Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears (1991)
I have long been a fan of the title track from this record. It always strikes me as full of menace and is structured well, but for some reason this promise had never taken me to a full a listen of the record until recently. Bearing in mind I do find the discography of the Black Sabbath frontman to be patchy at best I still feel sorely disappointed by No More Tears overall. The patchiness that plagues a lot of his records appeared to grow at an exponential rate for this one leaving a flat an uninspiring feel to the offering.
Things start off promisingly enough with the bite of Mr Tinkertrain a track which sets a good pace and energy for the record, Wylde's solo adds real power to proceedings and sets the bar high for the rest of the record. Unfortunately it tails off immediately with the mediocre I Don't Want to Change The World and then the drab Mama, I'm Coming Home. Only three tracks in things feel very inconsistent and badly arranged, like things have immediately gone off the boil. Other than the aforementioned title track, things don't ever really get going again.
Even Hellraiser feels underwhelming considering the wealth of metal legend that contributed to it. I don't get much of the clamour around Zakk Wylde to be honest. He is a competent guitarist most certainly but his work here is average at best and does nothing to alter my opinion that he is one of the more overrated players in metal. The timing and pace of his leads are often out to my ear and go beyond quirky pretty quickly. Not even the late Randy Castillo can do much to hold my interest here as I find myself reaching for the skip button with an all too frequent regularity.
One of the worst traits an album can leave you with even a whiff off is that it is just a collection of songs, stuck on an album without thought to consistency and quality control and this is exactly what No More Tears feels like. It fails to build up any momentum and just ends up lost in its own mediocrity.