Order of the Black

Zakk Wylde and his path to glory

The brilliant guitarist Zakk Wylde grabbed his ticket to a big star life as soon as he was chosen as guitarist by his majesty Ozzy Osborne. This happened some twenty years ago; and since then a lot of things have changed. Wylde has matured, pumped his muscles strong enough to wear a huge chain on his thigh, grown a beard to look like the last Viking alive, and gathered his own band called Black Label Society to finally get the chance to practice singing. Frankly, he sings much worse than plays guitar, but the style his outfit works with does not require outstanding skills. Speaking roughly, this is biker hard-rock with all the hard and heavy accompanying things. Black Label Society songs and videos depict scenes dearly loved by rockers and bikers of all kinds: half-naked girls, bikes all over the place and beer streaming back and forward. In fact, the band’s members seem to be following this style in their lives and look like they sleep, eat, and play music on top of the bikes. All this used to satisfy Zakk so much that for the last ten years, the man and his fellows have released six albums every time copying themselves harder than before. And then came the year of 2010 with their album Order Of The Black and everything changed.

Without Ozzy things got better

In 2009, Zakk Wylde found himself off Ozzy’s crew; and this circumstance, albeit sad and unexpected, had a good impact on the talented guitarist’s career. Zakk found new purposes in his life. He decided to prove to everybody that he deserved attention not only as a supporter of the great singer, but also as the leader and founder of his own project, Black Label Society. This is why the band worked on Order Of The Black with greater ambitions and responsibility than ever before. The first three tracks give us a sign that the kidding is over and the time for serious and powerful music has come. Crazy Horse is a demonstration of entirely unexpected and undiscovered previously vocal skills from the guitarist who howls so impressively that you may want to check once again who is behind the mike this time. Overlord features the bassist and drummer working hard to create a rhythm encouraging you to go into a desperate battle with a desperate scream. Parade Of The Dead is based on a smashing and difficult riff similar to those Zakk played to break thorough to his fame while playing side by side with Ozzy. Wylde made sure the album had enough space for ballads too. Sung and played by a brutally looking man with nasal humming, Darkest Days, and Time Waits For No One sound very specific and touching. The acoustic January is another peculiar piece with Zakk’s instrumental and vocal job above expectations.

A stage in the Black Label Society history?

It turns out so that speaking of Black Label Society, we, in the first place, speak about Zakk Wylde. He is one of those who make the hard rock world so interesting. Some are admired for flawless instrumental and vocal skills. Others are respected and recognized for their image and stage carnations. Zakk is good at both. There are no doubts that even without Ozzy Osborne’s help, he would become the Zakk Wylde we cherish and love because we need his crushing riffs, light-speed solos and on-stage tricks. But there must be something symbolic behind the case when a star ignites another star. Ozzy was the quickest to find a plainly-looking boy a great talent, later recognized by everybody. Now, focused on Black Label Society, Zakk is capable of brining the whole band to an absolutely new niche. Order Of The Black is the best album from the band and it demonstrates the highlights of those musicians who was not so eager to show them. Probably, they have woken up from a long sleep and will no more drop twin albums only because they know they have a following. The new CD from Black Label Society, despite featuring hard and desperate music, pictures quite an optimistic tomorrow for the band.