Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man

Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man

Sony – 2020

Rock, Hard, Metal

Rated:

As that small selection of heavy music fiends that indeed read some of the words we publish know, we do not do lengthy reviews, in depth, technical sifting or negative ones. The reason for that is simple, there is so much good stuff out there, there is no need to dwell on the bad ones. Plus, the crazies that created that horrible piece of music, put their heart and soul into it; and for some personal reason it just does not seem to sit well with the HiVe listener for some reason. But perhaps there are others who might dig it. The other reason is that we are more for enticing the listener to check things out for themselves. So, we always state what something did to our bones, to our blood and to our heart in the hopes it might do something along those lines to the fellow heavy music fiends in the HiVe as well. But once every so often a record comes along that just needs a bit more. I mean, we’re not going to destroy a record recorded by four buddies on a tape recorder in someone’s garage, even if it’s horrible. But when a legend comes up with something disturbingly awful, I guess we are entitled to say so… So, when a legend gives us a new record, fifty years after he shook the world, by unleashing heavy metal upon us all, I guess we should pay some more time and give a few more words to that record… Good or bad?

Doktor420: “Did Ozzy turn into the Dark Pink Prince? It feels a lot like he is guesting on this album. It’s a Post Malone song featuring Ozzy, it’s an Elton John song featuring Ozzy. But also, the other tracks feel like he is just along for the ride…”

Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath has given us everything we love. Beautiful and wild, loud and noisy, dark and ominous, twisted and excellent. Friday the 13th, 1970, Black Sabbath gave us the child that is heavy metal and all that came after. We could dive into everything they did afterwards, all the highs and lows, but that’s not why we are here right now. We’re here because Ozzy Osbourne has given us a new record called Ordinary Man. He has been saying goodbye for ages without ever leaving the stage. Or simply coming back after the curtains had barely closed. But now that the man has confessed to suffering from Parkinson’s and he has once again cancelled shows, we might conclude, once again, that this will be a farewell album…

Shastabeast: “The Prince of Darkness's latest effort, "Ordinary Man", starts off strong with opener "Straight to Hell" dealing out a nasty riff and signature Ozzy screams, but that's where the album peaks.”

Doktor420: “He should not have used that quiet part that starts around 2:20 in Straight To Hell. Perhaps it was only put in so he could use his ‘Alright Now’ as he has before.”

Tony Maim: “With the great man’s health in question and the rumors flying around that this may be his last album, it feels a betrayal to his legacy bring up any negative reviews of the new album.”

And not just because of the news surrounding his health, on the record we can also find songs that seem to reflect on his demise or his farewell from the stage. A song like Goodbye is nothing but a testament to that fact. But don’t think there is only doom and gloom here. Of course not, because Ozzy is a humorous man and his lyrics reflect that. But I guess those have always been the key to his way of dealing with life. Stage antics, life antics all seem to reflect that as well. But the seminal track on the album, the one that speaks volume about everything the man has done and continues to do is probably the title track. Ordinary Man, a ballad, a duet with another legend that is saying farewell, Elton John, borders on sentimental travesty, yet seems to drag you into his state of mind, and you cannot help but believe everything they sing. And you continue to realize throughout this track that another legend is leaving the stage… Two of them in fact…

Doktor420: “Ordinary Man with Elton John sounds so calculated; I can see the audience and their lighters.”

Musically, the entire record, is filled with perfect production, (which is only logical), which of course makes you want to state: too perfect. We don’t want Ozzy’s musical footman to sound this perfect; but they are, and they do. Drum work courtesy of Red Hot Chili Peppers very own Chad Smith, on bass Guns ‘N Roses Duff McKagan and guitar by Andrew Watt from California Breed. Guest spots by Tom Morello, Slash, daughter Kelly and a few more. Straight To Hell, a rich hardrocker. All My Life with that sweet riff. Under The Graveyard a fine return to his more doom roots; well, sort of… Which could have been a grandiose return if it has been slowed down more and some of the production value would have been turned off.  Eat Me, Scary Little Green Men, fun Ozzy in all his glory! It all leads to a tight knit album that seems to cruise to a perfect salute… Cruising, a bit perhaps too much. The man does, on some moments, seem to just be going through the motions one last time. But that might also be due to the fact that the entire record feels like a glance, a peek at all the different things he has done throughout his career… Indeed… A synopsis of his career with 2020 technology…

Tony Maim: “After the great return to form with Sabbath on “13” I kinda hoped that the next Ozzy album would be recorded with a small band and stripped down but the opposite has happened. Over polished and with a sterile production robs the very moving autobiographical lyrics of any feeling, to me, half the tracks on the album feel like cut and paste versions from previous albums and there seems to be no theme to the track listing which makes for a mish mash of styles.”

Shastabeast: “The following tracks are a mix of ready-for-radio ballads and familiar sounding "epic" metal scores. A few glimmers of the Ozz we love come through in the brutal honesty of the title track and maniacal theatrics of "Little Green Men" and "It's a Raid", but overall, the album falls flat in terms of energy and originality. There's no sense in comparing to his early years but considering what Ozzy's capable of delivering the album feels wanting, particularly coming off the forced, cookie cutter R&B exercises on final track "Take What You Want".”

Doktor420: “It’s A Raid, starts out… errr… Weird. Not necessarily in a good way. I do not understand the noisy violence in this song. Is it a children party flipping out to the heaviest music they heard so far?”

Ten damn good songs that are all looking back and showing us once again what Ozzy is all about. But as a longtime fan of Ozzy and Sabbath there is nothing on this album you will actually need. And much that might make you cringe or shiver. Even if there isn’t anything wrong with them, they add so very little to everything we love from Ozz. But if this is a first meeting with the legend everything you hear on the album could lead to a four or even five stars rating… Really? No, really?

Doktor420: “I am a bit frightened about the feat. Post Malone songs coming up. And we can diss Malone about his autotune stuff, but Ozzy is using it as well. Constantly. Have you seen Ozzy performing live recently? I mean confirmed live singing? I suspect that this is an Ozzybot. A cyborg or fully mechanical robot with a little AI, autotune and spotify database. I mean if you are THE music industry and want to build one artificial musician who can please many listeners of all ages, who would you chose? He has it all: he’s a vampire and eating bats, he's a zombie, he's nearly dead and without any resistance...”

No. There is no way in hell that we can give five stars to the album. And that’s because of the bonus track. Autotune rube Post Malone is already present on the tenth track It’s A Raid; which seems to be a pretty good thrash metal send off, a finale to say ‘damn yeah’ too. But unfortunately, there is an eleventh track. The obligatory bonus song. This time called Take What You Want, featuring Post Malone and Travis Scott. Written by Malone and already featured on this Hollywood’s Bleeding album from 2019, it is what every metal fan dreads. The first thirty seconds, before the fake clap starts, there is hope that it will turn into an awful commercial ballad. But then the clap comes in, a computer beat starts and something that will turn your heart to stone is in the making. No no no, you start to yell, putting your hands over your ears. No no no, don’t do it Ozzy… Sure, we can hear throughout the album, Ozzy’s own voice is aided by some digital help as well. But not in the way that all that there is, is the digital annoyance we know from Post Malone and Travis Scott. No no no… Why end an otherwise pretty good album, diverse in every way, like this? Why end an album, with strong compositions that do not necessarily add something extra to the catalogue, but definitely serve as a glance at what Ozzy was and is all about, with something this awful… Fans will never be able to comprehend it and we doubt there will be some Post Malone fan out there that will be turned on to Sabbath by this one track. But… Apparently, when the single was released it did manage to reach the Number 8th position of the US Billboard Hot 100. So, perhaps we are wrong, and we should celebrate that track. Yes, perhaps we should?! Cause it will turn all the fans of all those autotune dingbats out there into Sabbath fans!

Doktor420: “I make fun of him, but I am not dissing him. He is still one of my old heroes and after ‘Dreamer’ I tried not to see or hear anything new from him to not destroy my ancient picture of him and Sabbath. I unfortunately also saw a few short snippets of his tv series, which I tried to steer clear from. You don’t need to get new fans when you deliver your swansong, your final album. It’s A Raid has one minute of Ozzy but then he's giving his scepter/baton to Malone (the upcoming star for a lot of people). The last song has no Ozzy at all, really. He vanished. I still hope for a final scene with Ozzy. Imagine the roof scene of Bladerunner. Ozzy, dying in the rain, releasing a bat out of his hands when his last breath goes…”

Reek of STOOM: “Farewell Mr. Osbourne - a sober end to a life story few could surpass.”

Tony Maim: "But – his vocals are as good as ever; some songs really kick ass and anything from Ozzy is always welcome. "I come to praise Caesar, not bury him.""

(Written by JK with Doktor420, Tony Maim, Reek of STOOM & Shastabeast)

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