I’m diverting slightly from being a total nerd about nerdy things here and I’m instead going to dive into my nerd-level interest in music. Specifically, my nerd-level interest in heavy music. More specifically, my nerd-level interest in heavy metal music. If you don’t care then please, feel free to read on and learn something about one of the most notoriously misunderstood genres of music.
Yum. Crows.
Ozzy Osbourne is probably one of the most recognized frontmen for a band in the last 40 years. Despite his rises and falls from popularity, the familiarity of Ozzy transcends the genre he’s stuck to. 12-year-old ‘gangsta’ kids have heard of Ozzy, California valley-girls have heard of Ozzy, quite hopefully, you’ve heard of him too. Why is he so recognized? Hell if I know, maybe he’s just got charisma. Love him or hate him, just about everyone in the English-speaking world knows his name.
This is unfortunately a problem for him, because you see, nothing Ozzy can do is low-profile by any means. So of course, as soon as he said “I’m releasing another album” and then so rudely fired his guitarist without telling him, sparks flew. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to this new album via the steam on the Ozzy Osbourne MySpace (which you can check out here: http://www.myspace.com/ozzyosbourne) and… well, let’s backtrack for a moment and look at how this came about.
Despite his status as a cultural icon, unless you’re paying attention to Ozzy news specifically, his album releases don’t carry the same weight in the news as his suing Tony Iommi for Black Sabbath royalties. This is mostly due to the fact that none of them have really been all that amazing. When Ozzy fronted Black Sabbath for the first 10 real years of his career, they became something of a legend for a new breed of music, with his face an icon of that legend. His drug abuse and various social issues got him out of Sabbath though and in the 1980s, into his own “solo” band. Calling it “Solo” is a stretch, though. It’s as much a solo band as White Zombie was, everyone contributes. In most cases, everyone contributes more than him. He’s a vocalist and not much else.
In looking at this new release, you have to look to where his main writing influence was before this: Zakk Wylde, Ozzy’s former guitarist whom was fired in full-hollywood-drama fashion, fit best for an episode of Degrassi. Zakk Wylde, better respected as the brains behind the extremely skilled heavy metal act, “Black Label Society”, also hasn’t done much of note in a long time. Essentially, he and Ozzy joined forces and we discovered that artists can only make art when they have the right influences. These two just didn’t have “it” with one another.
So naturally, the part of the world that cared about Ozzy’s releases wondered what the latest Ozzy album could offer, when he announced that Gus G. of Arch Enemy fame had been named his new guitarist. Curiosity is what will sell this album, if nothing else. Originally it was set to be called “Soul Sucka”, which I must say did not turn anybody’s interest on. (Hopefully) because of that, it’s since been renamed “Scream”, after the first single, “Let Me Hear You Scream”.
Egomaniac!
As I’ve been writing this, I’ve been re-listening to it. I guess you could call that a good thing but I don’t know if I’d be content to leave it at that. His voice certainly hasn’t wavered. Ozzy still delivers his vocals with strength and power, while remaining quite melodic. Despite a couple of effects which kind of come with the music industry nowadays, such as multi-tracking and *cringe* even auto-tuning on one of the tracks, it’s still a strong presentation.
The guitarwork? Well… I’m impressed, it’s more metal than I expected (Ozzy albums have a tenancy to come off as rather pop-y), every solo or riff opportunity comes out with writing that can be as heavy as an Arch Enemy album, something that I think Ozzy’s voice is famous for being well-suited to. Taking these two major points in mind, there’s one unfortunate problem…
…it doesn’t work. If Ozzy is doing any of the writing, then he’s writing his own parts, as well as the harmony to go with it. His powerful voice will drift from note to note beautifully, with almost a soft approach in many songs, very melodic. Then you switch over to a heavy guitar riff which is also good, but it’s different. I wouldn’t call it innovative like “Oh, they’re mixing two genres, well-done!”, moreso “Oh.. but that part of the song is this genre… and this part of the song is a different one”.
Don’t get me wrong, I like it, however this album seems like it’ll be the kind of release that metalheads will listen to for the metal parts… then just ignore the rest. This unfortunately is going to slap the album into the same label that most of Ozzy’s releases fall under; forgettable. I might still be listening to it by the end of the month, but when the “Let Me Hear You Scream” single debuted, that only held my attention for about two days. Ten more tracks? Well, on the bright side, I only disliked one of them. That’s impressive at the very least when the album keeps you listening, right?
Right?
–Jeff “DanyLektro”