Ozzy Osbourne

Thanks to all the hype, even those who don't give a shit about heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne still know tenth album Scream is his first without Zakk Wylde since 1998. Whatever. Hearing that Osbourne stirred the backing band pot in an effort for diversity yields the same results as asking the Pope to punish perverted clergymen: jack shit. And, of course, as Scream unfolds, such is clearly the case. While new guitarist Gus G. (Firewind) holds his own against the long-standing line of powerhouse axe men in the Ozz's employ, he's still at the mercy of putting great solos over predictable songs written by other people. The end result is yet another outing featuring the obligatory catchiness of heavy melody freaks ("Let Me Hear You Scream"), requisite power ballad ("Time") and dark grinder ("Diggin' Me Down") offset by a bunch of sludgy half-time filler nobody cares about. Seriously, even going back as far as, say, 1991's No More Tears, other than the title track, can anyone name anything from that album? Exactly. While Scream is far from Osbourne's worst work, it's certainly not his most avant-garde, inspired or interesting (give or take a couple of notables), and fits conveniently with the rest of his pedestrian work over the past decade.