OZZY OSBOURNE — Blizzard Of Ozz (review)

OZZY OSBOURNE — Blizzard Of Ozz album cover

Album · 1980 · Heavy Metal

4.5/5 · 2014-02-17
siLLy puPPy

This has always been one of my favorites and a classic any fans of metal music have surely heard and if you have been living on this planet in the last 30 years and have listened to any classic rock station then you have surely heard the overplayed-to-death track “Crazy Train.” This was Ozzy's first solo album but the record company originally wanted the new band to be called “Son Of Sabbath.” Ozzy hated that idea and considered calling the band “Blizzard Of Ozz” but when all was said and done it was decided to simply make it a solo Ozzy album instead.

After Ozzy left Black Sabbath he struggled to find a new direction to follow. With countless recommendations he eventually ended up recruiting Bob Daisley on bass, who would also contribute to the songwriting process, Lee Kerslake on drums and the newest sensation in the musical world Mr. Randy Rhoads on guitar who took Ozzy's sound into a whole new level of musical credibility. This was a unique crossroads in metal. By combining the lyrics and feel of the doom metal from Black Sabbath with the classical guitar inspired metal that started with Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple with the pyrotechnic flair of Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy and Randy Rhoads gave all of metal a facelift of sort ushering in a new era of traditional heavy metal and thus leaving behind his former legacy as lead singer with Sabbath by separating himself from that sound.

This album is simply a brilliant concoction of classically inspired metal that maintains the catchy riffs of Sabbath but with more sophisticated compositions and the pyrotechnic antics making this an exciting, energetic and dynamic metal masterpiece. The lyrics are somewhat philosophical and retrospective of social issues but Ozzy tends to never over-complicate things thus they are amazingly accessible at the same time.

My favorites on this album include “Suicide Solution,” “Mr. Crowley” and the last two songs that run into each other. The incredible mini-suite performance of “Revelation (Mother Earth)” and it's bombastic counterpart “Steal Away (The Night).” Songs like “Mr. Crowley” were also revolutionary in how Randy Rhoads composed his songs. He eschewed the predictability of where to expect guitar solos, bridges etc while maintaining a somewhat familiar song structure at the same time. He was a master of keeping a sensual organic feel while incorporating lightning fast runs that inspired the neoclassical shredders that followed.

I was perplexed as to why this says it is a 1980 release when my copies say 1981. Turns out it wasn't released in the US until 81. Mystery solved. I feel no need to compare this with Black Sabbath 2.0 with Dio. Both Sabbath and Ozzy were doing interesting things at this point which is the exception rather than the rule of classic bands who split up.

As much as I love this album I do have to admit that it's not perfect. As has been stated countless times before, the unanimous opinion of the two weak tracks here are “Goodbye To Romance” and “No Bone Movies.” I am in the same camp that these indeed should have been replaced by other stronger tracks and Ozzy needed to get away from the whole mandatory ballad inclusion game, but I have to also say that these songs have grown on me to the point where although I don't love them, I don't hate them either. Based on the strength of the rest of the album alone this is a 4.5 star one for me.