Music

Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi's cancer is in remission

by Tyler Munro

While the same could be said of the rest of Black Sabbath, metal would not be the same without Tony Iommi. In Sam Dunn’s now iconic Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Rob Zombie joked that every cool riff in metal had already been written by Iommi; everything else was either a faster, slower, or slightly tweaked reinterpretation.

And so that makes this news all the more fantastic: According to his hometown newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, Tony Iommi’s cancer is in remission.

First diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, Iommi immediately went into treatment in January the next year and, according to a recent follow-up with his doctor, he seams to have beaten it — at least for now.

“The chemotherapy and the follow-up treatment appear to have done the trick,” said Iommi. “But I’m aware that it could come back one day.”

With all the drama surrounding Sabbath’s farewell, from Ozzy’s publicity stunts to Bill Ward’s (seemingly justified bitterness), Iommi’s health is a big win.

Iommi announced that he was in remission at Solihull’s Spire Parkway Hospital, where he was treated, as he unveiled a plaque honouring the facility. He says that the hospital, and its new Spire Specialist Care Centre, does a great job at easing the anxiety that comes with cancer treatment.

“I have a blood test every six weeks at my GP’s, and I come in here at regular intervals for check-ups,” said Iommi. “That’s something that I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life, looking for any warning signs that it might be rearing its ugly head again.”

Here’s hoping that it doesn’t.