Review Summary: Ozzy returns to us with a great metal album, full of memorable riffs and songs foiled mainly by production.
Ozzy Osbourne, aka
The Prince of Darkness a legend of a man whose career has spanned the decades, starting with Black Sabbath, and then a solo career. Here he returns with his tenth outing
Scream a rather underated album signifying Ozzys return to heavy metal greatness from the weak outing of his last few albums.
Band line-up:
Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
Gus G - Guitar
Rob Nicholson - Bass
Tommy Clufetos - Drums
So Ozzys tenth outing, what went well. For a start the vocals, Ozzy still sounds as great as he always did, his wails and shouts sounding great. There are some effects even employed, on songs such as
Let It Die which works great and adds a great atmospheric addition to the song. Though the effects can give the impression of been quite overproduced at times and can sometimes harken to the vocals of
Black Rain heading into a sort of mechanical area, this doesn't stop the delivery of a great performance by Ozzy which makes for great delivery. His style does vary a bit on the album, from the wailing tone that fans of Ozzy have loved since the Sabbath days, to the shouted chorus of
Let Me Hear You Scream Ozzy has really gone for it on this album.
Next, the band. To start of with, Gus G is a great addition to the band. The heavy riffing that can be heard on the album harkens back to the early days of Sabbath, but with a modern heavy metal twist, the opening riff of
Let Me Hear You Scream and
Fearless been great examples of this. The technicality that is employed in the album is wonderful and really shows of talent, Ozzy has always known how to pick good guitarists and Gus is no exception. The only sad thing is that sometimes Ozzy sings to much on the songs and doesn't give enough time over to the band, particularly the guitar. The bass and drums on the album both have moments to, both having moments in the light to demonstrate their respective abilities.
But on the downside, the album is quite frankly overproduced, it loses some magic and that rawness that people want from a metal album, Ozzy has made the album sound exactly how he wanted it to, but has taken some fun from it. And there are some worse of songs, with
I Love You All not bearing thinking about, and
Diggin' Me Downs religious lyricism making me cringe a little whenever I hear it. And finally there are points on the album where it feels like its been held back, some songs could of been more, with
Crucify been an example, it has a sound that could of been more had it been let a bit more loose, that being said, it is still a good song.
So overall, Ozzy returns with a great metal album, not quite up there with the likes of
Blizzard of Ozz but still a great album that should be a welcome addition to any fans collection.
Recommended tracks:
Let It Die
Let Me Hear You Scream
Soul Sucka
Crucify
Fearless
