"It's the end of Sabbath and people have been asking 'well I thought you were doing an album," Ozzy tells news.com.au. "But the things we've discovered are - number one: People aren't really interested in hearing new stuff and number two: If we were to do an album before the tour - it would take three or four years to complete the album. We want to end it on a high note.

"Just to be remembered is enough for me," he adds. "I thought no one would remember me when we first started playing music. I'd rather end it now though than drag it out for another five albums. I mean I'm 67 in December."

Osbourne has plans of his own once the Sabbath machine shuts down for good. "Well I did pretty well for 35 years, and I'm not retiring," Ozzy explains. "I'm going to do a solo album and a solo tour. I mean my wife's a shop-a-holic always off buying f---g shoes or something so I've got to keep the money coming somehow."