Ozzy Osbourne is sixty one and shows no sign of letting up anytime soon with his tenth studio album post-BLACK SABBATH entitled “Scream”. This is the first time since 1988’s No Rest For The Wicked that Osbourne’s lead guitar role wasn’t occupied by his adopted man-child Zakk Wylde. This time FIREWIND’s Gus G. steps up to try and elevate the madman of rock’s musical cause. Did it work? Well, starting off with the seriously lame duck “Let It Die”, which should have ended up in the studio trash can, one starts to think a big mistake was made. However, things do immediately pick up next with the stellar “Let Me Hear You Scream”, which I simply love… and had already heard many times (over and over) – for it was the album’s first single released – but then we find Ozzy going back to absolutely mediocre with the totally bland “Soul Sucker”. I feel the one thing the listener will be surprised by is the almost duplicate sounding “Wylde” guitar sound Gus G. employs all throughout these tunes, pinched harmonics and all. Producer Kevin Churko helped co-write the album and I am wondering if Ozzy shouldn’t have consulted a few more “accomplished” songwriters before setting this work in stone.
The next song up is track four’s “Life Won’t Wait” and though it’s a slow ballad (which I normally hate) it finds Ozzy in a better sonic landscape for sure. Gus G. rocks out a cool solo here that – again – if you closed your eyes, sounds exactly like Zakk Wylde is playing. Track five’s “Diggin Me Down” starts off with a sweet enough sounding acoustic guitar intro, followed by a heavy as all hell monster riff – literally ripped straight off from Tony Iommi’s repertoire. I would rate this track the second best at this point. Gus G. can definitely shred on the guitar… but then again, I don’t think he’s anywhere in the same realm as Wylde’s masterful six string work on the five efforts prior to this. We all remember Zakk’s undeniable genius on No More Tears from 1991, nearly two decades back… and longtime fans of everything OZZ – including this reviewer, sorely miss those days. Why is it so hard for Ozzy and Sharon to realize that the only person – aside from the late great Randy Rhoads – who deserves to be playing next to Ozzy is Zakk Wylde. Who cares that the bearded one’s vanity project BLS is taking more time away from Ozzy having him all to himself like back in the good ole days. The fact remains Gus G. is no Zakk Wylde.
Definitely the third best song on the album (to this point), track six’s “Crucify” offers up a neat little package for the listener, though track seven’s “Fearless” is about as lame as the opening track. It almost sounds like Ozzy rushed himself to come up with song after song for “Scream”, when he should have spent more time
developing song structures properly filled with the ‘bigger than all shit’ guitar riffs his earlier work with Rhoads and Wylde accomplished, of course tied to his inspiring choruses that he became so well known for with classic Ozzy tracks like “Flying High Again” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home”.
All this said, track eight’s “Time” is easily the best ballad on the album. It’s Ozzy singing at his best and has clearly the finest chorus on the record. It sounds part Beach Boys, part The Beatles (the band that got Ozzy into rock in the first place), and I simply love the fact that it gave me goosebumps on the first listen. That’s what music is all about, in my mind. If it gives you goosebumps… it’s a keeper.
The last few tracks “I Want It More”, “Latimer’s Mercy”, and the brief one minute “I Love You All” are definitely above mediocre… and feature some of Gus G’s best playing on the record for sure, but I am afraid leave you wondering what this album would have sounded like had Ozzy taken more time to craft a true rock album for the ages and not just some mostly rushed collection of tunes that come off more scattershot than anything.
ROCKET REVIEW:[starreview tpl=16]
OZZY OSBOURNE – “Scream” (CD)
(Epic Records/2010)
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
http://www.myspace.com/ozzyosbourne
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