A Black Sabbath [ tickets ] reunion of sorts--sans Ozzy Osbourne [ tickets ]--will take place next year, when Ronnie James Dio [ tickets ], Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward plan to hit the road under the moniker Heaven and Hell [ tickets ].

Dio will rejoin the three founding members of Sabbath for the third time, following stints replacing Osbourne in the '80s and '90s, when the singer was asked to leave the band to treat his drug and alcohol problems.

Osbourne was quick to issue a press release through his publicist, Lathum Nelson, commenting that "there is only one Black Sabbath," and that Osbourne's work with the band will continue.

"Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill will be touring late next year along with a new Black Sabbath album," Nelson said. "However, Ozzy wishes Tony and Ronnie much success in their project together."

Heaven and Hell will take its name from the 1980 Black Sabbath album of the same name, which was also the first of the band's albums to feature Dio as lead vocalist.

Black Sabbath, which formed in 1969, has appeared onstage together in its original form several times in recent years, most recently at the 2004 version of Osbourne's namesake music festival, Ozzfest.

Black Sabbath's most recent release is the 1998 live album "Reunion," which also contained two new studio tracks, including the radio hit "Psycho Man."