OZZY OSBOURNE — The Ultimate Sin (review)

OZZY OSBOURNE — The Ultimate Sin album cover

Album · 1986 · Heavy Metal

3/5 · 2016-07-07
siLLy puPPy

The mid-80s were a rough ride for the godfather of metal but somehow OZZY OSBOURNE was slogging through albeit with chemically fueled inspiration. At the point of recording his fourth studio album THE ULTIMATE SIN his life was once again in tumult and to be honest sounds like on this release which i find to be the weakest album of his 80s releases. As heard here, the music was clearly suffering mightily from the loss of the mighty Randy Rhoads who stoked OZZY’s newly found solo career into a fiery inferno and as much as he tried, newbie Jake E. Lee just wasn’t in the same league. While OZZY managed to keep the band together somewhat for “Bark At The Moon” with Bob Daisley remaining on drums and keeping the neoclassical formula of Rhoad’s songwriting in motion, by the time he got to THE ULTIMATE SIN his drug addiction which landed him in the Betty Ford Clinic had clearly taken its toll. Wisely he opted to drop the Rhoads inspired songwriting copycatism and move on to new pastures.

THE ULTIMATE sees the loss of both bassist Bob Daisley being replaced by Phil Soussan (Billy Idol, Vince Neil, John Waite etc) and drummer Tommy Aldridge who was replaced by Randy Castillo (Lita Ford etc). There was a different band in the works with some of the aforementioned but the Black Sabbath reunion for the 1985 Live Aid concert interfered with the process and caused a riff between the members leading to schisms. Add to that a major creativity slump and OZZY’s bout of insecurity seeing the once mighty leader of one of the first true metal bands resort to imitating his inferiors by going glam with a sudden propensity for bleached hair which made him look more like a British housewife who had been dipping into too many bonbons than a metal overlord pontificating the evils of war and corruption.

No, the mid-80s were not kind to the Madman and the music on THE ULTIMATE SIN is the perfect testament to this tumultuous period of the OZZ’s slump. This is one of those album’s i’ve owned forever just to have but in reality rarely listen to it. I just recently found a remastered copy which didn’t see remastering at the same time as the other albums due to all kinds of legal mumbo jumbo, so i thought i’d give it a spin after so many years and give with a seasoned perspective. Yep, just as i suspected. The only songs i remembered were the ones i still like. There is nothing wrong with this album per se but it is a trifling pittance in comparison to the Rhoads years. Something is just suffocating the whole creative process here and the band members don’t really seem to gel very well. The drums are lackadaisical, most of the songs are shallow glam metal arena anthems and even Jake E. Lee doesn’t get the chance to strut his stuff on this one as much as on the previous album.

The pressures were coming from every angle and of course something has to give. After two albums Jake E. Lee was mysteriously fired with a reason never given and Phil Soussan would also jump ship ushering in the return of Daisley to fill his former slot. While i find most of the tracks on this one to be forgettable Ozzy-by-the-numbers, there are four really strong tracks here that i still love after many years after having remembered that i like them! They are the title track, the coolest track on here: “Killer Of Giants,” “Fool Like You” and the hit single “Shot In The Dark” which all have some very catchy melodic developments and really don’t sound anything like anything OZZY had done before or after. THE ULTIMATE SIN remains a strange little enigmatic release in OZZY’s disco where it finds a tumultuous transitory stage in OZZY’s evolution to yield a few strong tracks with a bunch of okay-ish but unoutstanding glam metal offerings. Still though, if you worship the OZZ and respect him for what he’s delivered to the metal world, you will surely find this one in your collection for eternity, warts and all. A good album but with the coming of Zakk Wylde things would pick up starting on the next album.

more than 2 years ago
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siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Breaking news! I bought a life off of Ebay. Unfortunately it requires batteries and they keep burning out. DOH!

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Oh, when you have a life again let me know where you got it from. I need one too!

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I lost interest after Ozzmosis but have since gotten all the newer ones and find i like them actually. Will be doing reviews on Ozzy albums coming up when i have a life again

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You're welcome. Truth be told, this was the last Ozzy album I ever bought. No, wait! I stole it. I was bad. But after this one, I lost interest in Ozzy as a solo artist.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

どうもありがとう Dōmo arigatō :)

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

"which made him look more like a British housewife who had been dipping into too many bonbons than a metal overlord pontificating the evils of war and corruption"

I love this line!!!

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Don't get me wrong, I love Diary of a Madman, but I personally enjoy Zakk Wylde's style more than Rhoads. Yeah, Ozzmosis has a couple of cheesy ballads, but the guitar riffs on that album are killer. No More Tears is a great album too.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wow, Khaliq! Ozzmosis is my most hated Ozzy album! How can you not love the first two the best? Also No More Tears is a really stellar comeback

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I have about the same experience with this album as you do. I´ve owned it for years, but very rarely listen to it, and when I do, only a few tracks stand out as interesting.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Good review, although I personally really like this album. I enjoy how it is very melodic, which sets itself apart from the rest of his albums. My favorite Ozzy album though is probably Ozzmosis.