{"id":95351,"date":"2022-09-09T00:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T23:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=95351"},"modified":"2022-09-12T11:48:30","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T10:48:30","slug":"album-review-ozzy-osbourne-patient-number-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ozzy-osbourne-patient-number-9\/","title":{"rendered":"OZZY OSBOURNE – Patient Number 9 (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

OZZY OSBOURNE
Patient Number 9<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEpic (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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To criticise an Ozzy Osbourne album feels a bit like having a row with your dad, a person you\u2019ve grown up with and have so much respect for. I also don\u2019t want to throw the sympathy vote out to who is arguably heavy metal\u2019s most famous son, so I\u2019ll tread carefully here in my review but as always will be extremely honest.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t loved an Ozzy album since No Rest For The Wicked<\/em> (1988), although the tour was far less enjoyable. Meanwhile, the last Ozzy record I liked was No More Tears<\/em> (1991) which appeared at a time when the metal genre was losing its strength, also diversifying greatly. Since then Ozzy\u2019s career has been patchy to say the least as we\u2019ve all watched the Prince Of Darkness become a television personality and somewhat of a cartoon character, but he\u2019s always remained close to our heart.<\/p>\n

Patient Number 9<\/em> is the great man\u2019s 13th solo outing, and while it\u2019s an improvement on the pretty awful Ordinary Man<\/em> (2020) it suggests a man in a rush to get as much out as possible, hence the fact that the album drifts by with occasional effect such as on the Jeff Beck-driven title track, but mostly relies on too much melancholy.<\/p>\n

Sure, I appreciate the process that goes on behind Ozzy\u2019s recorded manifestations, but whereas much older, classier slabs may have played upon the more despairing side of the heavy metal spectrum there was always that devilish nature fused with a general feel on edginess, even with the ballads. For too long it feels as if Ozzy has been dwelling in misery and dabbling in despondency, and while I understand the fact the last few years, due to ill health, has not been great, I just want him to get that glint back in his eye rather than succumb to this synthetic, polished tripe whereby his overseers have paired him up with all manner of unmatchable musicians.<\/p>\n

This time round we get Eric Clapton on \u2018One Of Those Days\u2019, but again there\u2019s that downhearted trend to proceedings as the solo screams of hopelessness. In a sense then it\u2019s nice to hear tracks such as the title cut and the grungy \u2018Parasite\u2019 and \u2018Evil Shuffle\u2019 (both the latter featuring Zakk Wylde), even though standard rock fare and polished by their overtly contemporary chorus there\u2019s that devilish charm where Ozzy can be himself and the bass rattles with precision.<\/p>\n

\u2018Dead & Gone\u2019 is relatively crunchy but still too downheartedly reflective. When you hear Ozzy bark lyrics such as \u201cThe past is dead, the future\u2019s haunted\u201d<\/em> I\u2019m left wondering who is responsible for putting such prose out there? I\u2019m not suggesting Mr. Osbourne is a puppet, but the dejection throughout this record is quite consuming. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s an album bulging with despair. Thank the lord then for Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath<\/a>) appearing on a brace of tracks, namely \u2018Degradation Rules\u2019 with its devious harmonica, and \u2018No Escape From Now\u2019 which is a slow-building monolith.<\/p>\n

Sadly however, the fast few records have felt like lamentations; stark, brooding platters riddled with self-doubt and reflection. And while this record does feel more intense in parts, there\u2019s still that collision of watery aesthetics and contemporary, almost soulless design such as on the washed out \u2018A Thousand Shades\u2019 (also featuring Jeff Beck), a mournfully Gothic testimony, or \u2018Nothing Feels Right\u2019 (another with Zakk Wylde).<\/p>\n

I think what I\u2019m trying to say is that I don\u2019t want to be bombarded with Ozzy Osbourne songs \/ albums which seem obsessed with suggesting the end. Yes, the guy is in his 70s, but in a world that\u2019s torn we need celebratory material from the elder statesmen that we\u2019ve worshipped. I realise that the days of \u2018Crazy Train\u2019, \u2018Flying High Again\u2019, \u2018Bark At The Moon\u2019 and even \u2018Shot In The Dark\u2019 (although very much a cover) are long behind us, but Patient Number 9<\/em> feels like it needs more Iommi-infused Sabbathian darkness rather than being reliant on synthetic gloominess.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s wrong for any of us, however, to compare any of Ozzy\u2019s albums because after those early classics so much has changed, but I do pray that he\u2019ll be able to at least deliver another, more upbeat rock \u2018n\u2019 roll record before bowing out. This time round Ozzy\u2019s guests have been more beneficial to what is a slightly glum and inconsistent opus, but I\u2019m also thankful he\u2019s got this far.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OZZY OSBOURNEPatient Number 9 Epic (2022)Rating: 6.5\/10 To criticise an Ozzy Osbourne album feels a bit like having a row with your dad, a person you\u2019ve grown up with and have so much respect for. I also don\u2019t want to throw the sympathy vote out to who is arguably heavy metal\u2019s most famous son, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,244],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-ozzy-osbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95353,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95351\/revisions\/95353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}