812. Black Label Society / Mafia. 2005. 3/5

Given the output on the previous two albums, I was beginning to ask myself where it was all heading for Black Label Society, and whether or not I was going to continue on the ride. While I wasn't looking for a clone of Ozzy Osbourne or Black Sabbath music, I certainly wasn't looking for a lot of the stuff that had been prevalent in recent times either. Still, I was never going to find out for myself unless I went out and bought the album, and so I did, and prepared myself for what was to come.

You can't criticise people when they look at performing in a different style or genre of music than you would prefer to hear from them. Sometimes people change, or sometimes their preferences change. Some people are just so talented on more than one instrument that they want to be able to showcase that on their albums. And there's no doubt that Zakk, apart from being a wonderful and innovative guitarist, is also a talented piano player. So when you start having piano based tracks coming onto Black Label Society albums, it's not something you can be particularly surprised about. And it's not as if I despise them either, because Zakk plays them well. But it is difficult to put on an album that mixes the style of songs so much that there is no cohesion. It messes with the mood you are in when you are listening to it. I need to have a solid base around what music I'm listening to depending on the mood I am in. That is practically impossible when you listen to Mafia.
There is a bit of everything here, and while the hardcore fans of the band will most probably love it, I find it too mixed to be completely in love with it. The first half of the album (for the most part) restores my faith a little in the capability of Black Label Society to put out a great album. "Fire It Up" goes for the slow grind that is reminiscent of some early BLS songs, and is followed by "Who's In You" which retains the same mid-level tempo but removes the grunge from the guitars and allows the song to play freer and with more space. "Suicide Messiah" is an atypical BLS song, featuring Zakk's grating vocals over a slowish tempo rhythm with his solo dominating over the top. "Forever Down" works well in a similar way. "You Must Be Blind" fades into the song that has already started, a great way to get going, but then it stops and starts in tempo too much (as is Zakk's way in a lot of his songs) when to just continue along would have improved it to no end. "Say What You Will" is the shining light of the album. If the whole album had been more in this direction it could have been a classic.
The other songs are all okay without showing anything outstanding. However, when the piano creeps in it changes the whole mood of the album. "In This River" is nothing but piano and a little guitar thrown in for good measure. And let's repeat most of the lyrics over and over again. "Dirt on the Grave" is more of the same, piano driven muzak. Like I have said, the songs themselves aren't terribly bad, and if you listened to them as part of an album of similarly performed songs you would no doubt enjoy them immensely. But when you hear them in the context of an album that is for the most part supposed to be guitar driven riff filled hard and heavy songs, it just isn't a good fit.

This isn't meant to be a negative review in regards to the quality of the content of the album, but I certainly question the variety of the content that is found here. On an individual song basis, the songs here are the best that Black Label Society has put forward since 1919 Eternal. The musicianship across the board is fabulous, with everyone performing fantastically. But when you want to mix the band's well-known brand of heavy material with the complete change of spectrum of piano driven retrospective songs, then it's more a case of not pleasing everyone, but dividing those that you are trying to please. The end result may have trouble in gaining a majority verdict for either party.

Rating:  I'll give you everything beyond the truth.  3/5