Ozzy Osbourne

Scream 

 The self proclaimed "Prince of Darkness" takes another stab at proclaiming his "The Godfather of Heavy Metal" status with his newest album Scream, to be released in North America on June 22^nd 2010 by Epic Records.

 This piece marks the 10^th full length studio release (not counting Under Cover which was a compilation of cover songs) for Ozzy Osbourne since he left Black Sabbath in 1979 to become a solo artist.

 I was looking forward to giving Scream a thorough listening, in part because Kevin Churko, who also produced Ozzy's last album Black Rain, was once again involved in the process. (Black Rain was Ozzy's highest debut album to date, coming in at #3 on the US Billboard 200.)

 Scream is also the first album without Zakk Wylde on guitar. He has been with Ozzy since 1987, but according to some, the last couple of Ozzy's releases sounded more and more like Black Label Society (Zakk's band) and that's why the change. It's neither here or there, I personally like the style of Zakk's playing.

 The new man behind the ax is Gus G. of the Greek Power metal band Firewind. Great guy and awesome guitar player, and hopefully he will have a more creative part (songwriting) in future Ozzy album.

 Also new to the team are keyboard player Adam Wakeman and drummer Tommy Clufetos. And, on that note, all we need is John 5 on guitar and voila, we have Rob Zombie version II.

 Don’t laugh, some songs really do sound like Rob Zombie stuff; "Soul Sucker" being one of them. And to think that this song was supposed to be the album title. Wow.

 Now we all know that Ozzy really can't sing. His vocals come more thru his nose then anywhere else, but this also makes his voice distinguishable. "At Life Won’t Wait" it was the first time I recognized his voice right away. In most of the other songs his voice underwent some heavily technical makeovers. The man just doesn't have it anymore after years of substance abuse and what. But on the other hand, hello, he is almost 62 years old and still has the ambition to rock our socks off. "Diggin' me down" is a prime example. The song does start rather slow, but picks up after a while, and we are presented with an old and familiar Ozzy style song. "Time" is another classic ballad, with some great and memorable guitar riffs. Don’t know where to place "I Want It More"? It's more progressive than the other songs on the album, and I can't put my finger on it, but it reminds me of some other song, or band. Hmmm."Let Me Hear You Scream" doesn't even need a response. Everybody's heard it a million times on the radio already, and I think it was a good move to make this the stand out single; catchy, head bobbing, easy to remember.

 A bit cheesy is the last song on the album.

 "I love you all" wow,...love ya too...music, then about 28 seconds into the song Ozzy tells us we all need to stand together now, or one by one we fall...for all these years you stood by me, god bless, I love you all...1:02...song over.

 The entire album sound is extremely radio friendly, and I would put it under the easy "listening" category.

Track Listing:

Review By: Birgit Haugen