"I want to go home."
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What Ozzy Osbourne delivers with Patient Number 9 is not horror. At first glance, there is a funhouse aesthetic, reminiscent of the 80s. After an intense consumption (of the music, of course!), I can happily announce: This is more than just nostalgia. Here is a warm home. Ozzy has poured everything he could into this for us, and keeps reminding us old sinners that it's okay to be a freak.
In general, to touch on the genre question of metal: Compared to what is currently labeled as such, this is closer to hard rock than to the interim excesses. And that's wonderful because it allows the songs to breathe without suffocating under 16 tons of lead. Ozzy can convey funny, serious, and melancholic emotions with his penetrating voice. Without screaming, without needing to prove that he is the baddest boundary pusher of all time. He hasn't needed to do that for a long time.
Instead, there's a perfect, rich modern rock sound where every note hits. Ozzy has always surrounded himself with the best musicians in rock, and he can invite guests like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Other usual suspects (Zakk Wylde) are already known, so it's no surprise that the result is perfect rock solos, imaginative, virtuosic, professional. Yes, you get what you ordered, and there's nothing new about this sound, but I doubt anyone seriously expected that?
What is new for me is how Ozzy touches me with his songs about depression and mental fragility. I suspect that he has found his peace of mind in old age; it would be tragic if he hadn't. In the songs, you can see: Ozzy knows what he is singing about. And that's only half of the childish horror antics that could shock grandmas in the 80s. Yes, of course, it's a gimmick, like a big circus show. Don't just listen to the words. Listen to the music. It's all in there. It rocks, it shocks, and there's almost always a wink involved. When the last song, Darkside Blues, sounds like Robert Johnson, and Ozzy laughs into the fading harmonica, "That's Jazz!"
Recommended tracks: "Patient Number 9", "Parasite", "God Only Knows" (Here I half expected a Beach Boys cover, after all, the Lord of Darkness is not shy about daring style changes. But it's an original song, and a beautifully sad one at that).
A good album that you can enjoy for a long time. The more patiently you let it affect you, the more it unfolds.
