of the reunion, with Iommi joking, "He phoned us up every five minutes. We couldn't stop him." Ozzy goes way, way back with Rubin and said the uber producer "wanted to do it a long time ago." Well, now he has his chance to work his Black (Sabbath) magic.

The new Sabbath album is due next fall, and bassist Geezer Butler offered a succinct description of what to expect: "It’s really back to the old Sabbath style and sound."

And that, classic rockers, is very good news!

"This time, the stuff that Tony has been playing is excellent. It's just brilliant. We know that this time, it's going to happen," Butler continued.

Ozzy also said that the band has written seven or eight songs already and they're really good. Duh! Iommi also said that it's not like the group members had cut off all contact over the years, either, so stepping back into these roles has been simple.

Watch Black Sabbath Press Conference Footage

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