Zakk Wylde's
Black Label Society has established themselves as a newer Heavy Metal band, but still drawing inspiration from 70's bands and also southern rock.
It's pretty black and white with Zakk Wylde's vocals. Either you love his vocals or you don't. A song like
Suffering Overdue is very vocal based, where Zakk's special vocal dominates the song. The vocals are one of the few weaknesses on the album. Zakk sings very monotonous and it sounds like he sings in the same key on most songs. Sometimes the lyrics seem to disappear in Zakk's full beard.
However, Zakk's guitar playing is unsurpassable. His style is characteristic and has been embraced by fans of
Ozzy Osbourne and fans of guitarists in general. His tone is dark and he produces some characteristic "screams" on his bulls-eye Les Paul guitar.
Overall I think that Zakk has created some great atmospheres on the album. Exemplified on
Stoned & Drunk, which has an underlying emotion. Zakk plays some atmospheric guitar during the verse lines and the atmospheric guitar continues as rhythm guitar for solo. Also the great ballad
Blackened Nation proves that Zakk has fulfilled in creating great underlying emotions to the songs.
Since Zakk's southern rock project Pride & Glory, plus his solo albums that carried his own name, Zakk's vocals has changed a bit. Now he sounds more alike Ozzy. There is Ozzy sounding vocals on
Doomsday Jesus,
We Live no More and
Final Solution. Furthermore
Final Solution has a Black Sabbath-like middle play, which continues while Zakk rips his scales and licks for the solo.
Speaking of
Ozzy Osbourne, the legend himself adds backing vocals for the easiest accessible track
Stillborn.
Stillborn builds up around a typical
Black Label Society riff, which forms a signature riff throughout the song.
Most songs are straight-ahead Heavy Metal with a pounding
Black Label Society beat. Therefore it is necessary with diversification. The title song breaks the Metal dominants, since it's an acoustic campfire song. The drums from Craig Nunenmacher lay a solid foundation for Zakk's acoustic playing. Furthermore
Dead Meadow is a sad ballad to round off the album. The song has lots of emotion and reminds of Stone Temple Pilots, when they peaked.
The absolute highlight includes
Funeral bell with its razor sharp guitar riff and atmospheric "let ring" chords on top of it. Zakk spices the riffs with lots of his "screams". Also
Destruction Overdrive has loads of Zakk's screaming harmonics.
You have to credit Zakk for making the songs melody oriented instead of endless soloing. There are some great sound collages and most songs have a kick ass rhythm.
Black Label Society's strength is also their weakness. They are true to their style, which makes their albums very similar. So far they have released 5 album in 5 years, which doesn't leave me time to work up an appetite for the next BLS album. My favorite is still the first album, but since "The Blessed Hellride" contains so many strong songs the album would be rated as the second best. Nothing will surpass Zakk's work with Ozzy or the excellent Pride and Glory album, but "The Blessed Hellride" is a justified addition to Zakk's impressive song catalogue.
Written by
Michael Wednesday, August 6, 2003
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