The recording was discovered on a cassette tape that included a version of the band’s “Heaven and Hell”
Earlier this year, the estate of Geoff Nicholls released a previously unheard rehearsal tape of the very song written with Ronnie James Dio during Ozzy’s departure from the band in, “Heaven and Hell”.
The track was sourced from a cassette tape discovered by the Nicholls estate. Now fans are being treated to the b-side of that cassette in another unreleased track featuring Dio in Sabbath called “Slapback”.
As for whom is actually playing on the recording, the players in Tony Iommi and Bill Ward play their respective instruments while Dio commands the vocals, but it is unclear of Nicholls is actually on bass. Geezer Butler was not present during the writing sessions for Heaven and Hell.
Nicholls stepson Gary Rees serves as the executor of the estate and included the following of the uncovered recording. “This latest upload from the Geoff Nicholls estate I believe is called ‘Slapback’ from the scrawling on the cassette and the chorus. This is from the same cassette as the ‘Heaven & Hell’ upload on this channel. It doesn’t sound like a typical Sabbath song if it is them but it does sound like Ronnie James Dio.”
Listen to the recording below.
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