The Prince of Darkness in metal music Ozzy Osbourne is set to return to store shelves with ‘Back Rain’ – his first studio album of new material in six years. The album’s first single will be “I Don’t Wanna Stop” and fans can now log onto the singer’s website to hear sample tracks from the album.

You can tell by looking at many of the song titles on ‘Black Rain’ that the rock legend took a good look at his own life and the world around him. He also salutes his fans -among the most devoted in the world - with such songs as "Here For You" and "Lay Your World On Me."

Due out May 22 on Epic Records, ‘Black Rain’ finds the two-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as vital, creative and evocative as ever.  You also get the clear sense that he's operating at the peak of powers, as a singer and songwriter.

Ozzy co-produced the album with Kevin Churko and recorded it with his touring band: Zakk Wylde (guitar), Mike Bordin (drums) and Blasko (bass).  Ozzy says that he felt a new freedom while recording the album at his home studio in Los Angeles. The result: songs that are not only hard-hitting but adventurously arranged and sonically fresh. 

“It's a well-put together album.  I think it's evident that it hasn't been just slapped out and put down. I took my time on the album and Zakk [Wylde] plays some amazing stuff as always," Ozzy explained.

Ozzy feels ‘Black Rain’ is the true follow-up to his classic ‘No More Tears’ - the 1991 album that also challenged the expectations of what an Ozzy Osbourne album should sound like.

Some of the songs on ‘Black Rain’ are ominous in their emotional tone - they examine a world teeming with greed, war, deception, bad drugs ("11 Silver," about crystal meth) and environmental havoc.  Ozzy also zooms in on the overriding sense of fear and dread that define our times - perpetrated, he feels, by news programs that make "entertainment" out of terrible news events.  

“I just thought there's so much fucking bad news, the only way I can release it is to put it in a song,” Ozzy says.

On the other hand, the new track "Civilize The Universe" offers a sense of hope, as Ozzy sings: “I'm alive/Watching better turn to worse/One more time/Try to civilize the universe."

Ozzy will support ‘Black Rain’ with a world tour beginning in Moscow on May 27 which continues through July 6.  Then starting July 12 in Seattle, he'll headline the 12th annual Ozzfest tour throughout America.
The pioneer and trendsetter has pulled the plug on ticket prices in America and given the power back to the fans, calling this summer's Ozzfest "FreeFest." That's right, this year's Ozzfest is entirely free for fans, an unprecedented move for an artist and tour of this stature.

Ozzy is being honored in May on VH-1's "Rock Honors" telecast.  He will perform three songs on the broadcast including a track from ‘Black Rain.’ Premiering on Thursday, May 24 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, "VH1 Rock Honors," will be taped at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 12. 

OZZY's popularity, creativity and reach are immeasurable, with recent inductions into both the U.K. Music Hall of Fame (as a solo artist and as a member of Black Sabbath) in November 2005 and as a member of Black Sabbath in the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2006.  He's won two Grammy Awards and one Emmy Award, and has a star on Hollywood Boulevard's "Walk of Fame."

Taken from M&C