Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzmosis

THE REVIEW

Being a big fan of the prince of darkness (uncle Ozzy as my friends and I call him), I was curious to see how many reviews there were of his albums, and with notable curiosity, I saw that there are quite a few... huge credit to those who reviewed BLIZZARD OF OZ and his other gems (we all know which album I'm talking about, right? At least Ozzy fans should know...)!
I've been following Ozzy for quite a while... I'm still completing the discography... anyway, I had the fantastic idea to buy OZZMOSIS and I must say that despite the critical advice of the store clerk where I bought it (he told me not to buy it because it's bad), I honestly didn't find it bad. Sure, I can't equate it to the Oz-pearl "Blizzard of Oz" or "Diary of a Madman" or the wonderful "Tribute," but it’s not as bad as many claim (in my opinion). Before starting to discuss the album, I first want to focus on the album cover. When I came out of the store all happy and secretly put the CD in my bag, the cover strongly impressed me. I think it's a very introspective cover (maybe because I study psychology and see introspection everywhere)... we see an Ozzy Osbourne that stands in the center of the scene, with a contracted body and hands stiffened by who knows what emotion. But it's not a pose that awaits pain, but a pose that awaits the wait. It waits to be consumed by those mouths traveling all over his body, awaits to be explored by those eyes that furtively spy on him over his entire body...

The album opens with the lightness of keyboard tones, then almost with instant escape, descends into the pressing rhythm, leading to the eruption of the guitar into the acoustic scene. And here is the voice always magnificent and sharp (and I think this is exactly the aspect of Ozzy that I like the most), and of course unmistakable... I believe that the guitar parts played in this album, despite being considered not great as I mentioned before, are worthy of attention, especially towards the end of the track, the riffs increasingly faster, increasingly stronger, increasingly complex... But then it plunges into the sweetness of "I Just Want You," where appears an Ozzy with a muffled, reflective voice, but greatly accompanied and highlighted by the guitar that makes the track interesting. The same goes for the beautiful "Ghost Behind My Eyes," which from the title seems to hint at a visual hallucination. Once again, the former Sabbath frontman (I have deep down, really deep down in my heart, a tiny hope that Ozzy will return to singing and reforming Black Sabbath) shows us that beyond true hard rock (let's not forget that Sabbath were one of the early pioneers of true hard rock, but I don't need to say it, you already knew that, right?) he knows how to create beautiful "slow songs" (which aren't really that slow, but I wanted to convey the idea of reflection), that his high-pitched and slightly shrill voice (do you remember in "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"? And in "Killing Yourself To Live"? How beautiful are those two songs?) fits every musical canon... but that’s not all... here comes the paradise of sweetness swept away, and the rock inferno resumes with "Thunder Underground," which opens with a powerful but together half-dimmed guitar sound, growing stronger and more measured until a syncopated and almost threatening voice emerges, at times prophetic, which rises up under the ever more insistent rhythm of the guitar's rumble, definitely not "angelic" compared to the tracks mentioned before. I think this is one of the best songs (along with "Perry Mason" and "Ghost Behind My Eyes") of the CD. "See You on the Other Side" opens with three measured bass hits, then accompanied by the sweetness of the guitar. Ozzy's voice echoes expand at the beginning until they explode in continuous high notes (which here manage to even overshadow the guitars more than in other tracks). "Tomorrow" opens instead in my opinion with an ethereal and slightly erratic guitar sound, a drunken sound that gets lost in the air, until a succession of hits appears and a shot, and a voice that at first is low, but then gives way only to high notes, then again to the low tone and then once more to the high notes... This album, from the first time I heard it (I bought it a few days ago), seemed strange to me, both in the cover (see above) and in style, it almost seems as if double O has matured, a more reflective and less impulsive man, always attentive though to the stylistic precision. After all, he has almost always had precision in his blood since the beginning... at least in my point of view. The start of "Denial" seems more focused on rhythm with the drums making their way among a half-muted guitar and re-echoing the sound of a synthesizer. The sound of "My Little Man," on the other hand, might intrigue those who have always seen Ozzy as a rowdy and never reflective, who in this track focuses on the casual sound of a fake harp (naturally achieved through the wonderful guitar)... which might vaguely, but very vaguely suggest the Far East. More tranquil, so to speak... but appearances deceive... Mr. Jekyll doesn’t hide the dark part from Hyde and makes its way with the subsequent "My Jekyll Doesn’t Hide," where we can admire Osbourne's entire vocal capacity stretching towards the highest notes and of course the guitar being put to the test with an even more cavernous but powerful sound. And in the end... the cherry on top, arrives with the sweet notes of a piano accompanied by a slow guitar "Old L.A. Tonight," where harmony and rhythm blend into a separate world, which doesn’t even seem to belong to the entire album, but as we know, Ozzy reserves the best parts for the beginning and the end of the album, indeed of every album. I believe this album is quite underrated, definitely when compared to "Blizzard of Ozz" where a more marked hard rock sound prevails, but true hard rock, the pure one... or "Diary of a Madman" where there’s an even more pronounced sound than the previous one, this is a more sophisticated work, a work where I think an experimentation of something new is felt, a work where the search for reflection and introspection by the artist emerges, obviously more mature but always with attentive and very valid vocal capacity!

I think Ozzy (aside from the trash shows that MTV airs, see "The Osbournes," where he appears like an old man who trembles and stands by some miracle, don’t watch those things, I watch them for a laugh, not to mock the character, for whom I have special veneration) has remained one of the few who manages in the music field to surprise, to never tire, surely he made some flops too (see "Live and Loud" and "Live at Budokan") but usually I found him always unusual in every album, I always found some interesting point to consider carefully in the listening.

Considering that this is my first review (I hope you liked it) I accept your suggestions and possible peaceful criticisms. In a few days, I'm going to dive into my record store (where I've been a customer for about 4 years now) to buy the "Prince of Darkness" box that contains 4 beautiful CDs... give it a thought about the album I tried to review... goodbye to all...