Though Black Sabbath have played their final show, the ties of the band still bind, and after hearing that his former bandmate Ozzy Osbourne was having more health issues, bassist Geezer Butler reached out with a get-well gift.

I had just gotten back from hiking through the desert in Utah when I saw the news that Ozzy had cancelled a whole year of touring. I didn’t know what it was all about, so I sent him a get-well thing,” Butler told Kerrang!. “Sharon said she passed it on to Ozzy and he was very thankful that I’d been thinking of him and was wishing him better. I really hope he starts feeling better soon… I think the fact we’re all still alive, just about, is pretty impressive!"

Osbourne recently had his second health related delay of 2019, with Sharon Osbourne revealing that Ozzy had fallen in his home and required surgery after re-aggravating wounds sustained from his near-fatal 2003 ATV accident. During that incident, metal rods had been placed in Ozzy's body to help him heal and they became "dislodged" during his recent fall.

Osbourne missed time from the road earlier this year while dealing with flu complications, but decided to scrap the entire year of touring after this latest accident. Old friends Judas Priest recently revealed that they would open for Osbourne when he reschedules his dates for 2020.

“We haven’t really seen much of each other since the Sabbath tour finished, only because the farewell tour ended and most of us have been enjoying some time off. Well, I thought I’d retire and love every day of not having to do anything – it was great for the first year – but then I started getting really bored, to be honest," says Butler of his time since Sabbath.

He adds, “I was stuck in my studio writing by myself with no kind of direction and no-one to bounce my ideas with, bored stiff. Then Matt Sorum got in touch asking if I would be interested in starting a new band with Steve Stevens, who is an incredible guitarist, and I said, ‘Yeah!’” Butler has since been working as part of the new group under the moniker Deadland Ritual.

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