NEWS: Background on previously unreleased Black Sabbath, Dio era song

Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the lead vocalist for Heavy metal great Black Sabbath in 1979 and went on to record 3 studio albums with the band, all of which were a great success: Heaven & Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981) and Dehumanizer (1992)

Most bands will have a set of songs that they will record and collectively decide which songs make it onto the album, and the "Heaven and Hell" recording sessions were no different. The stepson of the late longtime Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls, shared the previously unreleased song "Slapback" on his YouTube Channel.

Geezer Butler, former Sabbath drummer gave some clarity around the Dio era song, during a SiriusXM appearance.

"Yeah, that was one of the songs that we did before I left. It's probably the reason I did leave. It was just one of those songs that didn't make the grade."

Geezer also confirmed that he played on the track, "Yeah, that was right before I left. It was just a one-off thing. We just jammed it and didn't think anything more of it. It didn't really work."

Check out the song: