James Hetfield has hailed Tony Iommi the 'Riff Lord'
James Hetfield has named Tony Iommi as his ultimate 'Riff Lord', praising the Black Sabbath guitarist’s influence on his playing.
For Metallica axe‑slayer James Hetfield, no one matches Tony Iommi when it comes to riffs.
The heavy metal legend has named the Black Sabbath guitar god as his top riff master.
Speaking on James Hetfield's Riff Life on SiriusXM’s Maximum Metallica, he declared: “Tony Iommi is the Riff Lord in my mind. He is the one that has inspired me the most out of any guitar player for my rhythm guitar playing and songwriting."
Discussing Black Sabbath's 1971 track Children of the Grave, he said: “Obviously, Tony is the Riff Lord and everyone starts the song together on the one riff… You know, basically Tony plays off that riff, goes in to hit the big giant chords, which opens the song up.”
He added: “I really love the drum overdub that they did to help with that percussion of the riff and the real cool ghostly guitar sounds at the very end.”
It's fitting that Metallica got to play Black Sabbath's final concert before the death of frontman Ozzy Osbourne last summer.
It was just announced that a new feature film documenting the star-studded charity concert is heading to cinemas later this year.
OZZY AND BLACK SABBATH: BACK TO THE BEGINNING will open worldwide on October 28.
The film centres on the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park, Birmingham, recorded on July 5 2025.
As well as being Osbourne’s last performance, it marked the first time the original Black Sabbath lineup - Osbourne, Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward - had played together in more than two decades.
The event sold out within minutes and drew fans from across the world.
Sharon Osbourne, who organised the show, said the idea came directly from her late spouse: “Back to the Beginning came about because I asked Ozzy what would really make him happy. And he said the only thing that would make him happy was if he could perform again and say goodbye to his fans. That’s all he wanted to do. He wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”
The concert featured a long list of guest performers and tributes, with Jason Momoa hosting and Tom Morello acting as musical director.
As well as Metallica, special guests included Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Gojira, Guns N’ Roses, Halestorm, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Pantera, Rival Sons, Slayer and Tool, alongside an extended all‑star segment featuring musicians such as Billy Corgan, Steven Tyler, Ronnie Wood, Chad Smith, Nuno Bettencourt, Sammy Hagar and Yungblud.
