Almost a year after announcing their reunion, Black Sabbath are hard at work in the studio working on their first new album with Ozzy in 33+ years at Shangri La Studios in Malibu and we have some exclusive info on the progress.

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My buddy (and fellow SiriusXM Liquid Metal DJ) Jose Mangin went down to the studio to record audio snippets for Ozzy's SiriusXM channel, Ozzy's Boneyard, and was accompanied by RockMyWalls.com photographer, Sonny Guillen. Sonny was nice enough to give us a few tidbits of information about the status of the new album.

The band is currently in the studio recording vocals with Rick Rubin. There are 15 songs that have been written, and according to Geezer Butler, 12 of them will make the record, most likely with the additional three serving as bonus tracks for different special editions.

Apparently, guitarist Tony Iommi completed all 15 guitar tracks during the band's sessions in England earlier this year, and judging by the way most bands record, that would mean drums are done as well. Ozzy and Geezer are working to complete the tracks in five song increments, with the first five being worked on currently.

Ozzy is tracking vocals, with bassist Geezer Butler writing all the lyrics. One song title has been confirmed and it's "God Is Dead."

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As for guitarist Tony Iommi, Ozzy mentioned that he spoke to Iommi recently and he is in good sprits and recovery is coming along very well from his cancer scare earlier this year.

In the meanwhile, Black Sabbath fans who like gaming are wondering if Ozzy will once again be the face of a new online casino, as was the case with Metal Casino. New UK casinos on the market are always looking to partner up with the biggest stars in showbiz, and very few shine brighter than the Prince of Darkness himself – who even has a slot machine named after him. Let’s hope the wait will not be too long.

Snippets of Jose's interview with Ozzy and Geezer will begin airing on Ozzy's Boneyard (SiriusXM 38) starting next week. You can get a free 30 day trial to SiriusXM by signing up here. Here's a photo of Jose presenting Ozzy with his branded Affliction shirt: