Ward declined to participate in the group's 2013 album, "13", and tour over a contractual dispute. Last fall, Ozzy said he hoped Ward would return to the lineup as the band began planning their final album and world tour. Now, in an extended official statement, Ward says Osbourne must amend and apologize comments he made during the "13" process that suggested the drummer wasn't capable of performing at the level needed for a Black Sabbath reunion.

"I have neither severed nor discontinued my relationship with Black Sabbath," explains Ward, "however, since 2012, the often inaccurate statements about me as a person and as a musician have caused me to be guarded and be especially detached emotionally and spiritually from Ozzy. His rhetoric above all has brought me the most discord. The continuing misguided information about me has established a necessity on my part to confront these issues."

"There is always speculation about a true, original Sabbath lineup for the next tour or record," continues the drummer. "With a sad heart, I have to say I will not participate in any musical undertakings until a righting of the wrongs spoken against me has been achieved. I must admit, I have little to no expectations of this happening, but in the order of first things first, I'm looking for an honest accountability of all of Ozzy's statements that I felt were untrue.

"I would want Ozzy to amend his opinions and exaggerations. I would want him to be forthcoming about his unrealistic viewpoints. And because I was chastised publicly, I would want him to amend publicly in his words, and not through an Ozzy representative, the nature of the wrongs. I would not want to continue on with him without this seemingly impassible dilemma being addressed."