Published on May 25, 2000
” Put it this way, you know how Black Flag kills
roaches dead? Well, Black Label kills fucking cheese pop bands
dead!” – Zakk Wylde
Bold words, little man — not surprising, seeing how you’ve
survived the longest stint as a guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, and
have helped to create some of Osbourne’s best music (
No More Tears) while facing the slings and arrows of those
who long for the ghost of Randy Rhoads.
And, really, Zakk, I’d like to believe that Black Label
Society’s second album,
Stronger Than Death, is the kind of disc that would do a
Texas two-step on the spines of some of these kindergarten bands
out there. Only one little problem: this album is meandering,
unsure which way it wants to go. The songwriting is hardly up to
par — and I know that you’re capable of much better work than
this.
Black Label Society is a band that often tries to go for the
crunch factor in the music, usually by performing the tunes in a
low “D.” Too bad the material doesn’t follow in suit all the time.
“All For You” is an okay opener, but it hardly has the kind of
muscle I would have expected from someone of Wylde’s
capacities.
And the music occasionally takes a turn towards industrial, as
heard on “Phony Smiles, Fake Hellos” and “Counterfeit God” — the
latter being one of the few truly enjoyable songs on the disc. It’s
almost as if Wylde wanted to try and create an atmosphere first,
then shaped the songs around that. Nice try, but it didn’t
work.
Songs like “Love Reign Down,” “13 Years Of Grief” and the title
track all end up sounding like a band who is trying to capture
people’s attention by emulating all the groups they grew up
listening to. And as for Wylde’s guitar work — let’s just use the
term “disappointing”. I understand that Wylde wants to grow as a
musician, and I can’t always expect to hear
No More Tears-like work on everything he does. But more
often than not, Wylde’s solos tend to blur with the rhythm track,
and it all ends up sounding like so much sonic mush.
Wylde’s vocals range from a pure Ozzy clone (the first verse
from the album’s opener “All For You”) to a dead ringer for Phil
Anselmo from Pantera (most of the album). In all honesty, I would
have preferred to have had Wylde hire a singer just so he could
have put his all into the songwriting and guitar work.
All of this said,
Stronger Than Death has its moments, though they are few and
far between. “Rust” is a beautiful track whose power grows as the
song progresses. Ditto for “Just Killin’ Time,” a definite
highlight of this disc. And while “All For You” still isn’t the
song I think it could have been, it is an okay effort that I found
myself going back to.
Wylde is undoubtedly one of the hardest-working musicians out
there who is not one to rest on his laurels when there’s work to be
done. I only wish he had put a little more into
Stronger Than Death.