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The planned Black Sabbath reunion may have gone off the rails due to contractual issues with drummer Bill Ward, but three of the four original members are continuing to work on a new album.

“We've written about 15 songs so far, whether they all get on an album, I don't know,” Ozzy Osbourne tells NME. “We just keep on writing. I was trying to work out: where would we be now musically if we'd have stayed together?”

Rick Rubin is producing the new album, the band’s first studio effort since 1978’s “Never Say Die.” The veteran producer helped shape the project with some initial words of creative direction.

“He [Rubin] sat us down,” explains Geezer Butler. “He put on the first [Sabbath] album on and said ‘Listen to this. Now imagine it’s 1969, you’ve just done that – what would you do next?’”

Rubin’s nudge to the classic Sabbath sound may have worked, according to guitarist Tony Iommi.

“It’s certainly taken on the flavor of the old stuff,” he says. “And the way we’ve put things together… but with a sort of a newer look on it."

In the NME session, Ozzy also hinted at the project’s title.

"Next year - 2013 - is a good clue of what we'll call the album," said the singer.

The band are due close Download festival next Sunday (June 10), the second of three scheduled dates for what was to be a full Sabbath reunion tour; they wrap up with an appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago in August.