According to Metal Sludge, WHITE LION has been added to the POISON/RATT summer tour, which is tentatively scheduled to kick off June 12. This information, however, has not yet been confirmed by an official source.
OZZY OSBOURNE returns May 22nd with Black Rain, his first album of new studio material in six years. 'I Don't Wanna Stop' is set as the first single. Fans can log onto Ozzy.com to hear samples of the following tracks from the album: 'I Don't Wanna Stop', 'Not Going Away', 'Thank God For The Almighty Dollar', 'Civilize The Universe', 'Black Rain', 'Countdown's Begun' and 'Trap Door'.
You can tell by looking at many of the song titles that the rock legend took a good look at his own life and the world around him. He also salutes his fans - among the most devoted in the world - with such songs as 'Here For You' and 'Lay Your World On Me'.
Ozzy co-produced the album with Kevin Churko and recorded it with his touring band: Zakk Wylde (guitar), Mike Bordin (drums) and Blasko (bass).
Ozzy says that he felt a new freedom while recording the album at his home studio in Los Angeles. The result: songs that are not only
hard-hitting but adventurously arranged and sonically fresh.
Explains Ozzy, "It's a well-put together album. I think it's evident that it hasn't been just slapped out and put down. I took my time on the album and Zakk [Wylde] plays some amazing stuff as always."
Ozzy feels Black Rain is the true follow-up to his classic No More Tears, the 1991 album that also challenged the expectations of what an Ozzy Osbourne album should sound like.
Some of the songs on Black Rain are ominous in their emotional tone - they examine a world teeming with greed, war, deception, bad drugs ('11 Silver', about crystal meth) and environmental havoc. Ozzy also zooms in on the overriding sense of fear and dread that define our times - perpetrated, he feels, by news programs that make "entertainment" out of terrible news events.
Says Ozzy: "I just thought there's so much fucking bad news, the only way I can release it is to put it in a song."
On the other hand, the new track 'Civilize The Universe' offers a sense of hope, as Ozzy sings: "I'm alive/Watching better turn to worse/One more time/Try to civilize the universe."
Ozzy will support Black Rain with a world tour beginning in Moscow on May 27th which continues through July 6th. Then starting July 12th in Seattle, he'll headline the 12th annual OZZFest tour throughout America (www.ozzfest.com).
New Jersey metallers ATTACKER have been confirmed for The Monsters Ball, set to take place Friday, October 12 at The Rock Room of the Sterling hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Saturday, October 13 at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey. Also scheduled to appear are RAVEN, HALLOWS EVE, SEVENTH CALLING and OVERDRIVE (performing their first U.S. shows ever). More bands will be announced soon.
