BLACK SABBATH To Perform New Song On 'CSI' Season Finale

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees BLACK SABBATH — Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler — will make a rare television appearance when they perform a new song in the season finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", Wednesday, May 15 (10:00-11:00PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

As the "CSI" team investigates a trail of murders with horrifying similarities to the sins in "Dante's Inferno", the band will share a scene with D.B. Russell (Ted Danson) when he and Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann) attend a BLACK SABBATH show. The appearance will mark the band's world premiere of the song "End Of The Beginning" from their much-anticipated new album "13", due out June 11 on Vertigo/Republic. This marks BLACK SABBATH's return to Vertigo, their original label, and the group's first studio album together since 1978's "Never Say Die!" They have sold more than 70 million albums together.

"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. So many of us are longtime fans," said executive producer Don McGill. "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."

Currently, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" wins its Wednesday (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) time period in viewers (11.85m),adults 18-49 (2.9/08) and adults 25-54 (3.8/09). It is also a global ratings hit, earning the International TV Audience Award for the "most-watched show in the world" for the third consecutive year, its fifth time in seven years.

Osbourne told Australian radio station Triple M that the new BLACK SABBATH album is "mind-blowing." Ozzy added, "I'm so over the moon about the way the album turned out. We wrote 16 songs ... and I put it on my CD player, expecting me to be unhappy with the end result, but this big grin came on my face and my hair on the back on my neck (stood up) . . . It's better than my wildest dreams; it's so good."

Ozzy said, "If you're a SABBATH fan, you will not be disappointed. It's so SABBATH-y, it's scary. It's the album we should have made after [1973's] 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'."

The legendary singer continued, "Believe me, I'm the guy that goes, 'Ah, there's a mistake there.' I look for the mistake. If there's one mistake, I'll find it. But this album is great, perfect. It's very, very heavy, there's no getting away from the fact that it is BLACK SABBATH, and you can hear every instrument and everything clearly. It's so heavy. I'm so excited about it."

Songs set to appear on the disc include three seven-plus-minute behemoths called "End Of The Beginning", "God Is Dead" and "Epic", along with "Dear Father" and "Methademic".

The drum tracks on the album were laid down by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE sticksman Brad Wilk following original drummer Bill Ward's decision to bow out of the reunion.

SABBATH will launch a world tour in support of the album later this month in New Zealand, Australia and Japan, with North American dates to follow this summer.

The band, with Ward initially on board, announced its current reunion in November 2011, six years after they had last played together.

Plans for extensive touring were curtailed by the January 2012 revelation that Iommi had been diagnosed with an early stage of cancer. He continues to receive treatment.