Black Sabbath Rarity "Slapback" Surfaces Online

The rehearsal recording was shared by the estate of longtime keyboardist Geoff Nicholls

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Mar 8, 2021

Days after giving albums Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules expanded reissues, a previously unreleased Dio-era song from Black Sabbath has surfaced online.

A song titled "Slapback," which you can hear below, is the latest aural treasure to arrive through the estate of late Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nicholls. The archival project by late artist's estate previously shared a demo of Heaven and Hell's title track with Nicholls on bass guitar.

Gary Rees, Nicholls' stepson and executor of his estate, speculates in the video's description that "Slapback" takes its title from the chorus and "the scrawling on the cassette."

The aforementioned "Heaven and Hell" demo was sourced from the same tape of "Bel Air" rehearsals for the 1980 album. Rees writes that the bluesy number "doesn't sound like a typical Sabbath song, if it is them, but it does sound like Ronnie James Dio."

Last month, it was announced that Dio's long-awaited autobiography would hit shelves in July.

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