Finally Ozzy found some time in between Black Sabbath reunions & Ozzmosis festivals to record a new solo album after the competent, but rather unspectacular 1995 come-back Ozzmosis. It also sees the return of Zakk Wylde on guitars, which of course, is not a bad thing. (Now lets all hope that he manages to keep this line-up together and tour Europe.)
The first thing that grasped my attention while listening is the fact that the songs seem to sound a lot fresher and in-your-face than on his previous effort, not to mention a lot groovier. The other thing that is rather obvious is Zakk Wylde's role in all of this, the riffs, solo's and licks just have his name all over them, and probably are what makes this record a lot more interesting to listen to than Ozzmosis. Strangely enough though, while reading the credits, it appears that Zakk didn't write on a single song. Odd to say the least.
Most of the songs are mid-tempo groovers this time around, with the exception of two ballads and one short intro (which could have easily been omitted from the album as it serves no real purpose it seems). While the album starts off well enough with Gets Me Through and Facing Hell it drops a little by track three, the first of the two ballad, named Dreamer. Why Ozzy points to this track as his personal favorite is beyond me, as it does not have the class of something like Road To Nowhere or Goodbye To Romance, and even falls short in comparison to the second ballad on this album (Running Out Of Time). Luckily, apart from stinker track number 3, the rest is more than adequate with my personal favorite Can You Hear Them closing off the record.
Not a bad album overall, although it never manages to reach the class of say a Diary Of A Madman or even No more tears.
I'll give this one a well-deserved 8.