Editing Black Sabbath (section)

===1992–1997: Martin rejoins, ''Cross Purposes'', and ''Forbidden''===
Drummer [[Vinny Appice]] left the band following the reunion show to rejoin Ronnie James Dio's solo band, later appearing on Dio's ''[[Strange Highways]]'' and ''[[Angry Machines]]''. Iommi and Butler enlisted former [[Rainbow (rock band)|Rainbow]] drummer [[Bobby Rondinelli]], and reinstated former vocalist [[Tony Martin (British singer)|Tony Martin]]. The band returned to the studio to work on new material, although the project was not originally intended to be released under the Black Sabbath name. As Geezer Butler explains:

{{blockquote|It wasn't even supposed to be a Sabbath album; I wouldn't have even done it under the pretence of Sabbath. That was the time when the original band were talking about getting back together for a reunion tour. Tony and myself just went in with a couple of people, did an album just to have, while the reunion tour was (supposedly) going on. It was like an Iommi/Butler project album.{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=130}}}}

Under pressure from their record label, the band released their seventeenth studio album, ''[[Cross Purposes]]'', on 8 February 1994, under the Black Sabbath name. The album received mixed reviews, with ''Blender'' giving the album two stars, calling [[Soundgarden]]'s 1994 album ''[[Superunknown]]'' "a far better Sabbath album than this by-the-numbers potboiler".<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchell |first=Ben |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2226 |title=Blender Cross Purposes Review |publisher=Blender.com |access-date=18 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019162651/http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2226 |archive-date=19 October 2006 }}</ref> AllMusic's Bradley Torreano called ''Cross Purposes'' "the first album since ''Born Again'' that actually sounds like a real Sabbath record".<ref>{{cite web|last=Torreano|first=Bradley|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/cross-purposes-mw0000107297|title=Cross Purposes – Review|website=AllMusic|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref> The album just missed the Top 40 in the UK reaching number 41, and also reached 122 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the U.S. ''Cross Purposes'' contained the song "Evil Eye", which was co-written by [[Van Halen]] guitarist [[Eddie Van Halen]], although uncredited because of record label restrictions.<ref name="MusicMight"/> Touring in support of ''Cross Purposes'' began in February with [[Morbid Angel]] and [[Motörhead]] in the U.S. The band filmed a live performance at the [[Hammersmith Apollo]] on 13 April 1994, which was released on VHS accompanied by a CD, titled ''[[Cross Purposes Live]]''. After the European tour with [[Cathedral (band)|Cathedral]] and Godspeed in June 1994, drummer Bobby Rondinelli quit the band and was replaced by original Black Sabbath drummer Ward for five shows in South America.

[[File:Butlernov95.jpg|thumb|left|Geezer Butler performing with Black Sabbath in 1995]]
Following the touring cycle for ''Cross Purposes'', bassist Geezer Butler quit the band for the second time. "I finally got totally disillusioned with the last Sabbath album, and I much preferred the stuff I was writing to the stuff Sabbath were doing".{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=130}} Butler formed a solo project called [[GZR]], and released ''[[Plastic Planet]]'' in 1995. The album contained the song "Giving Up the Ghost", which was critical of Tony Iommi for carrying on with the Black Sabbath name, with the lyrics: ''You plagiarised and parodied / the magic of our meaning / a legend in your own mind / left all your friends behind / you can't admit that you're wrong / the spirit is dead and gone''{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=51}} ("I heard it's something about me..." said Iommi. "I had the album given to me a while back. I played it once, then somebody else had it, so I haven't really paid any attention to the lyrics... It's nice to see him doing his own thing – getting things off his chest. I don't want to get into a rift with Geezer. He's still a friend."<ref name="ReferenceA">''Southern Cross'' No.19, March 1997</ref>

Following Butler's departure, newly returned drummer Ward once again left the band. Iommi reinstated former members Neil Murray on bass and Cozy Powell on drums, effectively reuniting the 1990 ''Tyr'' line-up. The band enlisted [[Body Count (band)|Body Count]] guitarist [[Ernie C]] to produce the new album, which was recorded in London in autumn of 1994. The album featured a guest vocal on "Illusion of Power" by Body Count vocalist [[Ice-T]].{{sfn|Rosen|1996|p=131}} The resulting ''[[Forbidden (Black Sabbath album)|Forbidden]]'' was released on 8 June 1995, but failed to chart in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Black Sabbath {{!}} Biography, Music & News |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/black-sabbath/ |access-date=5 July 2023 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=July 2023}} The album was widely panned by critics; AllMusic's Bradley Torreano said "with boring songs, awful production, and uninspired performances, this is easily avoidable for all but the most enthusiastic fan";<ref>{{cite web|last=Torreano|first=Bradley|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/forbidden-mw0000172344|title=Forbidden – Review|website=AllMusic|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref> while ''Blender'' magazine called ''Forbidden'' "an embarrassment... the band's worst album".<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchell |first=Ben |url=http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2230 |title=Blender Forbidden review |publisher=Blender.com |access-date=20 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019162815/http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2230 |archive-date=19 October 2006 }}</ref>

Black Sabbath embarked on a world tour in July 1995 with openers [[Motörhead]] and [[Tiamat (band)|Tiamat]], but two months into the tour, drummer Cozy Powell left the band, citing health issues, and was replaced by former drummer [[Bobby Rondinelli]]. "The members I had in the last lineup – Bobby Rondinelli, Neil Murray – they're great, great characters..." Iommi told Sabbath fanzine ''Southern Cross''. "That, for me, was an ideal lineup. I wasn't sure vocally what we should do, but Neil Murray and Bobby Rondinelli I really got on well with."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

After completing Asian dates in December 1995, Tony Iommi put the band on hiatus, and began work on a solo album with former Black Sabbath vocalist [[Glenn Hughes (English musician)|Glenn Hughes]], and former Judas Priest drummer [[Dave Holland (drummer)|Dave Holland]]. The album was not officially released following its completion, although a widely traded bootleg called ''Eighth Star'' surfaced soon after. The album was officially released in 2004 as ''[[The 1996 DEP Sessions]]'', with Holland's drums re-recorded by session drummer [[Jimmy Copley]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Eduardo|first=Rivadavia|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-dep-sessions-1996-mw0000396989|title=The DEP Sessions: 1996 – Review|website=AllMusic|access-date=9 February 2013}}</ref>

In 1997, Tony Iommi disbanded the current line-up to officially reunite with Ozzy Osbourne and the original Black Sabbath line-up. Vocalist Tony Martin claimed that an original line-up reunion had been in the works since the band's brief reunion at Ozzy Osbourne's 1992 [[Costa Mesa, California|Costa Mesa]] show, and that the band released subsequent albums to fulfill their record contract with I.R.S. Records. Martin later recalled ''Forbidden'' (1995) as a "filler album that got the band out of the label deal, rid of the singer, and into the reunion. However I wasn't privy to that information at the time".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonymartin.net/qanda.html |title=Tony Martin.net Q&A |publisher=TonyMartin.net |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221032549/http://www.tonymartin.net/qanda.html |archive-date=21 December 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[I.R.S. Records]] released a [[compilation album]] in 1996 to fulfill the band's contract, titled ''[[The Sabbath Stones]]'', which featured songs from ''Born Again'' (1983) to ''Forbidden'' (1995).