Tony Iommi recently spoke with Guitar World about his career and his goals, going forward. Among the topics discussed was the legendary guitarist’s current health status, four years after he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

“I seem to be alright for the moment,” said Iommi. “It’s still in remission. I continue to have my regular checkup every six weeks, and it’s a bit easier for me now that I’m not touring. The doctors were concerned about all the flying I was doing, because it isn’t good for the blood. But I’m on top of it, and I’m eating the right things…although sometimes I still eat the wrong things.”

Iommi was also asked about his regular practice of de-tuning his Gibson SG, something he opted to do beginning with Black Sabbath’s third album, Master of Reality.

“I think it made a huge difference and added a whole different dimension to Black Sabbath,” observed Iommi. “It made my guitar sound bigger, which was always a motivation. I mean, not counting vocals, what did I really have to work with? We didn’t have keyboards or a rhythm guitar. It was just me, bass and drums. So, we were always working on making our sound larger than life and more powerful.”