OZZY OSBOURNE Is Working On 'Really Special' New Album

Epic Records president Sylvia Rhone has confirmed to Billboard.com that Ozzy Osbourne is working on "a really special album." She added: "It's going to be amazing. It's something Ozzy has never done before that he's always wanted to do."

Ozzy performed with his solo band on Saturday, August 29 at the first annual Epic Fest — a celebration of the record label on Los Angeles' Sony Pictures lot. His set included "Suicide Solution", "I Don't Know", "Bark At The Moon" and the BLACK SABBATH staples "War Pigs", "Fairies Wear Boots" and "Paranoid". Video footage of the performance can be seen below.

Ozzy Osbourne said last October that his "Memoirs Of A Madman" compilation was meant to remind fans that he hadn't put an end to his solo career after spending a couple of years recording and touring with BLACK SABBATH.

"Memoirs Of A Madman" served as a career-spanning audio release, featuring 17 of Ozzy's greatest hit singles compiled in one place for the first time in his career, and was made available in a single CD, two-LP set and two-LP picture disc set configurations.

Speaking to GMI Rock last year, Ozzy stated about the collection: "'Memoirs Of A Madman' was, because I've been not doing my solo stuff for quite awhile now, I've been touring with BLACK SABBATH, I just wanted to let everybody know I haven't stopped doing my solo stuff. It's like a bridge thing... So I'm gonna do one more BLACK SABBATH tour, one more album with BLACK SABBATH, and I'm in the process, as we go along, [of] collecting stuff that I'm writing. I've co-written about three songs so far for my own solo thing...It'll take about two or three years before I release solo stuff again, so 'Memoirs Of The Madman' is just to say to the fans that I haven't stopped, y'know?"

Ozzy's last solo studio effort was 2010's "Scream".

In a May 2011 interview with Planet Rock, Ozzy revealed that he would go back to basics on his forthcoming CD. "On my next album, I can assure you it's going to be back to balls to the wall," he said.

Speaking to Metal Messiah Radio's "Heavy Metal Thunder" show, Ozzy stated about his planned follow-up to 2010's "Scream", "I don't stick to a formula. I just try and experiment a lot. 'Scream' was more like an experimental album because I didn't have a band at the time. [Guitarist] Gus [G.] came along and the guys played on the album after I'd done a lot of the work myself and my producer, Kevin Churko, in my studio."

Ozzy Osbourne's current touring drummer, Tommy Clufetos, told the "Talking Metal" podcast in 2011 that early work was already underway for a follow-up to "Scream" and that he thought Ozzy was "going to return to a classic rock band record." Clufetos added, "What he has expressed is that he wants to make it the band playing live in a room so wherever that takes us. Less technology and more amps and drums."

Ozzy recorded much of "Scream" in a studio at his home in Los Angeles with producer Kevin Churko, doing most of the writing and recording on computers. He told The Pulse Of Radio he liked working that way but wanted to do something different next time out. "At the end of the day, the end result was pretty cool, but I don't know whether I want to continue to do it that way," he said. "I like to — like the earlier albums, I'd go rehearse and jam out with the band, get some, like, vibe going, you know. I want to incorporate that and this new technology thing, next album."

Ozzy's first album under the SABBATH banner in 35 years, "13", came out in June 2013 and topped both the U.S. and U.K. album charts, later winning a Grammy Award as well.