Review : Dan Maynard
He’s not just an English national treasure, even worldwide treasure would be an understatement, Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness, is down right and absolute legend in the world of music entertainment and at this point should be considered the KING of Darkness. At 73, Ozzy is still behind the glass recording music for the world to thrive upon, still dishing out tunes that are true to the Osbourne legacy and still holds a place in our hearts to this day.
Osbournes latest recording and 13th studio album Patient Number 9 is a step back in time as it captures the sound that was once a staple for an Ozzy album in the 80s and 90s. The chorus effect that overlays the guitar and vocals, punchy choruses and dark emotional verses bring the listener to complete nostalgia through the whole album, encapsulating the old days – post Sabbath.
Keeping with the motion of previous album Ordinary Man, the album is an onslaught of guest spots from some of the biggest names in music to ever grace planet Earth. With the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Zack Wylde, Chad Smith, the late great Taylor Hawkins, Robert Trujillo and former Black Sabbath companion and master of the metal riff, Tony Iommi. Opening track and title track of the album Patient Number 9, launches the album off as an epic seven minute melody and 80’s rock guitar driven journey. With Jeff Beck fronting the guitars, Patient Number 9 sets up perfectly what the album is, big choruses, incredible guitar riffs and massive vocal ranges that prove why Ozzy still has what it takes to release a solo album that kicks serious ass.
No Escape from Now gives us our first taste of Osbourne and Iommi together once again, proving why these two once dominated the music industry as part of Black Sabbath. Beginning with a classic clean Tony Iommi riff, overlayed with the dark and gloomy vocals of Ozzy, it’s the perfect blend as it leads into a chunky verse saturated with a gritty distorted bass tone. The rest of the track follows in uniform, jumping in and out of the clean and heavy, with Iommi ripping into a big ass guitar solo more than once throughout the song.
One of Those Days is the collaboration you never knew you needed. Ozzy Osbourneand the legendary Eric Clapton go head to head, with Ozzy tracking over that ever so unmistakable riffage of Clapton, it works better than I could have ever imagined. A highlight of the album for sure.
What got me most excited for this album was Zack Wyldes massive part in four of the tracks. Yes, you could argue that Wylde had a part in Ordinary Man and yes he did. But as astounding as Ordinary Man was, those songs didn’t hold as much of a Wylde/Osbourne feel compared to what is represented on this album. The four tracks that Zack has part in on this album truly feel like old school Zack Wylde driven Ozzytunes that I grew up on. Evil Shuffle is the perfect example of this, with it’s massive half time intro that leads into a verse, breaking guitars with Zack leads driving the wheel while Ozzy holds the whole thing together. With Zack closing out the track with an isolated guitar solo, I’m left shook and fucking smiling ear to ear.
With the huge number of guest spots on the album, some might expect a hot mess of inconsistency, but on the contrary, the uniformity throughout Patient Number 9 is flawless. And even though Ozzys wild days may be behind him, his music and legacy tell a different story as he still has the fire in him to produce jaw dropping work that stands the test of time and holds up to any standard of an old school Ozzy Osbourne fan. Patient Number 9 as far as I’m concerned is the best record Osbourne has released since 2001’s Down to Earth, a personal favourite of mine. This truly is a brilliant album and I’m so happy to see Ozzy still smashing out killer albums after all these years. Long live the Prince of Darkness!!
Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Patient Number 9’ is out September 9 September 9 via Epic Records/Sony Music Australia.
Order here : https://ozzyosbourne.lnk.to/PN9-AU
