Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has described his long-awaited third solo album as “real loud” and “dark”.

Speaking exclusively to Gigwise, the 61-year-old rock legend explained that he hopes to release the record, tentatively titled 'Beyond Aston', this year.

Asked about the musical direction, he told us: "The stuff that I’m doing right now is certainly loud.

“What has influenced me a lot, I think it was in 2006 we did a tour of the world with the Sabs (Black Sabbath) and that had an incredible influence on me. When I got back I just wanted to write real loud cool stuff.

“So that’s what this is, this is a result of some of the more powerful music, a lot of really big chords and a lot of dark notes and I just got influenced by my own band.”

(by Scott Colothan)