Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler has revealed his love for the nu metal era in a new interview.
Talking to Knotfest, the 74-year-old, who co-founded Sabbath in 1968, says that he admired the breadth of metal’s vision during the late 1990s, singling out Slipknot for particular praise.
“I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well,” remembers Butler.
“It was amazing to see what new bands were coming out then. And each one had a different version of metal, if you want to call it metal.
“Different versions, instead of just going on and screaming into the microphone and everything sounding the same.
“Really good, different bands coming out. Slipknot being one of them, obviously. It was great.”
Butler also expresses his admiration for industrial metal leaders Fear Factory and explains how they influenced his 1995 solo album Plastic Planet.
Then-Fear Factory singer Burton C. Bell performed vocals on the record.
“I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or Ozzy [Osbourne].
“Pedro [Howse, guitarist], my nephew, had this band called Crazy Angel, who were like an ultra-thrash band. So when me and him got writing together it came out ultra-heavy, and I wasn’t restricted to what lyrics I was going to write about.
“A lot of it is about science fiction – a bit like what’s going on now with the AI stuff and everything.”
Black Sabbath retired in 2017 following an extensive farewell tour.
However, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne has recently expressed a desire to reunite the original lineup – himself, Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward – for one final show.
Osbourne expressed dissatisfaction over Ward’s absence from the final Sabbath tour on an episode of his podcast The Madhouse Chronicles.
“It’s unfinished,” he said.
“If they wanted to do one more gig with Bill, I would jump at the chance.
“Do you know what would be cool? If we went to a club or something unannounced and we just got up and did it. We started up in a club.
“I was sad that Bill wasn’t there. I mean Tommy Clufetos, my drummer, did a great job [filling in during the farewell tour]. But he ain’t Bill Ward.”
After Iommi called reuniting with Ward a “nice idea”, Butler agreed.
“Of course there’s an interest [on my part to do it],” the bassist said, “but there’s a big ‘but’ – you’d have to speak to Bill about it.”
“Everybody wants to do it [but I don’t know if Ward is] capable [of pulling it off].”
Butler released his memoir, Into The Void: From Birth To Black Sabbath—And Beyond, last year via Harper Collins.
