Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain - 2007
"I'm not going away!" Ozzy screams amidst the post-metal industrial backing and siren wail of Zakk Wylde's guitar. He's pretty earnest about it. I believe him. After turning himself into a reality tv clown, rocket-fueling his wife's talk show career and turning his kids into mini-tabloid wrecks, Ozzy comes back as though none of that mattered. Like it never happened.
The dude is 60! And his trademark high-whine wail is sort of missing but the unmistakable voice cuts through the industrial metal sound.
Ozzy will not go peacefully into that good night. He's a brand, as I've said before. And that brand is a huge cash cow. Why stop?
There's some good, crunchy 21st century riff-tastic metal ("I Don't Wanna Stop", Ozzy's first number one!, "Trap Door"), some quasi-industrial pop metal ("Black Rain", "Silver"), half-assed, world conscious ballad ("Lay Your World on Me"), heart felt mega ballad ("Here for You") and on and on. It's a calculated record. It's not totally inspired but it's not shallow and callous. I think Ozzy really loves playing this part and, somehow, he manages to not suck and sound relevant. How does he do that????
He's more cynical than usual, take for instance "The Almighty Dollar", its hard to take him seriously knowing just how filthy rich he is. Or maybe he's really extolling the virtue of it and it just SOUNDS cynical.
This is goth/pop metal constructed in a lab by people who, thankfully, love the genre.
Grade: B+
ASide: I Don't Wanna Stop
BlindSide: Black Rain, Silver
DownSide: The Almighty Dollar
Review #434
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