Eh, I've had this album for nearly a year, and I'm stuck in this house of mine with absolutely nothing to do, so I figured it was time to write the next review.

I'm not the Ozzy fan that everyone else is- I don't find The Osbournes to be that funny (thinking of it is funny, but watching it isn't), and I'm not into Crazy Train and Mr. Crawley much either, never talking about that great solo in it, or Ozzy's creepy laugh and... you know, all that great stuff.

However, when I saw his "Gets Me Through" video, I suddenly became very interested- despite its odd cheesiness, I always found myself laughing my @$$ off every time I thought of this video, with its odd news presentation ("...Ozzy is not the Antichrist. But Satan himself says, 'I love him like a son.'"). Funny, Ozzy is covered in crosses the entire video.

Oh well. That one song and video motivated me to buy this CD, and I can't really tell whether or not to regret it- there are some really terrible tracks on here, and for a while I wasn't listening to this anymore, but now my interest has suddenly respawned, and Down to Earth is back in my life again. I hope God's not mad at me, because if he is, then I'm really screwed.

One thing before I get to the songs- I really must wonder, how the hell does Ozzy sing so fluently, without stuttering or mumbling really quietly so that only some of the morons that I know can understand him (since they speak the same language)? I mean, he's quite understandable in this album, and I can make out nearly every word he says- but when I see an interview with him or watch that d*mn show, I CAN'T HEAR A F*CKING WORD HE'S SAYING! Is this really even Ozzy's voice? Is he faking being a moron on television? Is he really some supreme intellect who walks into the bathroom and laughs every time we're supposedly convinced that he's an idiot? Someone, please explain this.

Okay, onto the album... "Down to Earth" opens quite nicely, with the fairly interesting track Gets Me Through... first there's that cliche'd rock piano that we've all heard in album introductions, and then it gets quiet, and we of course think, "Oh, I bet some really cool Ozzy guitar will kick in now," and we're obviously right. But we don't care- predictable music is normal in today's society, and we have to adjust to it as listener's.

Anyway, "Gets Me Through" works well, with its depressing lyrics and fan tributes, but the next track, Facing Hell, works a lot better. It's definitely the coolest track on the album, if not the best, with (once again) its cool Ozzy guitar, and apocalyptic talk. Even after hearing this, I'm still not really sure what Ozzy's religious views are (maybe someone could help me with this), but hey, its a good song.

The album's second single, Dreamer, is what some would consider to be the best track on the song, but it doesn't work as well for me- it's pretty good, I suppose, but the lyrics continuously talk about how we all need to work together to make the world a better place, and I'm just not into that, I guess. "Dreamer"'s gotten old for me.

No Easy Way Out starts out with a cool 80's like sound, and then goes into Ozzy guitar, which is nice, but the overall song doesn't work out for me- it might've actually been better off without Ozzy's voice. That I Never Had, which follows, I actually sort of works out the same way, and at this point, I was sort of saddened, because I thought this was going to turn out as a really decent album at the point in listening.

You Know...(Pt. 1) brought my hopes up, and I thought to myself, "Maybe I was wrong... and then, all of a sudden, the track cuts off. My thoughts? "WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS? THIS SONG IS ONLY A F*CKING MINUTE LONG? WHAT THE HELL?" I cried (not really).

However, Junkie, the seventh track, is totally decent, and since it's four-and-a-half times the length of "You Know...", the tears stop flowing. "Junkie," as you might suspect, goes on and on about how drugs are bad, and how drug junkies are stupid are for using them and need to stop using them because... well, they're bad. Yeah, you get the picture. Drugs are bad. Yeah. Bad. Drugs. Bad.

And then there's what I would say is the album's second best- Running Out of Time. It's slow and powerful...

Just another lonely broken hero
Picking up the pieces of my mind
Running out of faith and open reason
I'm running out of time

And after that final chorus, the album goes into a series of odd recordings mixed in with the drums and guitar, and its actually really cool. It's a bit odd in a slow, soft song like this- but hey, not every song can be normal.

Ugh, now two more bad tracks, which as you can probably tell, I enjoy being brief on- Black Allusion and Alive- they both suck. I mean, the guitar isn't even cool- I guess the drums are decent, but the guitar just isn't enough. And the songs just plain suck; it feels like they needed two more tracks so they just decided to select two really bad ones, almost purposefully. This definitely takes away from the quality of the album.

However, all ends well with Can You Hear Them?, which starts out with some of the most effective drums and death-guitar I've ever heard, and its most unlike the rest of the album, so we're satisfied from the beginning to be hearing something different. The lyrics work out well too-

So sick and tired of living
And so afraid to die
I've lived so many lives
And still I wonder why
The way the world perceives me
Is not the way I am
The one half thinks I'm crazy
The other thinks I'm dead

All it rants about is the world's opinion of Ozzy and his depression- but no one cares, it's all he talks about nowadays anyway (*chuckle).

Overall, "Down to Earth" is (I guess) normal Ozzy, with its depressing rants and soft songs, and hard songs, and generally cool Ozzy guitar. I could say that for all of us, it's nice to see Ozzy back on the scene (even though he's been back on the scene for a while).

Rating: B-

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends