Despite his creeping age and recent health struggles, former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne has released a new album. It’s his second solo album since the split of the famous rock band in 2017, “Patient Number 9” contains all of the Prince of Darkness’ classic staples, from his definitive grating vocal quality to a haunting and distorted instrumental background.
While “Patient Number 9” is everything that was expected of the musician, there is an undeniable lack of authenticity and uniqueness in Ozzy’s recent sound that results in an overall dissatisfying album.
The album’s lyrical concept of death and mortality was a very humanizing choice, made by a man who has spent most of his career reminding the world of his vigor and seeming immortality. While these themes certainly demonstrate artistic and personal growth within Osbourne, the innovation in his new work stops there.
The lyrics themselves lack nuance and cling desperately to traditional punk words and phrases without giving them much thought or purpose. The songs are not only indistinguishable from themselves, but also from the tracks of his 2020 solo album, “Ordinary Man,” demonstrating yet again that Osbourne’s career may be reaching its plateau.
There are a select few songs on the album that stand out, one of which being the titular track, a song that evokes images of a haunted house and emanates the power and vivacity Osbourne is known for.
The only other distinctive song on “Patient Number 9” is “God Only Knows,” a ballad in which Osbourne no longer tries to defy death, but accepts it as inevitable, and almost welcome.
While there is something to be said for a septuagenarian that is still releasing music of this caliber, Osbourne’s stylistic evolution has reached a halt, and thus his new work seems stale and overdone.
Had Patient Number 9 been released in the heyday of Black Sabbath, it would have been a remarkable and well-received feat. However, given the context of the album’s release, "Patient Number 9" is mediocre at best.
Rating: 3.5/5
