Black Sabbath's original line-up first began work on a new studio album in 2001 with producer Rick Rubin.

[4] The album's development was delayed over a 10-year period, as Osbourne resumed his solo career while the rest of the band members went on to pursue other projects, including GZR and Heaven & Hell.

[5] In addition to original members Osbourne, Butler and guitarist Tony Iommi, the band was joined at the recording sessions by drummer Brad Wilk, of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, following original drummer Bill Ward's decision to not participate in the reunion, due to a contractual dispute.

13 received positive reviews from critics; praise was directed at the band's songwriting and performance abilities several decades after their formation, though the album has been cited as a product of the loudness war, having a compromised sound quality as a result of an overly compressed dynamic range.

[4] These sessions were halted when Ozzy Osbourne was called away to finish tracks for his eighth solo album Down to Earth, released in October that year.

Geezer wasn't writing the lyrics anymore, I was having real big problems coming up with melody lines and topics to sing about... Tony was still firing off these amazing heavy metal riffs.

For the release, Iommi, Geezer Butler, Dio and Vinny Appice reunited to write and record three new songs as Black Sabbath.

[14] Pleased with the results, Iommi and Dio decided to reunite the Heaven and Hell era line-up for a world tour.

Ward was to participate, but dropped out before the tour began due to musical differences with "a couple of the band members" as well as a "contractual dispute".

Hosted by former Black Flag vocalist Henry Rollins, the event featured all four original Sabbath band members.

The reunion was said to feature an appearance at the 2012 Download Festival, and a newly recorded studio album by Rubin expected to be released in late 2012.

[23] On 9 January 2012, it was announced Iommi had been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma,[24] which was not expected to impede the group's activity.

Because of his cancer diagnosis, work sessions for 13, which were supposed to take place in Los Angeles, California, were moved to Iommi's home in England.

The following day, the other group members announced they had "no choice but to continue recording without him," but also said "our door is always open" for Ward to return to the band.

Instead of Black Sabbath, the tour would feature Osbourne and a revolving line-up of guest musicians, billed as "Ozzy and Friends".

It was also announced that drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave joined in during the recording sessions to complete the drum tracks for the album.

In it, the group stated that they felt excited to work with producer Rubin and emphasized their desire for a "raw" sound.

Zip commissioned sculptor Spencer Jenkins to create an 8-foot-tall "13" from wicker, which was then set on fire in the Buckinghamshire countryside.

A behind-the-scenes video, also shot by Jonathan Knowles's team, was released by Zip Design, showing the numbers' construction.

[37] According to bassist Geezer Butler, the title 13 comes from the record company pressuring the band to write 13 songs but they wanted to stop at 10; however, only eight tracks made the final cut.

[38] Prior to the album's release, Black Sabbath embarked on their first tour of Australia (initially kicking off in New Zealand) since 1974 in April and May 2013.

[41] From late July to early September 2013, Black Sabbath embarked on their first North American tour in eight years.

[44][45] Black Sabbath appeared on the season 13 finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in which they performed another new song, "End of the Beginning".

With a gap of nearly 43 years, it beat the previous record held by Bob Dylan, who released his first chart topping album, Together Through Life (2009), since New Morning (1970).

[58] Fred Thomas of AllMusic praised 13, calling it "unexpectedly brilliant, apocalyptic, and essential for any die-hard metal fan".

[63] However, 13 has been criticised for having compromised sound quality, due to an overly compressed dynamic range, during a process called peak limiting, which leads to audible distortion.

Jon Hadusek of Consequence of Sound said of the production, "Rubin...deserves disparagement for the way he mixed the audio levels, which are crushed by distortion and compression.