Zakk and his sonic brew crew, live and red-eyed, at a venue near you!
The former Ozzy guitarist who's made an emphatic "never say die"
statement of his own since flying solo with his Black Label Society band
now fresh from their "Penchant for Violence" tour with
brothers-in-sludge Crowbar and Sixty Watt Shaman, take to the stage for
this two-disc monster of pure Rock and public drunkenness. Since first
pumping the riffs for such Ozzy heavyweights as "No More Tears" during
the early '90s, Wylde's gone on for a successful solo career that began
with the Southern-fried Pride & Glory and since grown into this out-of-
control behemoth known as "Black Label Society" and two muscular albums,
"Sonic Brew" and "Stronger than Death."
Coming from an angle of Skynyrd
meets Pantera, Wylde's style has epitomized the essence of true Rock and
Roll -- the attitude, the riffs, the anger, and plenty of booze. I mean
Blues! Actually, there's probably plenty of each to go round but the
fact is, Black Label Society is finally being recognized as a
respectable band all its own and on its own merit, it's worthy of
sharing the big stage on the upcoming Ozzfest for 2001. So this can be
thought of as a prelude to that, only here we're getting a lot more buzz
for the buck!
Rarely does a band still getting its feet wet go forth
and do a live record -- a two-disc set for that matter -- but such is the fast
building reputation of the Wylde-man in an industry overwrought with
loose-gripped, fast-talking pundits who wrinkle at the brow at the
thought of peddling another "Metal" band out there!
Never big on
melody, BLS goes full bore in a muddy mix of bludgeoning Hard-Core riffs
and pit-slamming grooves -- "Lowdown," "Stronger Than Death," "Bored to
Tears." Could've gone with "Peddlers of Death" for a slight change of
pace, but guess you can't fault 'em for keeping the pressure up -- then
again there's disc two which features a five-tune mellowing out phase
that includes a cover of Young's "Heart of Gold" and "Snowblind" by who
else?
"Alcohol Fueled Brewtality" right from the get-go shows the band
delivering a high-intensity Blues-crushing stomp, grind and groan that
lets the spirits fly in equal parts Black Label, Black Sabbath and
black 'n blue -- note the last written in smaller case for obvious
reasons!
