Few people would have thought that heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne would ever release thirteen studio albums and continue performing live at age seventy-three. At this point, showing this living legend a little bit of gratitude, humility and respect would be quite fitting but that's tough to expect in times when people even insult a dedicated, loyal and peaceful monarch who might have been the most influential woman in the history of mankind upon her death. Anyway, this review shall focus on Patient Number Nine and ignore everything that is wrong with our contemporary society for a while.

Right from the start, it must be made clear that Patient Number Nine can't equal Ozzy Osbourne's greatest hours early in his solo career and it might even be a step down from diversified comeback effort Ordinary Man that has surprised me very positively. Nevertheless, even a weaker Ozzy Osbourne effort is still an above average hard rock and heavy metal release that is worth a genre fan's attention, praise and recognition.

The numerous different cooperations included on this output offer some great entertainment. Opening title track ''Patient Number Nine'' featuring seventy-eight year old guitar hero Jeff Beck might be the best of the bunch with a moody atmospheric opening, tongue-in-cheek radio play sections, slow but thunderous verses, melodic and catchy chorus and simple yet energetic instrumental solos. This song has the potential to stand the test of time and should be included on any potentially upcoming compilation detailing the Prince of Darkness' remarkable career.

Another excellent tune is Ozzy Osbourne's cooperation with former Black Sabbath colleague and old friend Tony Iommi on ''Degradation Rules''. The guitarist's atmospheric, melodic and slow musicianship suits the singer's emotional, gloomy and mournful voice splendidly. The wonderful bluesy harmonica sections are the cherry atop the cake. This song certainly would have deserved a spot on the last release by Black Sabbath.

Other than these two obvious highlights, this record offers numerous atmospheric, harmonious and slow songs that fit the vocalist's energy, performance and stamina at this age. The times when Ozzy Osbourne was able to sing ferocious heavy metal songs might be gone but the album offers plenty of playful blues rock, catchy hard rock and moody doom metal soundscapes. The best selection of this category might be ''Nothing Feels Right'', featuring regular cooperator Zakk Wylde whose entire career has been influenced by Ozzy Osbourne. This song might not sound spectacular upon first contact but the sluggish verses, melodic chorus and introspective lyrics suit the Prince of Darkness' current style very well and represent the entire album accurately.

This studio album certainly has several flaws that need to be pointed out. This release includes a few too many songs and some good average tunes that fail to leave a deeper mark and must go down as filler material. This album would sound much stronger if it had only consisted of this effort's eight or nine greatest cuts. Up next, the songwriting is at times a little bit uninspired, repetitive and predictable. Many songs are very similar in style with slow verses, catchy choruses and self-referential lyrics with a nostalgic touch. A few more adventurous songwriting ideas that were still included on the underrated predecessor would have rated this album up. Finally, the production would have needed some more oomph to exploit the material's full potential. Especially the guitar sound is at times muddy and lacking technical skills while the vocals are overprocessed and include a little bit too much autotune.

Nevertheless, it's not only amazing that Ozzy Osbourne has released a thirteenth studio album but the final result is more than decent and makes for a very good blues rock, hard rock and doom metal effort that should be appreciated by fans of the living legend under the current circumstances. Despite numerous disrespectful reviews all across the internet, I'm not standing alone on this issue since two of my very best friends are massive fans of Ozzy Osbourne and know his discography much better than I do and they have both told me separately to appreciate this effort a great deal. While Patient Number Nine might not be able to compete with Ozzy Osbourne's greatest hours, it's still a charismatic, diversified and entertaining effort that outclasses numerous efforts made by much younger and hungrier bands who might offer faster musicianship but less charisma. Even a good average effort by Ozzy Osbourne still beats the majority of similar genre releases and is therefore worth genre fans' attention, respect and time at the end of the day.

Final Rating: 75%

United Forces is a compilation by German power metal legends Helloween released with German Hard Rock magazine one month before the release of Helloween's self-titled album featuring three different singers and an intriguing combination of the band's oldest and most recent line-ups.

This compilation kicks off with single ''Fear of the Fallen'', a solid mid-paced and melodic tune with a catchy chorus that however fails to leave a deeper mark and doesn't offer the best combination of songwriting ideas and running time. A much better song from the new album is the shortened version of ''Skyfall'', an epic song with slow passages, mid-paced sections and relentless up-tempo energy set in a mysterious atmosphere as the lyrics talk about the adventures of an alien. These intriguing lyrics are sung by an aggressive Kai Hansen, a melodic Michael Kiske and an energetic Andreas Deris as the three singers complement one another perfectly. This song is the best Helloween song since ''The King for a Thousand Years'' released sixteen years earlier and certainly worth your attention.

Up next comes non-album and comeback single ''Pumpkins United'', a fast and enthusiastic tune celebrating the band's career and attempting to be its new anthem. The final result is entertaining while it lasts but fails to leave a deeper mark since the songwriting is a little bit by the numbers and lacking courageous, fresh and memorable ideas.

This compilation concludes with two rare live versions as ''Forever and One'' offers a heartfelt campfire ballad sung along by enthusiastic fans while ''How Many Tears'' shows the band's newfound energy and offers entertaining enthusiasm through eleven passionate minutes. These two songs complement the outstanding live document United Alive splendidly as said live record is one of the best ever created due to its atmosphere, diversity and energy, even though a few elements such as the vocals and the sounds of the crowd have been polished in the studio.

As you can read, Helloween's United Forces offers five good to excellent songs and brings thirty-six minutes of melodic entertainment for a very reasonable price. Both fans of the band and possible newcomers should check this compilation out.

Final Rating: 80%

Maximum Hate is a wonderful compilation of nine rare and new songs by German thrash metal icons Kreator that was released with an issue of the German Metal Hammer magazine one month before the band's new studio album Hate über alles saw the light of day.

The first two songs are taken from the new studio album and represent the band's diversified soundscapes particularly well. ''Hate über alles'' includes simple, heavy and fast riffs that take no prisoners and opens with a desperate scream that sets the tone for a pitiless anthem where the veterans sound hungrier than many promising newcomers and confirm to still be one of the greatest thrash metal bands around the globe. ''Strongest of the Strong'' however is a mid-tempo song with much more melodic guitar play that reminds slightly of the band's gothic sounds throughout the nineties without however sounding toothless, repetitive or bland. Both songs actually turn out to be among the new studio album's highlights.

Up next come several rare songs such as obscure single material and bonus tracks. The shining highlight here remains ''Iron Destiny'', a Japanese bonus track from the Phantom Antichrist record, that is essentially a melodic heavy metal song with aggressive vocals and an anthemic chorus that will stay on your mind upon first listening to it. The lyrics about resistance, origins and identity represent the band spirit particularly well. Even though this is only a bonus track, this is one of my very favourite Kreator songs of all time, so give it a try if you haven't listened to it yet.

This compilation concludes with more rare material such as a demo song and two live tracks. The two live tracks confirm that the international quartet doesn't take any prisoners on stage and is able to sound even more energetic, ferocious and passionate in concert than it does on a studio album. The sound of these live recordings is unfiltered, raw and organic as it should certainly please genre purists in particular. Kreator might not be the most technically stunning genre band but they certainly are the most authentic, passionate and also political regarding its left-wing lyrics.

At the end of the day, Kreator's Maximum Hate offers nine songs with a running time of exactly thirty-seven minutes and includes excellent new studio versions, surprisingly convincing hidden gems in form of several recent bonus tracks and two live versions of recent tunes that have not yet been overplayed and still sound fresh. Any fan of the band should purchase this compilation either as a preparation or even as a complement for Hate über alles. This release truly offers value for money in times when everything is getting more expensive.

Final Rating: 90%