No More Tears

Controversy has always followed Ozzy Osbourne. This heavy-metal icon has been socked unfairly with lawsuits that challenge his First Amendment rights, and his stage show was scrutinized some years back when it was claimed he bit the head off a bat. All this overshadows the fact that Osbourne reached the pinnacle of the genre because of his music, not his controversy. With No More Tears, one of metal’s true heroes gives himself a chance to spread his wings creatively. Osbourne does have his crowd-pleasing anthem in ”Hellraiser,” and the title track contains some wicked guitar riffing and heavy-duty melodrama, but there’s also ”A.V.H.,” which is actually sort of a bluesy strut, and ”Mama I’m Coming Home,” a ballad that this fortysomething artist wrote about his mother. Osbourne also gives himself the space to be introspective on ”Road to Nowhere,” a haunting look at his inner demons. No More Tears is a reminder that Ozzy’s a very talented guy. So will all his detractors leave him alone already? B+