Black Sabbath are set to debut their upcoming single "End of the Beginning" on the May 15th season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. According to a press release, the group will perform the tune when actors Ted Danson and Marc Vann attend a Black Sabbath concert as they "investigate a trail of murders with horrifying similarities to the sins in Dante's Inferno."
“When we first heard that Black Sabbath was interested in premiering a song on CSI from their first studio album in 35 years, we were all really excited," executive producer Don McGill said in a statement. "So many of us are longtime fans. And seeing as the album is titled 13 and this is the finale of CSI's Season 13, it seemed like the perfect match. We couldn't be more thrilled."
Sabbath's 13 hits shelves on June 11th. It's their first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals since 1978's Never Say Die!, though it is not a complete reunion of the classic lineup. Founding drummer Bill Ward claims he wasn't presented with a contract that he deemed acceptable, and Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk was brought into the sessions as his replacement.
The band planned on launching a world tour last year, but it was derailed by guitarist Tony Iommi's diagnosis of early stage lymphoma. They have dates on the books right now for Australia and Europe, but their American tour plans remain under wraps.
Many Sabbath fans are hoping that Bill Ward will return to the band sometime soon, but that seems unlikely. He's been rather quiet on the issue recently, but last May, he posted a long letter on his website that explained the situation. "I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band," he wrote. "I'm very, very sorry that it's fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality."
He continued, "I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members. I love them; I'm tolerant of them; I'm frustrated with them, as they may be with me. My fight has never been with them. I'll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesn't win; the fans for an original lineup don't win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did."
