Back catalogue: Rock

Review: "This 10" single reissue comes in celebration of the upcoming 30th anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne's 'No More Tears'. A new mashup sure to inspire only the best moshpitting and hair-flicking skills from every true hard rock head, this new track hears a the original Ozzy song mashed up with Motorhread's version. Never before released, it sounds like an alternate Dante eagerly cruising through the many layers of hell, as new drum reversings, stereo effects and soundscapes are peppered into this masterful musical jigsaw. The B-side also contains the two original, unremixed versions.

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Review: Eating bats, drinking his own pee (while teaching the Motley Crue what's meant by eccentric British debauchery), and, err, co-starring in a reality TV show. Life has been a colourful one for Ozzy Osbourne, and we've not touched upon Black Sabbath. Impossible not to love, in spite of all the Satan summoning (albeit tongue in cheek), it would have been an awkward moment if this return wasn't exceptionally good. Of course it won't be for everyone. Those who aren't fond of dirty metal guts and dark, macabre riffs might want to look elsewhere for their kicks - it's not just "Goodbye" and "Today Is The End" respectively offering those. It's a record filled with plenty of foreboding menace, and we'd expect nothing less. Even so, there's still time for razor wit to shine ("Eat Me") and borderline madness to prevail (the extra-terrestrial themed "Scary Little Green Men"), making for a journey into the mind of a rock genius.

Review: Say what you will about Black Sabbath founding father turned solo metal don Ozzy Osbourne, he has never come remotely close to giving up. Even as ill-health resulting from decades of living the ultimate rock 'n' roll lifestyle - alcohol, drugs, eating bats - has crept up on him. As this sentence is written, reports are hitting the entertainment press that he was spotted leaving a recording studio in Los Angeles with wife Sharon, the 73-year-old hell raiser looking frail but still clearly up to something.

Whether the results will be the follow up to Black Rain is another question, of course. Released in 2007, it's currently the most recent album from the Prince of Darkness. Amazingly, it remains his most successful record in terms of opening week sales, too, shifting 152,000 copies in the first seven days, which in the era of hard drives clogged with Limewire-sourced illegal downloads is saying something.

Review: What is Record Store Day Black Friday really about if not limited edition picture disc versions of classic albums gone by? Well, they don't come much more classic than this heavy metal nugget from the one and only Black country overlord himself, Ozzy Osbourne. It was the sixth solo studio by the vocalist and came back in 1991, even managing to chart at number 17 on the UK Albums Chart. The biggest tunes on it were 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' and the Grammy-winning track 'I Don't Want to Change the World.' The whole album got critical praise and is said to be one of Ozzy's best.

Review: RECOMMENDED
You can almost feel Ozzy Osbourne's determination to prove critics wrong on his solo work from this era. Diary of a Madman was released in 1981, just three years after the Prince of Darkness was thrown out of Black Sabbath due to the extent of his drink and drug problems. It should go without saying you have to take things pretty far to wind up an evictee from one of heavy metal's most full-throttle outfits. Nevertheless, it happened, so by the time this record arrived there was a clear desire to show people that was a temporary setback.

At the same time, there's also an element of sending himself - and that reputation - up here, preempting the comic book caricature of Evil Ozzy we would come to recognise, and love, in later years. Musically, it's as it should be - atmospheric, eerie, and packed with the classical-leaning guitar work of the late, great Randy Rhoads. 3million copies sold and counting, say no more.