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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: 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.