Heavy metal lovers rejoice: the “Prince of Darkness” is back with his first studio album in a decade.
That’s right, on Feb. 21, 2020, Ozzy Osbourne, the British rock icon, released the long awaited follow-up to 2010’s Scream and his twelfth solo effort overall, Ordinary Man.
Including lead singles Under the Graveyard, Straight to Hell, It’s a Raid and its self-titled track, Ordinary Man features 10 brand new songs from the former Black Sabbath frontman.
The highly-anticipated record was put out through Epic Records and clocks in at just over 45 minutes. It was produced and mixed by New York City-based record producer Andrew Watt (Lana Del Rey, Camila Cabello).
Similar to many of his previous efforts, Ordinary Man covers primarily grim and frightful subject matter, singing about things like being eaten alive and the end of civilization in songs like Eat Me and Today is the End, however, this time around, the 71-year-old focuses heavily on his own mortality.
With extremely personal and brooding lyricism in tracks like Goodbye, Under the Graveyard and Holy for Tonight, the Crazy Train singer seems to ponder the inevitability of death.
Within the last few years, many fans have expressed their concerns about Ozzy’s health status for a variety of reasons, including not only last year’s neck injury and his recent Parkinson’s disease reveal, but his age and well-storied history of substance abuse too.
Because of his ongoing health issues, some fans even believe Ordinary Man could perhaps be Osbourne’s final release, or “swan song,” similar to the likes of the late David Bowie‘s final album, Blackstar — which eerily called upon his death.
Despite all of his struggles — and the fact that he’s been forced to cancel the entirety of his upcoming North American tour — Osbourne has stayed in positive spirits, promising fans that he’ll be back in action “down the road,” after receiving treatment for his illness in Switzerland.
Watt, 29, who also serves as the album’s primary guitarist, was introduced to the headbanging legend after he collaborated with Post Malone last year.
Along with Travis Scott, the unlikely duo partnered up last year for Take What You Want, one of the smash-hit singles on Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding (2019) record — which subsequently serves as a bonus track for Ordinary Man.
After seemingly enjoying their collaboration so much, Osbourne had Watt invite Malone, 24, over to his Los Angeles studio to record vocals on the album’s final and pummeling track, It’s a Raid. The song serves as the fourth and final single from Ordinary Man.
It wasn’t just the Rockstar rapper who helped with Ordinary Man though, as Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello provided contributions for a song on the album, too — Scary Little Green Men.
The song was teased on Thursday with a snippet of a video that featured Game of Thrones alum and Aquaman star Jason Momoa impersonating Osbourne.
As well as Morello, Watt enlisted Duff McKagan as the album’s full-time bassist and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers as the drummer.
According to Watt, McKagan, 56, was able to get his Guns N’ Roses’ bandmate Slash to provide guitar solos on two tracks: Straight to Hell, the album’s opener — which also features Charlie Puth on the keys — and Ordinary Man, which serves as a duet with the legendary Elton John.
Ordinary Man is now available worldwide through all major streaming platforms.
Additionally, physical variants of the record can be purchased through the official Ozzy Osbourne website.
Ordinary Man full tracklist:
1. Straight to Hell
2. All My Life
3. Goodbye
4. Ordinary Man (ft. Elton John)
5. Under the Graveyard
6. Eat Me
7. Today is the End
8. Scary Little Green Men
9. Holy for Tonight
10. It’s A Raid (ft. Post Malone)
11. Take What You Want (ft. Post Malone and Travis Scott)
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