Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Even though Zakk Wylde has left the Spitfire Records family he did release a total of seven albums under their banner. Five of these were with Black Label Society and the other two are Pride & Glory and Book Of Shadows. Resulting from that partnership was a lot of great guitar-laden Metal and it spawned a legion of supporters for Zakk. It was a smart move of Spitfire to offer the fans a compilation based on these albums and it's the perfect introduction to you should you be interested in knowing more about Black Label Society if you have not already been exposed to them.

The material that Black Label Society doles out is pure and simple aggressive Metal. Their music trudges along with Doom-like qualities and has some similarity to Black Sabbath in riffing. Perhaps a lot of the BLS sound was influenced by all of the years Zakk worked along side Ozzy Osbourne. The Pride & Glory stuff has more of a heavy Southern feel to it. Almost as if Southern Metal was preparing to make a comeback. The samplings from Zakk’s time with this band are good and the CD itself is worth looking into. In the case of the BLS material they included a lot of the tracks that you would expect them to have and among them are my personal favorites of “Bleed For Me” and “The Blessed Hellride”. The gentler side of the New Jersey giant can be found on the tracks from “Hangover Music”. In addition to the recorded previously released stuff there are two new tracks to be found in “Doomsday Inc.” and “SDMF”. The new tracks continue along the natural progression of the band. Musicians who take part in the tracks are James Lomenzo (bass) and Craig Nunenmacher (drums).

There is no real special attributes to the packaging, just some simple artwork and the track listing with their original albums. There is also a note from Zakk to the fans. While I felt the release would have been better as a double CD anthology, I felt releasing it as a single disk gives Spitfire the chance to generate additional interest in the Black Label Society back catalog. Zakk Wylde makes new fans every day and this CD offers the existing fan a nice sampling of their favorites as well as being a great introductory piece to new fans.