Ozzy Osbourne - Scream Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 06.25.2010

It's Ozzy Osbourne's best album in almost twenty years.

It has been a strange career for Ozzy Osbourne. The former Black Sabbath front man is a bonafide legend in the heavy metal world. From his work with Black Sabbath to his great solo efforts, there are very few individuals who even come close. Yet, somehow, in the last decade, Ozzy has become less relevant as a musician and more noticeable as a sideshow freak. What happened to the once proud musician, a man whose last truly great album (No More Tears) was released almost twenty years ago?

Band Ozzy Osbourne ... Lead Vocals Gus G. ... Guitars Rob “Blasko” Nicholson Adam Wakeman ... Keyboards Tommy Clufetos ... Drums, Percussion

Track list: 1. "Let It Die" 2. "Let Me Hear You Scream" 3. "Soul Sucker" 4. "Life Won't Wait" 5. "Diggin’ Me Down" 6. "Crucify" 7. "Fearless" 8. "Time" 9. "I Want It More" 10. "Latimer’s Mercy" 11. "I Love You All"

The first thing to notice on Ozzy’s latest offering is the absence of guitar maestro Zakk Wylde. Osbourne claims the two never had a falling out but he wanted a change because he believed his music was starting to sound like Wylde’s other band, Black Label Society. Replacing Wylde is Gus G for the first Ozzy Osbourne album without Wylde on guitar since his debut on the 1988 album No Rest for the Wicked.

From the opening track, “Let it Die,” it is clear this is the hardest Ozzy has sounded in a very long time. Gone are the goofy, generic rock songs his music has been plagued with (I’m looking at you “Perry Mason”) and replacing them are hard rock songs that any fan of metal will love. The opening song is a six-minute anthem starting with some heavy guitar before things slow down and Ozzy starts, for better choice of a term, chanting the opening salvo. Between the inspired beat and the killer guitar work, it is a great start for the new album.

The first release from the new album is “Let Me Hear You Scream,” a song that is pure unadulterated Ozzy. It is nothing special nor unique but it is hard and what you have come to expect from Ozzy when he is on. The next song, “Soul Sucker,” brings back memories of Zakk Wylde and reminds me musically of “Perry Mason” without the cheesy lyrics. By the time this song ends, I believed this might be the heaviest Ozzy album in his solo catalogue.

The sound is very close to that of Rob Zombie and after some research, it is not surprising to see both the bassist and drummer from this album have played with Zombie as well.

The next song brings things down with the popish “Life Won’t Wait,” a song that seems strangely out of place with the first three songs pounding so hard. It is interesting how this album varies the sound almost from song to song the rest of the way. While there is no actual ballad on the album, there are more melodic songs, showing Ozzy’s versatility as a singer.

“Diggin’ Me Down” has an old-school Ozzy feel, almost like a song from Diary of a Madman, with a great acoustic solo leading it off. Between “Diggin’ Me Down” and “Crucify”, Ozzy takes another go at the religious right (“I’m gonna swear on the Bible while I’m feeding you lies”) and it’s clear he isn’t slowing down in his old age. You can’t have a true Ozzy Osbourne album without some controversial lyrics.

The album continues to rock hard with “Fearless” before dropping back to the ballad-like levels of another pop song Time. The album then refuses to relent to typecasting with head-banging rocker “I Want it More.”

The album ends on two oddities.

The first is “Latimer’s Mercy.” In 1993, Robert Latimer murdered his 12-year old daughter Tracy because she was disabled from cerebral palsy. Latimer put his daughter into the cab of his truck, hooked a tube from his exhaust and ran it into the cab where he sat and watched her die, believing he was giving her mercy by taking away her pain. He has remained in jail ever since.

The song is backed by hard, pounding guitars and Ozzy is in full storytelling mode here (“I won’t say I’m sorry / I can’t bring you back but I can’t leave you helpless / I’ll make the pain rest in peace / I’ll turn off the light and / Swallow your last breath / so close your eyes, fall asleep / Trust me, I’d never hurt you”). It is a haunting song, knowing the real-life story, and one of the better songs on the album.

The last song is a one-minute instrumental that ends with Ozzy saying he loves us all. It almost feels like a goodbye from a dear old friend.

The 411: Ozzy Osbourne’s latest album is one of his hardest in decades. Losing Zakk Wylde seems to have given the man a new lease on life, his voice sounding youthful and determined. Gus G brings a hard, pounding guitar and Ozzy hasn’t sounded this good since No More Tears. Songs like “Latimer’s Mercy,” “Let it Die” and “Soul Sucker” make this an easy album to recommend to metal heads.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]