Tracks
Also by Ozzy Osbourne
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In my experience, this is not your standard Osbourne fare. The music here is much more interesting, especially to the fan of big-riff metal. However, it's still got Ozzy's signature classic-metal sound. Other album personell include Robert Trujillo (currently of Metallica) on bass and Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) on guitars, although Wylde had nothing to do with the songwriting process on this album. The first track, "Gets Me Through," was a single of which a music video was made, but it didn't really grab me personally. This album is a big winner with me though, since I usually find a lot of what's on Ozzy's albums pretty inaccessible, or think of most of it as filler-material, and this song has way more "hits" than "misses" in my case.
"Facing Hell" - I find the riffs here are pretty good listening. A good balance between dynamic, creative movement around the fretboard with low-end palm-muted chugging chords keep it interesting, although it's not the best guitar work on the album. I like the intro's clean guitar sound, but I'd also love to hear it played on a pipe organ.
"Dreamer" - I relate to this song's lyrics a lot. The abuse of the planet and humanity's struggle to come to our senses and adopt reasonable ways of living are among the themes. I consider myself a person enlightened to an above-average (though certainly not supreme) degree, and I often think these same things when I'm alone, or seeing some senselessness play-out on the news. To me it's just-about the least musically interesting track on this album, but that's probably because I look to Ozzy for the heavier things and this song is mostly piano, acoustic guitar and other clean sounds.
"No Easy Way Out" - Now, here's an excellent big-riff song. This showcases a lot more of the arena-rock/metal capabilities of Ozzy's outfit. It's not epicly thrilling, but it's great if you want some jams for driving, working-out, working on your car, whatever. There's a great guitar solo too.
"... That I Never Had" - I like the guitar here. I could do without the total audio-halt after the first time he sings "that I never had." It's jarring and throws-off the flow of the song. Also, some may find this song relies too heavily on its main-riff and for that reason doesn't have as much replay value. Still, better that Zakk's guitar-work be mobile and active, as it is here. Metal music has certainly seen less creative writing.
"Junkie" - Another one to which I relate. This is a song chastising someone who can't control their substance abuse - someone who obviously doesn't accept they even have a problem. I've been the person giving that lecture, trying to wake-up someone who defends their behavior with self-righteous "how dare you judge me" indignation, but you know the difference between their feeble defenses and someone who's truly retained their sovreignty.
"Black Illusion" - This song really reminds me of Ozzy's old-school "Prince of Darkness" image. Its musical movement harkens back to songs like "Believer" and "Diary of a Madman." He obviously hasn't forgotten how to spookeh. =P It's also a great counter-culture song because it calls-out the "powers that be," the "puppetmasters" of society for their silly religio-political game-playing.
Overall I give this album 4 stars. I wouldn't say that any of it is true-classic-material, but it's a good listen and full of progressive and thought-provoking lyrics.
"Facing Hell" - I find the riffs here are pretty good listening. A good balance between dynamic, creative movement around the fretboard with low-end palm-muted chugging chords keep it interesting, although it's not the best guitar work on the album. I like the intro's clean guitar sound, but I'd also love to hear it played on a pipe organ.
"Dreamer" - I relate to this song's lyrics a lot. The abuse of the planet and humanity's struggle to come to our senses and adopt reasonable ways of living are among the themes. I consider myself a person enlightened to an above-average (though certainly not supreme) degree, and I often think these same things when I'm alone, or seeing some senselessness play-out on the news. To me it's just-about the least musically interesting track on this album, but that's probably because I look to Ozzy for the heavier things and this song is mostly piano, acoustic guitar and other clean sounds.
"No Easy Way Out" - Now, here's an excellent big-riff song. This showcases a lot more of the arena-rock/metal capabilities of Ozzy's outfit. It's not epicly thrilling, but it's great if you want some jams for driving, working-out, working on your car, whatever. There's a great guitar solo too.
"... That I Never Had" - I like the guitar here. I could do without the total audio-halt after the first time he sings "that I never had." It's jarring and throws-off the flow of the song. Also, some may find this song relies too heavily on its main-riff and for that reason doesn't have as much replay value. Still, better that Zakk's guitar-work be mobile and active, as it is here. Metal music has certainly seen less creative writing.
"Junkie" - Another one to which I relate. This is a song chastising someone who can't control their substance abuse - someone who obviously doesn't accept they even have a problem. I've been the person giving that lecture, trying to wake-up someone who defends their behavior with self-righteous "how dare you judge me" indignation, but you know the difference between their feeble defenses and someone who's truly retained their sovreignty.
"Black Illusion" - This song really reminds me of Ozzy's old-school "Prince of Darkness" image. Its musical movement harkens back to songs like "Believer" and "Diary of a Madman." He obviously hasn't forgotten how to spookeh. =P It's also a great counter-culture song because it calls-out the "powers that be," the "puppetmasters" of society for their silly religio-political game-playing.
Overall I give this album 4 stars. I wouldn't say that any of it is true-classic-material, but it's a good listen and full of progressive and thought-provoking lyrics.