Black Sabbath to release new songs with final tour

 Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath are ready for “the end,” but the band still has some new material.

Black Sabbath announced Thursday that it would release four new songs on a limited-release album as part of a global tour that starts next Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The metal band has said that the tour, which ends September 21 in Phoenix, Arizona, will be its last with no further concerts or albums.

But Black Sabbath said that the limited CD -- also called “The End” -- will feature four songs that were recorded and unused during sessions for the band’s final album “13,” released in 2013.

The CD will only be sold at the concerts for “The End” and feature artwork by Shepard Fairey, the street artist best known for the “Hope” poster for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign.

The CD “The End” will also include four live recordings from the tour for “13,” the band said in a statement.

Black Sabbath was instrumental in creating heavy metal in the early 1970s with dark and high-volume guitars coupled with a keen interest in the occult.

Frontman Ozzy Osbourne, 67, went on to a successful career as a solo artist famous for sensational shows. But earlier talk of a reunion was clouded by health crises suffered by guitarist Tony Iommi, who has battled cancer in recent years.