1290. Black Label Society / Stronger Than Death. 2000. 3.5/5

The continued inconsistency of Ozzy Osbourne and his recording and touring routine was an obvious basis for the formation of what became the band Black Label Society. Ozzy had decided he was going to retire from touring after the “No More Tears” album, which left guitarist Zakk Wylde as a free agent as such. Of course, this retirement was short lived, and in 1995 Ozzy and Zakk recorded the “Ozzmosis” album, though only after writing sessions with Steve Vai had broken down. Then things become a little bit murky. Apparently at the time Zakk was considering an offer to join Guns ‘N Roses, and even though he had been a part of the Osbourne camp since 1988, they decided to replace him for the tour to promote the album rather than wait for him to give an answer one way or the other. Not the first, nor the last, musician, to discover the rough side of the Osbourne tongue.
Eventually, Zakk decided to write and record his own album, under the band name Black Label Society, even though he wrote all of the songs and played all of the instruments except for drums, on which Phil Ondich made his contribution. The album, “Sonic Brew” received good reviews, and as such Zakk moved to create a follow up. Once again for this album, all of the songs were composed by Wylde, as well as him contributing all of the vocals, guitars and piano. Ondich once again provided the drums. There is also a cameo of some heavy duty growing on the title track from Mike Piazza, whose contribution proved as a singer he is a very good baseball catcher. As with the previous album it was released in Japan first in early March, with a bonus track to appease the usual record company rumblings. The US and international version of the album then came six weeks later in mid-April of 2000, under the title of “Stronger Than Death”.

“All For You” makes a statement from the opening of the album. As good an album as his first effort had been, “All for You” hits new tones from the outset. Zakk has all sorts of stuff going on with his guitars, all quintessential Zakk Wylde, all writhing their way through the entire length of the track. Everything about it is sludgy and feels like you are trying to work your way through the mud, but it is glorious in its cacophony and wall of sound coming out of the speakers at you. Zakk’s vocals perfectly offset what he is laying down musically, and the resulting feeling of being buried in a sweaty cramped nightclub having the time of your life is inescapable. Then jump on board for “Phony Smiles & Fake Hellos” where Zakk unleashes lyrically more than musically on something that has obviously really pissed him off. Because here he just unloads with a withering attack on those he sees around him with the titled phoney smiles and fake hellos. Lyrics such as “You're just a fabricated lie, that doesn't exist, Dropping names where ever you go” and “Just a no talent nothing with a ten ton ego, Until your 15 minutes are through” and “Just a powertripping, mindtraping, backstabbing, junkie, Thinking your hype is true” are just a taste of the vitriol Zakk sprays here, and I’m here for every minute of it. A great song.
“13 Years of Grief” isn’t letting up on the anger being sprouted on this album. I don’t know if this was written about someone Zakk knew or about something he saw on the news or was just a conglomerate of things, but he certainly isn’t impressed with the 13-year-old protagonist here who is going to jail for six months. It's a great ugly thumping rhythm riff that accompanies Zakk’s hardcore vocals, and a solo that completes the tale. Tell us what you really think Zakk!!
“Rust” reverts to the slower sadder rose-coloured overtones of what can be described as a ballad, but a smoky sludgy molasses slow one at that. So, not your typical song of this genre, all dripping with Zakk’s southern rock styled acoustic guitar into the guitar solo that does more than enough to indicate this is what this song is without destroying it with something that is a cut and paste mirror image of the genre. Lyrically Zakk holds things together by not going the full ballad route, with lyrics such as “Living, fighting, obsessing, Just as long as I can share it all with you, Yesterday, today, tomorrow, come rain, come shine, Hell and back, the beginning, in-between, till the end of time”. These kinds of songs did become a bit of an overkill on later albums for Zakk and Black Label Society, and “Rust” does go on longer than it needs to, but here, as the exception rather than the rule, it plays out well within the mix of the album. The difference of opinion follows in “Superterrorizer”, a song stretched to beyond five and a half minutes with a minimum of vocals and an expansion of riffage to offset the delay. Zakk’s solo on this song is fantastic, minted by the changing speed and grind of the rhythm riff. This then bleeds into “Counterfeit God”, which is very much in the straight up-and-down grinding song that is reminiscent of much of the metal from the second half of the 1990’s decade. Structure, simple. Guitar rhythm riff, simple. Solo guitar spot, generic. Vocals, just average. It feels like a song with these lyrics that should have had more substance to the music itself, but does not. It is serviceable but is missing some of the grunt from the earlier tracks. So too with “Ain’t Life Grand”, whose lyrics again seem to demand music and vocals that truly bear down on the topic at hand and have some real menace about them. Instead, both tracks come away as feeling incomplete. The vocal qualities of the opening tracks are not transferred here, where one feels that if these songs sounded more like those that they would be a far better fit to this album.
“Just Killing Time” is the second ballad track on the album, this one the piano ballad that Zakk would become more prolific with as the band moved onwards. He certainly puts his own mark on the concept, the piano acting as the basis of the track and the wailing guitar solo extremely prominent through the back half of the song. Zakk does these well, don’t get me wrong, and as a part of this album I am happy to listen to it when I have the album on. Would I CHOOSE to listen to it in other circumstances? Nah.
The title track “Stronger Than Death” pulls itself back into the best style of Black Label Society songs, with Zakk’s grungy sludgy rhythm guitar riff dominating and his squealing lead guitar travelling over the top of this, and Zakk’s vocals back in the lower growling tone that he does so well. The album concludes with the eight minute monster, “Love Reign Down”, something that seems once again a little out of place and perhaps not a necessity. 8 minute epics are not an unusual way to close out an album, and when they pop they really lift the album as a whole. This isn’t a terrible song, but it does drag out when it could have been cut off shorter which to me would have made the end of the album more palatable. But hey, I’m not a songwriter, so what would I know?!

Zakk Wylde had been a favourite as a guitar player ever since he first emerged with Ozzy Osbourne on the album “No Rest for the Wicked”. His style and squeal had made him a great asset and offsider to Ozzy on those albums and tours he participated in. In 2002 I came across his solo album “Book of Shadows”, something that was completely different from what I expected, but still mostly enjoyable. Then I ran across my first experience with Black Label Society, “1919 Eternal” and I thought “what the bloody hell is this?!” It was again different from what I expected, but it was something that still grabbed my attention. From there it was a short trip back to also discover that there were two earlier albums in the band’s catalogue, and so I had to experience those as well.
My first impressions at that time of “Stronger Than Death” was that I enjoyed about half of the album, could quite happily tolerate the other half of the album, but what I probably wanted at that time was more speed, more fire and less sludge. If I could go back now and talk to my 20-odd year younger self I would have said ‘if that’s what you are looking for, you are in the wrong shop’. I was also looking for something that was more like “1919 Eternal” and this, while similar, is not the same. Over time, and more listening to the album, I just let the album be what it was and enjoyed it for the same reason. Getting my own CD copy of the album and being able to hear it in better clarity through my own stereo, made the experience far more enjoyable.
Flash forward to the past week, and the CD has been out again in the Metal Cavern and getting its mandatory listens for this podcast episode. Nothing much has changed for me. There are lots of great songs here, Zakk’s biting lyrics and uniquely sung vocals, and typically wonderful guitar riffs. For the most part the bass is buried under the cacophony of other guitars being played, but that isn’t really too noticeable when listening to the album. The two ballads here are fine but not my favourite parts of the album. At least here there are just the two tracks styled in this fashion. Down the track they did become more prevalent. It is probably the reason why most fans of the band still rate this album as one of if not the best by Zakk and the band, because here at least there is that basis of the metal sound the fans are looking for. For me, of the 11 studio albums the band has released, I would rank it as my second favourite. The other that ranks above it has probably been given away in this closing monologue.
Zakk did find a way back to Ozzy’s band in bits and pieces over the next few years, but what helped set up Black Label Society’s NEXT album was a bunch of songs Zakk actually wrote for Ozzy... but that’s a tale for another episode...

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

701. Black Label Society / Unblackened. 2013. 2/5

I can only say that I went into this album with some serious reservations as to what I was going to encounter once the disc hit my CD player. I mean, the 'unplugged' album craze that started in the early 1990's with the help of MTV was something that, for many bands, worked really well to showcase their music in a different arena, and certainly Seattle bands such as Nirvana and Alice in Chains efforts were truly brilliant. But then it began to seep into the heavy metal genre, and you just knew that things could only get very very bad when that started to happen. Why? Well, did you really need to have Queensrÿche doing songs unplugged, just because "Silent Lucidity" had become such a huge single hit? No, you did not. And then, as the decade wore on, we even had the mega-huge metal bands such as Metallic and Megadeth performing parts of their concerts in an unplugged setting. Seriously - I did not have to hear "Motorbreath" or "Symphony of Destruction" unplugged, I just need to hear it at a thousand decibels and at a hundred miles an hour. Just because "Nothing Else Matters" somehow becomes your biggest single hit doesn't mean you need to trash your other brilliant songs.
So we come to this album, a live set by Black Label Society, stripped back to a certain degree and bringing forth not only a form of heavy metal music that I generally abhor (the afore-mentioned 'unplugged' set), but with it the mix of already recorded slow instrumental-type songs that are my least favourite part of the BLS armoury, and brilliant faster paced BLS songs, but in a slowed down acoustic driven atmosphere. So did this album really ever have a chance with me?

Without dragging this review out into the dark depths of time, I am as disappointed with this release as I have been with almost ever Black Label Society album since 1919 Eternal. The musicianship is just superb, with the whole band sounding just fantastic. Zakk once again showcases all of his skills, from his piano playing to his fine guitar work, and especially in some of the solo sections where he improvises and extends to guitar junkies delight. The sound engineering and mixing is terrific, and the album sounds wonderful as a result. But it is slow and melancholy and with every acoustically driven song in the BLS catalogue, and it just downright bores me to tears to listen to it. At just on two hours for the double disc set, you can't help but find yourself yawning profusely by the time the end finally arrives.
Perhaps the greatest damning effect of this is what has been done to arguably one of the band's finest songs, "Stillborn". It has been drawn out to a molasses-stretching almost nine minutes, ridding itself of all of the speed and heaviness of the original, with Zakk moaning his way through the vocals before substituting a four minute solo break in the middle to perhaps try and make up for what they have done to the song. Zakk's guitaring is great, but it has monstered what I consider a classic song.

I'm sure there are many fans out there up for this, who enjoy Zakk's slower material, and will as such find this to be a masterpiece. For me, I think this may well be the final nail in the coffin when it comes to Black label Society releases. It has been over a decade now that I have been hoping for more, and on most occasions I come away feeling massive disappointment. That is no reflection on the material as such, just that it is just not what I enjoy listening to. With that being the case, it is probably time to close the cover and move on.

692. Black Label Society / Sonic Brew. 1999. 3.5/5

The road from guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne to forming the band Black Label Society was a winding one, stretching over eight years and several musical ventures along the way. In 1991 and 1992, during what was at that time billed as the final farewell tour by Ozzy Osbourne, with whom Wylde had been guitarist for since 1988, Zakk formed the band Pride & Glory alongside the former rhythm section of the band White Lion, bass guitarist James LoMenzo and drummer Greg D’Angelo. This was to be a southern rock-based band that had the original working title of Lynard Skinhead. D’Angelo was eventually replaced by Brian Tichy in 1994, and Pride & Glory released their only album and performed at Donington Monsters of Rock Festival in England in June of that year. They then toured the US before formally breaking up.
Zakk followed this with a solo album called “Book of Shadows” in 1996 to fulfil his contract.
With Ozzy’s touring and recording days not as over as he had promised, Zakk still had a gig going, but with more time on his hands he still searched for an avenue in which to keep himself busy. So, in 1998 he wrote another album, and much like his “Book of Shadows” album he recorded all of the instruments and vocals himself, apart from the drums which were put down by Phil Ondich. This album, released under the band name of Black Label Society, initially was only put out in Japan in October 1998. The delay in releasing it in the US apparently was because of poor audio mixing, and this took several months in order to correct to a standard that Zakk was happy with. Along the way, Zakk and Ondich recorded a brand new song to add to the new release, the song “Lost My Better Half”, which went out on the US version. Following this though, there was a legal dispute over the record cover, which featured the band logo and album title with a likeness of the Johnnie Walker Black Label bottle label. This forced the band to release the album for a third time, now with a different cover. In order to help album sales, a new cover version of Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears” was added to the album as a bonus track, a song that became one of the best things Zakk and Black Label Society ever did.

The debut album for Black Label Society is a real melting pot of just about everything you could possibly imagine - southern blues rock, hard core metal, brilliant guitar riffs from one of the modern masters, slow doom metal in an almost Black Sabbath setting, average pass-mark songs, acoustically driven riffs and the grinding and sometimes hypnotic vocals from the lead man himself. If you can't at least find something interesting amongst all of that lot then you are in the wrong place.
Zakk Wylde breaks away from his father figure Ozzy Osbourne here to produce something that is completely different from what he was playing and writing for the previous decade. In a refreshing attitude, he hasn't tried to reproduce that kind of music, instead blending his own roots to what he enjoys playing and bringing it all together in a package that is hard to define in a genre sense.
The mixture of songs here is as unusual as it is impressive. Vocally, Wydle is similar but different to Ozzy, and even though he does not try to mimic him at all you can pick up similarities at different times. His break out solos still steal the show, especially in early songs like "Bored to Tears" and "The Rose Petalled Garden". The opening riff of "Hey You (Batch of Lies)" is just awesome heavy stuff, before settling back into a battle between the more mellow then aggressive lyrical snatches. A really diverse and effective song. “Born to Lose” carries along in that same direction, the vocals leading the way over Zakk’s tracking riffs. The song catches fire in the second half, picking up speed and coming home strong.
"Peddlers of Death" has breakout solos, heavy riff, but is divided on a couple of occasions by some of Zakk's quiet piano driven melody in different parts of the song. Only Zakk Wylde could get away with doing something like that without destroying the song. "Mother Mary" is as belligerent a song as Zakk can dish up, in your face for most of the four minutes with more great guitar work. This is as far away as you can get from the start of the next song, whose mellow section of "Beneath the Tree" is almost like Soundgarden or very possibly like Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" but is combined brilliantly with Zakk's moaning vocals once the song kicks into gear. It's a band-defining song, showing the various levels that they can put together in their song structure, and that they have their own style without trying to sound like any other band.
"Low Dow" is back in your face, before the acoustic riff jam of "T.A.Z." again surprises you with the diversity on this album. "Lost My Better Half" is one of the heavier songs on the album, led by a great riff and vocal. There are some Tony Iommi solo moments through some of these songs - have a listen and try and pick which songs he may be paying tribute to, because it's a little too close on some occasions for it not to be deliberate. It was the writing of this song, as the extra track after the Japanese release, that apparently convinced Zakk to go in a heavier direction on future albums.
The album finishes up with two of my favourite songs, "World of Trouble" and "The Beginning... At Last", which are separated by the acoustically balladesque "Spoke in the Wheel" which again showcases the diversity that Zakk is capable of.
There is a tendency for the songs here to get a bit "samey", in that the guitar riffs through the songs seems to be a little bit repetitive in places. A lot of that is to do with Zakk's signature guitaring being prevalent all the way through, as well as his squeals. It could also be argued that he moves between the heavier riff and the quieter acoustic or piano a little too regularly to be considered a change.
As an outlet for his own musical writing away from his main gig with Ozzy Osbourne, this was an excellent first album for his 'other' band, which in recent years of course has now become his main focus.

Back in 2001 Ozzy released his “Down to Earth” album, one that despite Zakk’s playing failed to light any fires within me of the music produced. Feel free to check out the episode dedicated to it in Season 1 of this podcast. Following this I was disillusioned with where Ozzy was headed, and wondered just what would come next. The following year, I discovered Black Label Society for the first time with the release of their third album “1919 Eternal”, and was drawn in immediately. From there, I discovered that they had two previous albums and a live album, and so it wasn’t long before I had found them in order to hear if they could be anything like that album I had just discovered.
There is a real difference between “Sonic Brew” and “1919 Eternal”, but that discussion is for another day. What I did discover with “Sonic Brew” was pretty much as I described it earlier in this episode - southern blues rock combined with a harder core metal, that doom metal guitar where Zakk channels Iommi and makes a hybrid that is all of his own design. And then his vocals... I mean, it is such a combination, that doom guitar along with his doom vocals wrapped into the mix. That is what attracted me to this album so much. It is an eclectic mix, and there is quite a standard of the southern rock that Zakk had played before this album, but it is an evolving beast, and one that you can hear is morphing into something else, something more formidable. And while this album is certainly basically a solo album given that Zakk wrote all of the songs, and played all of the guitars and bass and piano, and sang all of the vocals, the growing concept that it should become a band is what helped to take all of this further than it could have if it had just remained Zakk Wylde alone.
There isn’t any doubt that this is an album that takes time to grow on you. You can’t walk into this thinking you are getting an Ozzy Osbourne album. I loved this when I first got it, and having had it back on my playlist for the last couple of weeks it has been a joy to experience once again. Black Label Society as a band has certainly had its hit and miss moments over the last 25 years, and not all of it is to my taste. What I can say is that this debut album was a pleasant surprise when I first heard the album, and it remains that to this day. An album that s bettered by some future releases, but still holds its own as an enjoyable experience.

582. Black Label Society / Order of the Black. 2010. 3.5/5

After a succession of very average albums (unless you enjoy his piano-laden recent releases) it was only out of sheer loyalty to the man that I decided to check out this latest offering. Given that he had been finally cast aside by the Osbourne Foundation, was it possible that he could rekindle his metal spirit and deliver something that fans of Black Label Society's initial releases were craving?
Somewhat surprisingly, the answer is a cautious 'yes'.
Order of the Black is a much better balanced album than anything the band has done since perhaps 1919 Eternal. There are songs here that you can actually get enthusiastic about, sing the lyrics loudly with a lungful of air and even play a little air guitar to. While I admire Zakk's musical ability, it's the heavier songs that really make him what he is, and he had not produced enough of that lately until this album.
OK, they mightn't be the calibre of songs that he had with Ozzy in early 1990's, and his vocals have never been Ozzy's, but that doesn't detract from the product here. To be quite honest, this album outrates Ozzy's Scream on every level. Whether that is much of an achievement is open to question.
My favourites are, probably unsurprisingly, the opening three songs of the album, "Crazy Horse", "Overlord" and "Parade of the Dead", but there are other good songs here too. The two ballads again, for me, tend to destroy the momentum of the album, but better that there are only two and not ten of them.

Those that have abandoned Black Label Society before this should somehow grab a copy and at least give it a try before all hope is lost. I like the album, and to me it does raise some hope that we may yet see more good material from one of the finest guitarists we have seen in the past twenty years.

466. Black Label Society / Hangover Music Volume VI. 2004. 2/5.

Now when I signed up as a fan of Black Label Society, around the release of 1919 Eternal I can honestly say that I did not sign up for this.
Book of Shadows was a different story when Zakk released it. It was a change, and it showcased his talents. From Black Label Society, however, I am looking for hard, heavy riffage and similar lyrics. That, however, is not what we have received here for the majority of the album.

It starts off fine with “Crazy of High” and even “Queen of Sorrow”, before the slow and sludgy pace drops down even another notch. Then the piano gets broken out from “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” onwards, and we continue down that path. By the time we get to the cover of “Whiter Shade of Pale”, it really is snooze time. If this is what he was looking for when writing and recording this album, then it is a job well done.

My major concern of the album is the pace of the songs. I would prefer them to all be a lot faster than they are. Zakk’s soloing is still just brilliant, there’s absolutely no doubting who is behind the guitar. But the songs just seem to plod along. OK, so it’s ‘hangover music’, but really, it is so very different from what I was expecting – or perhaps, what I was hoping for. I am not denigrating the songs here because of that. In fact, the songs still sound great, Zakk’s vocals are as great as always, and the instrumentation is still strong. It’s just the style of the songs that doesn’t grab me. I can’t rate an album highly that I won’t pull out of the CD case to listen to in favour of others, because of its style. I just am never really in the correct mood that I would need to be in to listen to this album very often.

Putting it bluntly, this is very close to complete rubbish.

Rating: If I was looking for this style of album and music, I wouldn’t have looked under Black Label Society. 2/5.

317. Black Label Society / The Blessed Hellride. 2003. 3.5/5

I guess I’ve always had overly high expectations of this album. Following up the previous three albums Black Label Society had done, it had a bit to live up to. In places, it does so admirably. In others, it doesn’t quite gel.
Now, there is nothing wrong with doing the odd slow song, if it is done right and in the right company. Book Of Shadows for instance is excellently done. And I don’t want to suggest that songs on here such as “The Blessed Hellride” and “Dead Meadow” aren’t fine, but they are in my opinion dead boring, and don’t enhance the album as a whole. No doubt many will disagree with me.
I just don’t see the point of doing songs like “Stoned and Drunk” and the absolutely brilliant “Stillborn” (with Ozzy Osbourne also lending a hand on vocals) on an album if you are going to go against the mood and do these other songs in the same company. Perhaps I just missed the point, but I think it was a mistake.

The potential for this album is still in the shrinkwrap. But I can’t deny that there are some great tunes here that generally make up for the one or two lapses.

Rating: Not quite up to where it could have been. 3.5/5

48. Black Label Society / Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live + 5. 2002. 4.5/5.

With the conclusion of his album “Ozzmosis” which was released in late 1995, Ozzy Osbourne had moved away from any further discussion about recording albums under his own name. The much heralded talk of a reunion of the original Black Sabbath line up took on greater importance, along with the formation of the Ozzfest, at which both Black Sabbath and Ozzy would appear annually. Osbourne admitted he had decided that he wanted to keep his band and music alive purely in the live environment, rather than feeling as though he had to produce studio albums on a regular basis.
This had, in turn, freed up guitarist Zakk Wylde, who had formed his band Black Label Society, and released two studio albums of his own, “Sonic Brew” and “Stronger Than Death” – with “Stronger Than Death” being reviewed on episode 49 of this podcast if you are interested. These albums had been composed and also exclusively played by himself, with only drummer Phil Ondich providing help on both albums. However, if Black Label Society was going to do live shows, he indeed had to have a live band, which meant drawing in players to be involved.
On October 28, 2000, Black Label Society played at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, and the set was recorded with a view to releasing a live album by the band. With only two albums released at that time, it meant that it would contain what was truly a best of the best of the band to that point in time. However, this was apparently not seen to be enough, and so the album contained a second disc with five new studio tracks as well. For fans, it was a double dip. For the uninitiated, it was a perfect place to start to hear what all of the fuss was about. And if that wasn’t enough, the title of the live album helped explain everything – Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live!! + 5.

What a fantastically brilliant journey through the material of the Black Label Society catalogue this album produces. And perhaps the key part of the album is this – that although to this point in time Black Label Society had been basically a one man show, with Zakk writing and recording practically everything himself, it is this album in the live environment that truly brings those songs to life, and shows why BLS is a band and not a project.
From the opening burst of “Lowdown”, where Zakk’s vocals duel with his outrageous guitaring for the most dominating experience of the album, the band is totally on song. The drum sound of touring drummer Craig Nunenmacher, newly instituted into the band after Phil Ondich had left mid-tour, is magnificent, backed alongside the dual guitars of Zakk and Nick Catanese which really bring these songs to life off the vinyl and the studio versions, and the guttural bass lines provided by Steve Gibb accentuate all the best parts of the songs. And here in this live environment, the Doom Squad leaves no time for breath as each song segues perfectly into the next, seamlessly entwining each song into one long march across the battlefield. “Lowdown” into “13 Years of Grief” into “Stronger Than Death” create that dream start to the live album.
Zakk was always going to dominate this album, and that certainly is true of both his guitaring and vocals. Both hold the strength of songs such as “All For You” and “Superterrorizer”, with his iconic declaration that “Limp Bizkit Sucks Dick” being greeted by the cheers from the crowd that the statement deserves. That, and the riff of “Superterrorizer” is just a magic moment on the album.
It is an easy thing to say that everything on this album sounds better than the studio versions. My contention continues to be that live albums should always be this good because they showcase the artists best material in their best environment, and that is without doubt the case here. Every time Zakk plays a solo with those trademark squeals, such as in songs like “Phoney Smiles & Fake Hellos”, before segueing straight into “Lost My Better Half”, this statement becomes more accurate on each occasion. It is also especially true of the slower tempo songs here. All of the tracks here are played a little faster than their studio versions, but it is the originally composed slower doomier tracks that get a second wind on this album. “Bored to Tears” fits into this category, the greater energy of the live environment brings to the surface all of the great things about the track while being able to cover a few of the noticeable deficiencies it may contain as a result.
The middle of the album offers us the lead guitar solo instrumental of "A.N.D.R.O.T.A.Z.", an acronym that the band has, apparently, never explained its meaning. Certainly, it has ties to the instrumental track from the first Black Label Society album, where that song was titled "T.A.Z.". In essence it allows Zakk the opportunity to give his bandmates a rest as he goes through his repertoire of guitar tricks and sounds, before segueing back into “Born to Booze”, a deliberately retitling of the track “Born to Lose” from that first album as well. This is a rollicking heavy version of that song, the best kind of live adaptation you can take for a song. This is also true of the song it segues into, “World of Trouble”, which again transforms a good song from the opening album into a hard core fast paced live track that now sounds like it is where it truly means to be.
And then, from out of nowhere, comes Black Label Society’s amazing reinvention of the Ozzy Osbourne track, “No More Tears”. This is, to put it mildly, incredible. The whole change of tempo, the distortion level of Zakk’s guitar and his dominating gruff vocal line turn this track, which is one of the most iconic tracks from one of the most iconic artists of all time, into another insane parallel dimension, alternate universe reworking that is just superb. A sludgy, doomy ant-crawling-paced track that is so surprising that on first listen it takes you until almost halfway through the song before you know what it actually is. Not everyone will be able to appreciate it, but to me it is enthrallingly good.
The live section of the album concludes with the terrific “The Beginning… At Last”, blasting out of the remains of the previous track and chugging back to third gear, bringing the live section of this album to a brilliant finish.
The second disc also holds its surprises. Here we return to Zakk performing all of the instruments apart from the drums, and all five songs were recorded in the studio. Zakk also goes into acoustic mode, something that he would do so with increased regularity as Black label Society moved through its album discography. It opens with a startlingly excellent cover of the Neil Young song “Heart of Gold”. Zakk had shown on his debut solo album “Book of Shadows that he was highly adept at acoustic songs, and he proves it once again here. His vocals in particular are superb, and showcases his undoubted talent – in case you weren’t already convinced. This is followed by the other big, massive surprise of the album following the cover of “No More Tears”. Here, Zakk just casually covers Black Sabbath’s amazing song “Snowblind” in a semi-acoustic setting, slowing the pace down to almost zero, and a most amazingly beautiful bass line throughout that perfectly settles with the guitar and piano accompaniment – and Zakk again brings an outstanding vocal. It is impossible to explain just how amazing this version of the song is. Of all of the cover songs ever recorded in the history of music, this for me is in the top five of greatest cover versions. Everything about this track – the conversion to the acoustic almost-ballad-like status, the incorporation of bass and guitar and piano and Zakk’s amazingly toned vocals – is superb. One of the greatest gems ever produced.
The three remaining songs are equally well performed. “Like a Bird” and “Blood in the Well” are both of the same ilk, the acoustic guitar with drum backing and muted bass and piano while Zakk croons over the top. The final song is an acoustic version of “The Beginning… At Last” which is as impressive as the other four tracks on this second disc… though for me not anywhere near the standard as the original electric live version that finished off the first CD of this collection.

It was hard NOT to be a fan of Zakk Wylde after listening to his work with Ozzy Osbourne from the time he joined his band. Everything he brought to the music, not only with his guitar but his song writing, was an enormous part of that band over those years. In 2002 I came across his solo album “Book of Shadows”, something that was completely different from what I expected, but still mostly enjoyable. Not long after this, I had my first experience with Black Label Society, the band’s third studio album “1919 Eternal” and I thought “what the bloody hell is this?!” It was again different from what I expected, but it was something that still grabbed my attention. From there it was a short trip back to also discover that there were two earlier albums in the band’s catalogue, and so I had to experience those as well. And then on top of that, I found this live album. Actually, the first two songs I came across in my hunting down of material was the live version here of ‘No More Tears’, and the studio version of ‘Snowblind’. And they both blew me away, as you will now be aware. And from that point I had to get this album.
When I first got and heard this album, it complemented and enhanced everything that I had heard of Black Label Society to that point in time. My only gripe was that it could not contain liv version of the tracks from “1919 Eternal”. I loved it. I loved the live version of all of these songs, and that just sent me back to those first two albums again to continue to listen and enjoy them as well. And for me, it was a major tipping point. At that time, I felt that, no matter what Ozzy did going forward at that moment in time, and whether or not it involved Zakk as his guitar player, at least we would have Black Label Society.
Flash forward to the modern day, and my love of this album has not diminished. Perhaps the band itself didn’t quite go on and achieve or compose the kind of musical success that I hoped they would. The albums post 2003 have had their peaks and troughs. But listening to this again over the past couple of days has been a pleasure. Indeed, it has made me wonder why it has taken so long for me to return to it. It hasn’t been from not loving it in the past. In the main, the wavering of the love for the albums over the last decade may perhaps have influenced that. But that should not have meant I couldn’t go back to this live album at least, and I know that I won’t be making that mistake as we move forward from this point. The two sides of Black Label Society – the blistering live performances and Zakk’s almost solo compositions in the acoustic realm combine here to create a joyous listening experience. It’s one that everyone should take the time to listen to at least once. You may be surprised at what you find.

4. Black Label Society / 1919 Eternal. 2002. 4/5

Most people have enough trouble getting into one band that not only brings them fame and (relative) fortune, but in holding that position in the long term. Well not everyone is Zakk Wylde, who while he was touring the world and writing and creating huge albums with Ozzy Osbourne, then also decided to create another band that went on to do the same thing. That band is called Black Label Society, and having already released two barnstorming albums, on this day 20 years ago they released their third album, “1919 Eternal”, and album that built on the dynasty already established and took it up a notch. 

Black Label Society had come about as a side project from Zakk Wylde’s number one priority of being the guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne’s band. However, rather than being a solo project, he wanted it to become a long term band, with the solidity of that being a name and a group. Some may then have felt it strange that for both of the band’s first two albums – and indeed “1919 Eternal”, it was Zakk who wrote all of the songs, and recorded all of the vocals, guitars and bass guitar on those albums. However, there was a change in drummer, with Phil Ondietch being replaced by Craig Nunumacher.
Now, so the story goes, Zakk had written a number of songs that were for the Ozzy Osbourne album “Down to Earth” that was released the previous year, and the episode for which you can find here on this podcast. Zakk had been off touring with Black Label Society and had the songs written to go for the new album. However, when he brought them in for the recording of that album, they were reportedly rejected by Osbourne for ‘being too Black Label Society’ and not fitting with the material that had been written already in Zakk’s absence. As a result, Zakk played as a hired gun on that album, for the first time not having contributed anything to the writing of the songs he was playing. A strange situation, but then Osbourne and his management have been known for this over their career. So these songs were now waiting to be used, and they turned up as the basis of the next Black Label Society album. This one. And it is noticeable that they also influence the writing of the remainder of the album. “1919 Eternal” is a different styled album from the first two Black Label Society albums. It really is geared closer to what an Ozzy Osbourne album would sound like, which is ironic given the tale about Ozzy’s album that I have just told.

The groove of this album is set up from the very first riff of “Bleed for Me”. And, even though there has always been a similarity in the vocals of Zakk with Ozzy, and that on some songs you can actually hear how Ozzy would sound singing the song, it should not surprise you that this is one of the songs that Zakk supposedly wrote for the Ozzy album. It’s a beauty. Then you move into “Lords of Destruction which just has so much going on, with the bass riff holding the song together, the rhythm playing another riff on top of that, and then the lead riff where Zakk just unloads. When it comes to Black Label Society songs, this for me is one of those signature songs. There is so much guitar, and different riffing guitar, in it, that you can only wonder how he fits it all in to one song, and then makes it all work. But it does. And this is followed by the tempo lifting “Demise of Sanity” which kicks right in and has a more structured verse and chorus style with heavy guitar, again no doubt as it was one of the rumoured songs Ozzy rejected. The third of those songs comes next with “Life, Birth, Blood, Doom”, slower in tempo but still hugely enjoyable, especially with the harmony duel tracking of Zakk’s vocals throughout. The opening four songs are just terrific.
“Bridge to Cross” comes at you with a much slower tempo, and is the first of many future songs in this style that Zakk was to write and record for Black Label Society albums. And here, don’t get me wrong, he does it really well. It isn’t a ballad as such, just a much softer and quieter acoustic song that he performs brilliantly. My problem is that does it fit around the other songs on the album? On future albums that problem was solved by having a majority of songs like this. Here, appearing after such a loud and electric start, it seems out of place. This is solved by “Battering Ram” which comes crashing out next with a fast paced drum-driven tempo with a brilliant guitar solo that restores the balance of the album. Zakk continues to show his versatility with the classical acoustic guitar instrumental “Speedball”, before we have some terrific Black Label Society staples in “Graveyard Disciples” and “Genocide Junkies”.
"Lost Heaven" is the second slow tempo song of the album, which again is almost like intermission at the movies - time to take a leak and grab a drink. "Refuse to Bow Down", “Mass Murder Machine” and "Berserkers" showcase that great Zakk Wylde riffing, all at a mid-tempo range and perhaps without as much excitement or interesting changes as the songs in the first half of the album, but are still enjoyable. And the album concludes with Zakk's guitar instrumental rendition of "America the Beautiful", an obvious tribute and reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, which had occurred during the recording of this album.

This was the first Black Label Society album I had heard, and I got it after reading the rave reviews that it had received from the Metal Edge website. Some how before this I had actually come across Zakk’s acoustically driven solo album from years before, “Book of Shadows” and had been impressed with his vocals. When I got this album though and started listening to it, I was impressed even more. Not just with his voice, and the way he used different vocals in different songs, but in the way he used his vocals melodically and harmonically. That was what first hit me about the songs on this album, and given that was not his number one instrument on this album, it probably always augured well.
Beyond that of course is Zakk’s guitar playing, and as always it is second to none. Some of the riffs he produces on this album are some of his best, and that’s quite a statement in itself. In having not only written all the songs himself, but having played all of the guitars as well, it has enabled him to overlap and interlay those guitars in an extremely pleasing way that only Zakk could do.


It is quite possible that “1919 Eternal” remains my favourite album of Black Label Society because it was my introduction to the band, and that I have been looking for a repeat performance since. I also rate the first two album highly. Beyond this?... well, in general there is a little too much slow tempo, acoustic and other genre-hopping to allow me to rank any album after this to be its equal. That’s not to say there aren’t some great songs beyond this, there definitely are. But as a collection, as an album, this has been my favourite. And twenty years on, I don’t think it has lost anything in comparison. It still has that fresh quality that allows it to be listened to in today’s music environment and still be enjoyed by the current generation.