Order of the Black-Black Label Society

 How do I love thee Zakk Wylde? Let me count the ways. 1. You played with Ozzy. 2. You made a really cool Les Paul. 3. You make awesome music. 4. YOU MADE THIS ALBUM AND IT HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO MY NEW HEAVY METAL LISTENING POSE! (See below)

(Sorry for the low quality)

Zakk Wylde shows amazing skill in his latest album Order of the Black. This album is a gigantic headbanging explosion of musical power. The guitar is AWESOME and drives the music on to new heights. The rhythm guitar is pretty good too providing a good heaviness to the music. The bass has its own little opportunities to shine as well. The lyrics are awesome, they are totally 100% heavy metal, dark and doom laden. The singing in Wylde is now a lot more Ozzy like than in his earlier work when his voice was really really deep. Overall this is a really awesome really heavy album that made my day.

This album has a really powerful guitar sound, the first 3 tracks on the record simply blow your head off. Then there is the significantly softer but still awesome Darkest Days which features an amazing mournful guitar solo. Actually every guitar solo on this album is pretty spectacular. Considering that Zakk is singing while playing these insane guitar tracks you have to be pretty impressed at the skill there. The rhythm guitar rocks hard providing a fullness to the sound that power trios, eg Motorhead does not have. The bass has a couple decent fills but overall it is just there to tighten the rhythm section, which it does well. The drums are simply spectacular I hope that Will Hunt stays on board with Black Label Society for future albums.

The lyrics are really dark. Just look at some of the song titles. Black Sunday, Days of Darkness, and Riders of the Damned are just 3. There are apocalyptic lyrics here and angry ones. Others are slightly contemplative or sorrowful like in Days of Darkness, or to some degree the lead track Crazy Horse. The one lyrical thing it misses is that there are no songs which tell a story, I like story telling Maidenesque songs. The vocals in and of themselves are excellent. Zakk's voice is no longer the really gravelly thing that it used to be. It has undergone a change and now it is similar to Ozzy's. Yet on some songs his voice comes through as really deep.

This album rocks hard. Not only does it feature some true rockers like Southern Dissolution, it has more contemplative pieces like Time Waits For No One. There are awesome guitar parts. The lead solos are fantastic and mind boggling. The rhythm guitar is powerful and adds strength to the sound. The bass has some decent fills and provides an excellent rhythm section along with the excellent drums of Will Hunt. The lyrics are both apocalyptic and contemplative, which provides a really nice feel to the music. Zakk Wylde's voice has matured so that now it is more of an Ozzy type thing than the really deep gravelly tones it used to be. This is a great album for any metal head. I love this album and all metalheads would.

9/10