Almost immediately after Ozzy Osbourne released Ordinary Man earlier this year, he said he wanted to make another album. Obviously the pandemic put a bit of a halt on the pace of that, but producer Andrew Watt told Guitar World that they’re about halfway done with the follow-up.
“It’s been hard with COVID and everything to keep him safe. We all test every day before we work and it’s just me, Ozzy and my engineer,” Watt explained. “So it’s taken a little longer this time, but it’s cool because the last one was made in this, like, swift love affair of passion, like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible!'”
“But this time everyone’s moving a little slower and we’re taking a little more time. And the songs, there’s some songs on there that are like 8 or 9 minutes long that are these really crazy journeys. I’m really excited about it,” he added.
Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers played on Ordinary Man, and has already recorded a few of the tracks with Watt. Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo — who also used to play for Osbourne — did a few tracks, too, in addition to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
“It kind of harkened back to Ozzy’s ‘80s era, in a great way,” Watt enthused. “And I think it’s so cool for a rock fan to be able to listen to half an album with Chad Smith on drums, and then you flip it over and you get to hear Taylor Hawkins.”
Watt produced and played guitar on Ordinary Man, which was the Prince of Darkness’ first solo album in a decade. The record came at a really rough time for the metal legend, who revealed right before it came out that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease years ago.
However, it became his highest-charting solo album, so that definitely picked up his spirits a bit. Stay tuned for further details on the follow-up.