Former BLACK SABBATH singer Tony Martin has posted the following message on his official web site:

"I've been workin out with a band called CANDLEMASS from Sweden. They were around in the '90s and almost got a support slot on the 'Tyr' tour with SABBATH but were a great band in their own right. I worked on three songs of theirs to see if we could hook up for their new album but it didn't really work. Actually, that's not quite true, the tracks they gave me were fantastic but completely not my style I was able to make something out of one of them but the other two were out of my range (too low) and style. I went to London to meet them and gotta say they were really great guys. I wish them the best of luck with their new album and look forward to hearing the finished thing."

Martin also revealed more details about his upcoming solo album, tentatively due next year. "There will probably be 12 tracks on the album including a live track from a SABBATH show," he wrote. "I have recorded two tracks featuring the legendary drumming of Cozy Powell. How? well, when I fronted COZY POWELL'S HAMMER, he gave me 20 drumming tracks to write some songs with, I forgot I had them untill I found them recently in the move to my new house.

"The two tracks that I have put on the album are called 'Raising Hell' and 'Wings of Thunder' They originate from the SABBATH days and I did play the demos to him when we were doin' HAMMER, he thought they were really good. They are very much Cozy-type tracks and it's taken me AGES!! I was determined to get it right! I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. If the tracks prove successfull I'll do a complete album of new songs with his drum tracks.

"Other tracks on the album are 'Bitter Sweet' and 'Field of Lies'. These two tracks are really SABBATH-sounding tracks, I've been writing with Geoff Nicholls and these are just a couple of the tracks we did to-gether. There's a ballad called 'Wherever You Go' and even a rap metal track that my son wrote called 'Unbearable'. I'm just putting the final touches to the vocals and then gotta get artwork done, but I aint gonna spend a lotta time on that just something straight forward.

"All in all, theres a LOT of diversity on this album and I love it all, hope you guys do too! If you apreciated the differences from SABBATH to 'Back Where I Belong' then you probably will."