You Can't Kill Rock N Roll- Ozzy Osbourne's "Ozzmosis"

 

When it came out, this album took some time to grow on me. "Perry Mason" lyrically seemed really weird at the time, though now the song is an Ozzy classic. The album was also heavier on ballads, though some of those, like " I Just Want You' are some of his best ballads, and that song is dark enough to win me, I think seeing him play live so me on it. The weird thing is this trend continues on the third song, "Ghost Behind My Eyes," which is another anthemic power ballad. There is an interesting guitar tone, but it kind of feels like he was holding onto the '80s all the way into 1995, when music had taken a wild turn from this sort of thing, thanks to the rise of alternative, but Ozzy held strong and endured despite this. This is not Ozzy making a grunge album.

When this album first came out, 'Thunder Underground' was my favorite song, as it is the first song on this album that feels metal. It is still a banger to this day. Though when it comes to power ballads 'See You On the Other Side" is pretty timely, but has held up over the years thanks to the guitar tones that do not sound like they were conceived on a Def Leppard album. "Denial' has more balls to it but hovers around the creepy power ballad like sweet spot for him. Zakk's guitar solos are killing it for sure. 

"My Little Man" is about baby Jack; it has a Beatles-like vibe and some interesting tones. I guess it is intended to be a lullaby, but it sounds like they are putting him to sleep with a bong hit. "My Jekyll Doesn't Hide" is one of the other metal songs on this album. I think this is about his personality shift when he uses drugs. "Old L.A. Tonight" is a piano ballad that finds some soulful moments coming from Zakk, who finds some of his best playing on this album. It is weird thinking that Ozzy was only 46 for this album, so despite the wear and tear of the years, his voice was pretty prime here. 

"The Whole World's Falling Down" was a bonus track, but it should have been included, as that would have brought the total metal songs up to 3. "Aimee" is the other piano ballad, this one i about his estranged daughter. It sounds like it could have come from "Bark at the Moon", so that works for me. I will give this album a 10 it got better over time for me. 

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You Can't Kill Rock N Roll - Ozzy Osbourne's "Down to Earth"

The stomp of "Get's Me Through" kicks off Ozzy's 2001 album. Lyrically, it's pretty convincing as he apraises his reputation. Post the classic "Diary" line-up, this one featuring Wylde, Bordin, and Trujillo might be the strongest. "Facing Hell" packs an impressive punch. Three songs in feels a little soon for a ballad, but it worked on "Bark at the Moon" and "Dreamer" work for what Ozzy is doing. "No Easy Way Out" finds his vocals really well-produced. The chorus loses some momentum, but overall, it is a solid song that represents what he does well. 

The first song that feels somewhat like filler to me is "That I Never Had". Perhaps a different guitar mix might give it more urgency and make it click for me, but it does not feel like it is on the level of the first three songs. "Junkie' works and feels like some inward glances are going on lyrically. "Running Out of Time" works, it's not a ballad, but a Beatles-influenced rock song with creepy undertones that his voice flows well over.

"Black Illusion" is darker and heavier, making it more than likely the best song on the album. "Alive" is pretty crushing for an Ozzy song, though there are some more melodic moments in the verse. "Can You Hear Them" closes the album with a thunderous metal tension. Even the melodic breakdown in the middle of the song works really well. I will give this album a 10; it might be his most underrated solo work.

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You Can't Kill Rock n Roll - Ozzy Osbourne's "Black Rain"

 

His 2007 album features one of his strongest band's thanks to Zakk Wylde returning on guitar and Mike Bordin from Faith No More behind the kit. It starts off with two stadium bangers with "I Don't Want to Stop' forcing its way into Ozzy's regular setlist, and getting more of the promotional push when this album was released. The title track simmers and is very timely in 2025. "Lay Your World On Me" sounds like it was a leftover track from the "No More Tears" sessions and is on the more sentimental side of power balladry. 

The Bass line in "The Almighty Dollar' finds the instrument adding more groove than what you expect from an Ozzy song."11 Silver" moves more like a Queens of the Stone Age song. Perhaps this shift is what makes it feel like less than a perfect fit for him. This goes to show it's more about the songs and less about the band backing him. The punchy "Civilize the Universe" feels like it flows better with Ozzy's personality than the previous song. They roll out the piano for "Here For You," which is another stab in the direction of "Momma I'm Coming Home". 

I don't have to have Ozzy at his heaviest, but I'll take a riff like the one that is the pulse of "Countdown's Begun." He can balance it out with his signature arena anthem chorus. It's another apocalyptic theme, which is something Ozzy had been obsessed with since the Sabbath days.  "Trap Door" has a more metallic aggression moving that works well, making it one of the album's best songs. "I Can't Save You" works off a manic energy before the album closes with the more deliberate "Nightmare" that feels like it blends a "Ultimate Sin" mood with "Ozzmosis" production.  I will give this one a 9.5, it's not his best album but , still great and better what most were doing in 2007.

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Ozzy Osbourne : "Patient Number 9 "

Releasing album 13 at the ripe age of 73, Ozzy is holding up better than expected, especially when you consider the tour cancelling issues of the past few years. This album has less of a pop sheen and feels more like a rock record than "Ordinary Man". The only song he gets help outside of the buds he brought to the studio is the title track and lead single that opens the album. It comes by way of pop songwriter Ali Tamposi , who has also worked with Kelly Clarkston. Despite this fact it is darker than expected until the chorus, which is the only part of the song that has a touch of pop to it in the hook. Jeff Beck plays guitar on it, so you know that is going to be solid. Pearl Jam's Mike Mcready plays on the second song "Immortal" which is a great deal beefier than even Pearl Jam's old grunge sound. The chorus is kind of bright, but it works. 

The drums on this album are handled by Chad Smith and the late Taylor Hawkins. Not the biggest fan of either but they get the job done here with some extra flair. Zakk Wylde shows up on the even heavier "Parasite".  Robert from Metallica also plays bass on this album, along with Duff and Chris Chaney, so he was smart enough to stack the deck in his favor with people from his past. So far at this point in my initial listen, "No Escape from Now" is my favorite song on this album, which is head and shoulders over anything on his previous album. Despite not liking the lyric about not believing in Jesus, Eric Clapton, still played on "One of Those Days". I still think Eric Clapton is overrated. The song is also more rock than metal but a fine vocal from Ozzy saves the day. 

Jeff Beck returns for the power ballad "A Thousand Shades", which is less impressive than his previous appearance on this album. This sounds like a B-side from "No More Tears". With that said it is still better than what most can muster. Until Zakk rips it, "Mr. Darkness" felt like it could have been on "Bark at the Moon" .   He gets back to his more shadow filled take on power ballads with "Nothing Feels Right" which is pretty much a solid formula for Ozzy that still works for him. The playing on "Evil Shuffle" is more interesting and grooves much better.  Toni' straps on his legendary axe again for "Degradation Blues", which sounds more like solo Ozzy than Sabbath, though there are a few elements not on like "the Wizard".   

"Dead and Gone" is somewhat straight forward, though still steps out of the bounds of what Ozzy typically does. All the pieces work really well. "God Only Knows" is a more formula heavy power ballad, with some cool nuanced guitar thanks to Dave Navarro. Though it is not one of the album's strongest songs as the bar is pretty high here.  "Darkside Blues" is more of an outro than an actual song. I will round this up to a 10 and see how it grows on me, but it is one of his most impressive offerings of the past couple decades.    

 

Playlist -London's Ozzy Mix

Since London has been getting into Ozzy , I decided to make her mix of Ozzy songs. These might not be the all time best Ozzy songs , so things like the song "Diary of Madman" and " Suicide Solution" are not included. But these are some of my favorite Ozzy songs, that are kind of a 101 into his more accessible fun songs, rather than the ones he wrote in a depressive drug binge, those are obviously the best song, but perhaps not for a 9.After all that what I listened to an we know the route I went. If you are not really familar with Ozzy's solo work then this is as good of a place as any to start, as I have pulled from a cross section from the 80s to more present.  

Devils Daughter



Let Me Hear You Scream



Breaking All the Rules




No More Tears



Over the Mountain


Waiting For Darkness


Ultimate Sin


Thunder Underground



Mr. Crowley

 

The Top 50 Metal Guitarists - 20 to 11

The death of a guitarist I played with turned my thoughts to what makes a good guitarist great. Metal finds the stakes for guitarists high. Shredding can come before playing a fucking song. While all of these guitarists can play a solo, I was also looking for tone, impact on the genre as a whole and how their personalities came through in their playing. So this list of the top 50 Metal Guitarists. If you don't find your favorite guitar player here then know they were just wankers.



20- Kerry King

Sure his solos are formulaic,and has a punk sloppiness to it at times but his playing has a fire to it that helps define the sound of his band. Marrying metal and punk at the cross roads that became thrash. He uses an evil chaos in his playing that made his band darker than the other thrash bands at the time.




19-Ihsahn

His playing goes beyond black metal. Romantic touches of neo-classical gives a more gothic touch to the architecture of his songs.He has branched out to 8 strings for his solo work. More of a shredder than you might expect he will go down as underrated except on this list where he is earning his rightful place.



18-Adam Jones

He doesn't solo in the traditional sense. He does add sonic dynamics where solos would go and is almost jazz like in the way he gives the drums and bass room to breathe. He knows how to keep the tension and get a big arena rock sound when needed. He influenced an entire generation of progressive metal players who live for the groove no matter how complex or simple.


 17-Kirk Hammett

He has some memorable solos. His band is known for their big riffs, but he works around the chugs and gallops owing more of a rock sensibility to his playing that heavy metal thunder. I don't think his band could work without him even though he stepped in to replace Dave Mustaine many moons ago.



 16-Kim Thayll

How could he beat out Hammet you ask? His playing is more creative and darker. He uses up more sonic space to create a sense of unease on his band's earlier work, but is able to solo with the best of them when it is called for. He weaves in noise and chaos while still managing to create grunge anthems that dominated the air waves.




15-Zakk Wylde

He had some big shoes to fill. Rather than living in the shadow of the great players who stood beside he boss before he, Wylde carved out his own sound and brought something new to the table. He could pulls off the Randy Rhodes stuff with his own flair which was impressive live.





14 Arve Isdal

Until you see this guy rock it live you have no idea. He is the prime reason his band almost blew Dimmu Borgir off the stage. They might play viking prog, but his playing keeps the band rooted in the rock side of classic metal.




13- Don Anderson

He can pulls a sweep arpeggio out of thin air, despite the fact he is mainly adding melody to the more post-rock side of his former band Agalloch. I haven't sought out his current project as Agalloch is a moment in time I do not want to put down.



12- Ace Frehely

You wanted the best you got the best. He plays guitar for the hottest band in the land.  Technically he is outclassed by many players ranked lower than him, but chances are they would not have picked up a guitar in the first place if it was not for him.His solo work is also pretty decent for all you rock soldiers who want the Ace back like he told you so.




11- Trey Azagthoth

He took what Kerry King did and sacrificed it to the Ancient Ones. It returned back to this plan as death metal and crushed many souls. The unique twisted on his personification of chaos, sets him aside as his own island in a genre guilty of rehashing the same old grind. He is the Eddie Van Halen of death metal.

 

Black Label Society: "Grimmest Hits"

You might be surprised that I have never listened to a Black Label Society album. I am a huge fan of solo Ozzy, so I like Zakk's guitar playing. I liked the Pride N Glory album. I caught Zakk Sabbath with Clutch. I am not sure why these guys never clicked. Perhaps it is the white trashy fan base that turned me off , who knows. The first song has more ambiance than expected, it's more grunge than the kind of metal I have heard these guys crank out in the past. Obviously the guitar solos are a big part of the song. He is good at what he does. The vocals kinda coast over everything. Very middle of the road. There is a little more of a Black Sabbath feel to the verses of "Seasons of Falter". The rest of the song is very melodic and about as driven as newer Alice In Chains. Zakk's voice sounds better on some of the more relaxed passages. The hardest hitting sections are where the guitar solo falls. Its not bad , but not blowing me away either.

By the 3rd song I have resigned myself to the fact this album is just not going to be as heavy as I was waiting for. In fact it's more rock n roll. "the Betrayal" is more up tempo, and his guitar has attack to it, tonally it's too warm and not enough low end on the mix as a whole to make it heavy. If you play guitar or are into shreddy guitar then this will be more your thing. Coming out of the solo there is a heavier riff, but it doesn't turn the tide a hell of a lot. They go for more of a doom tinged feel with "All That Once Shined", but in truth it's not much harder than Govt Mule. The vocals are all multi tracked. The guitar tone is surprisingly not as beefy either. Being in a Sabbath cover band has certainly influenced his riff writing. The drummer shows a little more of his chops toward the end of this song, but is careful to not eclipse Zakk's show.

His guitar playing is very tasteful on the southern rock ballad "the Only Words" that brings to mind the Allman Brothers or Stevie Ray Vaughn in terms of tone. "Room of Nightmares" is about as heavy as Stone Temple Pilots. It feels like he had these country/ blues tunes written and want to get them out so to kill two birds with one stone he was obligated to write some more aggressive rock songs in order to fill out the album and go on tour. There is more conviction in the chug powering "A Love Unreal". This where all the other heavier tunes need to be.So this album is hit or miss , but when it hits it really connects.  He maintains the momentum going into "Disbelief". Then it ebbs back down to a more soulful blues ballad with "The Day That Had Gone Away". It reminds me of a less vocally powered "Say Hello to Heaven". It is some of his most nuanced guitar playing. I think this kind of thing is the direction he really wants to head in. It continues to ebb and flow into more rock moments being crammed into the albums 3rd act. There is more of a Led Zepplin like groove to "Bury Your Sorrow". It ends with another southern rock ballad. At the end of the day is playing really sells these and the albums strongest moments balances it all out so I'll give this one a 9.