File Under: Rock/metal rating: C+ tracks 1. Gets Me Through 2. Facing Hell 3. Dreamer 4. No Easy Way Out 5. That I Never Had 6. You Know...(part 1) 7. Junkie 8. Running Out of Time 9. Black Illusion 10. Alive 11. Can You Hear Them? related links Ozzy Osbourne

A time comes in everyone’s life where they realize the end is near and they repent. Ozzy Osbourne has officially reached this point.

From the opening of "Gets Me Through," the message is crystal clear; Ozzy is getting old and needs to make his peace. This open-ended message to all Osbourne’s loyal fans is full of honesty and heartfelt gratitude, but does this belong on a metal album?

Osbourne does his best to bring the real emotions outside of anger and torment to metal, and falls well short of reaching the point his past projects have. Osbourne still has a voice that is undeniably familiar to his listeners, but even that legendary call has become weak in these days.

The backup band, consisting of Zakk Wylde and Mike Bordin, among others, provides a solid backdrop for the music, but definitely don’t deliver the power and precision of Ozzy’s earlier line-ups.

"Dreamer" is the song that lays it all out. "Dreamer" is to Ozzy what "Imagine" was to John Lennon. It’s a desperate cry from a man who has seen it all. It’s a call for people to take heed and listen to the words from an old man full of experience. Unfortunately, the song, as well as Osbourne himself, will more than likely go to the same place all older people go in this society, out to pasture.

Samuel Barker is Senior Editor. Contact him at suma@rockzone.com.