Picture this: a revered guitarist who first made waves during the late '60s re-emerges with an oft-praised, top-selling album featuring many of today's most popular singers.

To fans of Carlos Santana, the scenario is familiar, but legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is out to earn similar success. Due Oct. 17 from Divine Recordings, the Ozzy Osbourne-helmed imprint distributed by Priority Records, Iommi's eponymous solo debut album features 10 tracks -- showcasing such vocalists as Billy Idol, Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, and Pantera's Phil Anselmo -- that are united by dark, thick guitar riffs from the project's namesake.

The Bob Marlette-produced album was a long time in the making, Iommi explains. "Almost four years ago now, we started talking about this," the Warwickshire, England, resident says. "I tried just writing some instrumental stuff and thought it would be nice to try to use different singers. [But] I had to keep stopping and starting because we've had Sabbath [reunion] tours, and I liked to do this in stages."

Coordinating schedules with the various vocalists also proved difficult, Iommi says. "That was the hard part," he says. "But I've been very lucky, because all the people I wanted on it, I've got."

Iommi wrote the music for each of the album's songs, while he yielded the task of writing lyrics to the singers. "I wanted them to put their mark on the songs," he says.

The collaborations provided Iommi with unique learning experiences, he says. "It was quite exciting, because you just don't know what they're going to do next."

The album does contain one vocal track by someone with whom Iommi is very familiar. "I had to have Ozzy [Osborne], didn't I?" he says with a laugh.

Osbourne, with whom Iommi shares Black Sabbath's history, says his involvement on the cut "Who's Fooling Who" was a no-brainer. "Tony worked on the album all last year during breaks from the Sabbath tour, so I'd been hearing bits and pieces, and I knew it was turning out great. Sharon and I realized it made perfect sense for our new label, so we approached Tony about putting it out on Divine. I'm very proud of him."

With so many vocalists taking part in the project, Iommi acknowledges that an extensive tour would be a logistical nightmare, but he doesn't rule out the possibility of a handful of gigs. "I'd certainly like to do a select amount of shows," says Iommi. "I think they'd be up for it. It's just getting everybody in the same place at the same time."

That might happen before the end of the year, says Barry Lyons, whose Rent a Label company provides promotion consulting services for indies like Divine. "We're keeping an eye on the month of December, when most bands tend to go on hiatus," he says.

In the meantime, Iommi will embark on a lengthy radio promotion tour, hitting two cities a day over five weeks.

Iommi acknowledges that he's heard the project likened to "a heavy Santana" but says he doesn't mind the correlation. "It's bound to be compared to that because we're both guitar players and both use different singers," he says. "But it's a different sort of music."

Lyons compares the relative merits of Santana's "Supernatural" with the Iommi release, saying, "What made the Santana project work ultimately was extraordinary songs with extraordinary performances. I think we've got the same quality emerging here," he says. "This does not come across as a Black Sabbath album with other people trying to sing Ozzy's parts. [First single, the Dave Grohl-sung "Goodbye Lament"] sounds like the sum of Foo Fighters and Black Sabbath, and it becomes something that is altogether different from either."