KILLSWITCH ENGAGE’s Jesse Leach: “The Music World Owes a Great Debt to Ozzy and Sabbath”

In one of his final interviews before Ozzy Osbourne‘s death, Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach reflected on the metal icon’s impact on heavy music. Speaking with WMMR’s Brent Porche, Leach commented on the Back To The Beginning concert, which marked Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s final performance.

Leach said:

“Yeah, just the clips that I’ve seen online. I haven’t sat and watched the whole thing. It’s rock and roll history, really. At the end of the day, without Sabbath, where would any of us be? I’m a massive Sabbath and Ozzy fan, so it was nice to see people pay tribute — to them, to the legacy. It’s beautiful.”

Although Leach never had the chance to see Ozzy or Black Sabbath live, his first exposure to Ozzy left a lasting impression. He recalled discovering him through the iconic MTV music video for “Close My Eyes Forever”, Ozzy’s duet with Lita Ford, saying:

“As a kid, I was, like, ‘This guy’s crazy. Who is this guy?’ Because I had no idea. I grew up a very sheltered Christian life. My dad’s a minister, so I was not allowed to watch that stuff. So seeing it for the first time, I was so intrigued of who this guy was, and I became obsessed with Ozzy Osbourne. And, of course, I heard about the bat head and all that stuff. So, to me, it was Ozzy first, and then I knew about BLACK SABBATH after.”

Later, in an interview with Meltdown of WRIF Detroit, Leach spoke about the massive influence Black Sabbath has had on his life and the entire heavy music genre.

“The music world owes a great debt to both Ozzy as the solo artist and BLACK SABBATH. The majority of the bands that are kicking it right now owe a debt to BLACK SABBATH… And I’ll always be a massive fan of both Ozzy Osbourne solo and BLACK SABBATH. Very important stuff.”

When asked about the rare opportunity Sabbath had to properly say goodbye to fans before any of the core members passed, Leach agreed.

“Yeah, I think that’s cool when bands are able to do that,” he said. “And it’s also good to know when the time has come. And I hope that we have the wherewithal to know when it’s just probably not the best look right now. But you look at a band like IRON MAIDEN — I mean, Bruce Dickinson, to me, is still prime. He’s still peak. The guy is in his sixties. We’ve done two tours with him now, and every night he’s just on it. And I’m, like, I wanna be even just a quarter that good at that age. So it can be done, but it is smart to know when to call it and to be able to have your final say in how your legacy ends.”

Killswitch Engage guitarist and producer Adam Dutkiewicz also touched on Black Sabbath’s influence in a recent interview with Heaviness In Metal Music Production. Dutkiewicz said:

“Obviously, when you hear SABBATH for the first time… I think if you think about it, SABBATH is probably one of the first things out there in the modern guitar-based heavy kind of vibe that started the whole thing. Then when I got to the combination of that metal sound with the aggressiveness with METALLICA, that really changed my life with like what the way I wanted to play guitar and what I looked for in the music that I wanted to write.”

Ozzy Osbourne passed away the morning of July 22nd, with his family issuing a public statement: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

While a cause of death was not revealed, Ozzy had been battling numerous health complications over the past several years, including Parkinson’s disease and injuries sustained during a 2019 fall. His legacy, both as a solo artist and founding member of Black Sabbath, continues to echo through every corner of rock and metal.

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