Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
What stirs Under The Graveyard is one of the endless possibility of renewal, not one of decay or sadness, the hand wringing for the dearly departed but instead a time in which the bells that toll in the church to sound out the glory of the immortal soul, the artist that never wants to lay down and despite being plagued by problems that floor a lesser person, still manages to drag their body through it all and give the audience yet another reason to sing their name as if venerating themselves before the alter of hope.
It is in hope that we see a pathway through the markers and the slowly eroding inscriptions, that the crows that brazenly call out from the drooping branches of insincerity are muted, and the concrete angels that hide their tired eyes are revealed, pointing a way to your own grave, so that you might reflect on the time left, not with panic, not with fear, but with the assurance that no matter how long you have, you fill every second with honour, pleasure and insight.
Under The Graveyard is Ozzy Osbourne returned, a new single, a first in many years, and whilst the much documented health problems have seen him cancel tours and appearances, his voice still resonates, it still haunts. It may not be the same one that struck terror into the Baby Boomer generation as they watched their offspring attach themselves to the music of Black Sabbath but it still kicks out, it reminds us that the faint-hearted and the foolish will lose their way given time, but for the strong-willed it is always about exploring what is in the D.N.A., in the bones, and Ozzy Osbourne will always have that in abundance.
Under The Graveyard is a reminder that some artists cannot be written off for long, no matter the circumstances of their self-removal from the arena or the head of the parade in which the coffin of broken dreams and regrets is being led and for Ozzy, the Godfather, the initial voice of the Metal genre, it is one that captures the power, the sense of duty that he still holds within him.
Hope springs eternal, but with Ozzy Osbourne once more terrifying the populace close to the boneyard, what lays under the graveyard is one where secrets of the eternal are revealed; instinctive, damning of the recklessness of the beige appeal fondly spread by others, this is Ozzy returned.
Ian D. HallÂ