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After the average "Ozzmosis" in 1995, Ozzy is finally back with a new album, "Down To Earth". After touring over and over with many crap bands at the Ozzfest, many of us were afraid that Ozzy would start sounding like those bands. Ozzy still sounds metal and this is the only real positive thing I can relate to on this album. Sure, there are some minor influences from those bands here and there over "Down To Earth", but the CD is still metal. But does that mean to be a good album? The answer is NO! The label pushed Ozzy to release his album as soon as possible and it results in songs that are not polished, uninspired and… not great! Imagine, the CD doesn't even contain the lyrics, only many pictures of Ozzy à la Marilyn Manson! I can't understand why a new album doesn't contain the lyrics, especially released by a major label like Epic Records / Sony. The sound through all "Down To Earth" is horrible especially the guitar tone which is muddy and the drums are not loud enough and the hi-hat too sloppy. The only song that I really love is the single and opener Gets Me Through. But in the last verse of this song (after the lead), the sound lowers a bit (don't know why, technical problem or lack of guitar) and it's annoying. The two other songs that I dig are Facing Hell and the Beatles-esque Dreamer. These three songs are the first three on the album. Running Out Of Time, Alive and Can You Hear Them? are OK but not very good. The rest of the tunes on the CD are pure fillers really! Listen to No Easy Way Out, That I Never Had (riff rip off of Miracle Man), Black Illusion and Junkie and you'll understand what I mean. I listened to the album several times to be sure of my review and what I heard through most part of the CD is only terrible junk music… Don't get me wrong, I love Ozzy and he's got a great career and I own all his albums. He released many awesome opuses like "Blizzard Of Ozz", "Speak Of The Devil", "Bark At The Moon", "The Ultimate Sin" and "No More Tears". Artistically, it's time for Ozzy to retire and hang on his bat! (-; But, monetarily-speaking, Ozzy continues to sell very well and everything he touched turns into gold. His wife and manager Sharon is still pulling his strings! (-; The proof is that Ozzy will release a live CD and a DVD later this year… Oh my god!

Additional Information

Track listing:

01. Gets Me Through 05:04
02. Facing Hell 04:25
03. Dreamer 04:44
04. No Easy Way Out 05:05
05. That I Never Had 04:23
06. You Know... (Part 1) 01:06
07. Junkie 04:28
08. Running Out Of