Black Rain

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Ozzy is losing his crown as the Prince of Darkness, but you could surmise that he is afraid of being dethroned. The opening tracks on Ozzy’s ninth studio record, “Not Going Away” and “I Don’t Want to Stop,” are defiant decrees from Ozzy that he still has it. Even on a low-bat diet, he doesn’t make claims that he can’t back up. But Osbourne’s theme of mortality doesn’t stop at his concerns for himself and his career. Armageddon, through environmental destruction, greed and religious fanaticism appears in songs like “Black Rain” and “God Bless the Almighty Dollar.” Strangely reminiscent of Elton John’s “Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way,” the opening piano on “Here for You” seems out of place amidst the other tracks. Perhaps it’s because this is the only song on Black Rain not obsessed with the future and content to live in the present.