13 (Black Sabbath album)

13
Studio album by Black Sabbath
Released	10 June 2013 (2013-06-10)
Recorded	August 2012 – January 2013
Studio	Shangri-La (Malibu, California) Tone Hall (Lapworth, England)
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	53:34
Label	Vertigo
Producer	Rick Rubin
Black Sabbath chronology
Forbidden (1995) 13 (2013) The End (2016)
Singles from 13
"God Is Dead?" Released: 19 April 2013 "End of the Beginning" Released: 15 May 2013[1] "Loner" Released: 17 October 2013[2]

13 is the nineteenth and final studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. It was released on 10 June 2013 through Vertigo Records,^[3] acting as their first studio album in 18 years (the longest gap between albums during their run) following Forbidden (1995). It 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).

Black Sabbath's original line-up first began work on a new studio album in 2001 with producer Rick Rubin.^[4] 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.^[5] 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."^[6]

The singles "God Is Dead?", "End of the Beginning", and "Loner" were released in promotion of the album. 13 received positive reviews from critics; praise was directed at the band's songwriting and performance abilities several decades after their formation, though the album has been cited as a product of the loudness war, having a compromised sound quality as a result of an overly compressed dynamic range. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, the band won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "God Is Dead?". Commercially, 13 was a number-one album in several countries, including the United Kingdom and United States. It was later certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The album was also certified platinum in Brazil, Canada, Germany, and Poland.