13 Black Sabbath

13 is the nineteenth and final studio album by English rock band Black Sabbath. It was released on 10 June 2013 through Vertigo Records, acting as their first studio album in 18 years, 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).

Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath's most popular record (it was a number one smash in the U.K., and "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" both scraped the U.S. charts despite virtually nonexistent radio play), it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. Paranoid refined Black Sabbath's signature sound – crushingly loud, minor-key dirges loosely based on heavy blues-rock – and applied it to a newly consistent set of songs with utterly memorable riffs, most of which now rank as all-time metal classics…

This import, three-CD box set collects Black Sabbath's first six albums in near-entirety, excising a few lesser tracks and shorter instrumental pieces like "Laguna Sunrise," the only track from We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll not present ("Children of the Grave" is here, but mistitled "Embryo," which is actually its instrumental introduction). The tracks are ordered chronologically, often in their original LP sequence. It isn't as necessary to hear Sabbath's albums in their original forms as, for example, Led Zeppelin's, so if you can find it, this set is a less expensive (and definitive) way to acquire all of Black Sabbath's worthwhile material at once.

We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll is a good single-disc collection of many – but not all – of Black Sabbath's best tracks from the Ozzy Osbourne era, drawing about half of its material from the group's first two albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid…

Considered by many to be the first heavy metal band, Black Sabbath was formed in 1968 by Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward…