The twelfth album from Los Angeles metal veterans Black Label Society has all of the band’s trademarks. Loaded with pummelling riffs, blazing guitar solos, bluesy licks, and a southern rock twang, Engines of Demolition is undeniably heavy without sacrificing hooks or accessibility.
Frontman Zakk Wylde broke into the industry as Ozzy Osbourne’s new guitarist in 1987 and ended up creating some of Ozzy’s best riffs. Fronting his own band, Black Label Society, since 1998, Wylde took with him Ozzy’s penchant for pairing bone-crunching heaviness with beautiful melodies. Black Label Society’s music hits hard, but beneath that heavy exterior lies intricate melodies and Wylde’s soulful voice.
The album opener, “Name in Blood,” exemplifies that amalgamation of muscular riffs and tender melodies. A sludgy, palm-muted riff propels the verses and gives way to melodic choruses featuring intertwining rock & roll riffs from Wylde and Dario Lorina, both of whom lay down histrionic guitar solos. Heavy bands often sacrifice guitar chops when they get melodic, like in all the bland Octanecore music with cookie-cutter chord progressions. Fortunately, Black Label Society never ditches the interesting guitars — the melodic moments feature some of the band’s most memorable licks. The juxtaposition of light and darkness is also found in the song’s lyrics, which use morbid imagery to describe sacrificial love.
Wylde’s songwriting has always focused on images of death and spirituality. Still, in his first album since Ozzy’s passing, not to mention touring with Pantera to replace the late Dimebag Darrell, those ominous themes seem more personal.
“The Gallows” is one of Black Label Society’s grimmest songs. “Running from my fate as the vultures await theirs,” Wylde belts, his raspy voice at its most powerful. “I’ve died again inside, and I’ll be there for your final ride.” The song also has some of the album’s best riffing. Wylde and Lorina shred through infectious legato grooves and explosive guitar solos, backed by punishing rhythms from drummer Jeff Fabb and bassist John DeServio.
But it’s not all bleak. When pondering his mortality, Wylde at times takes an optimistic approach, seeking to make the most of his limited time on earth. On “Pedal to the Floor,” over a groove-metal riff, Wylde sings, “I’ll walk through the fires of hell to get to what makes me feel alive.” On the apocalyptic “Lord Humungus,” he sings, “No more tomorrows; let’s live before we die.”
Though known for his sludgy guitar tone and screeching pinch harmonics, Wylde is willing to get soft and vulnerable. “Better Days & Wiser Times” is a ballad, stripped down to acoustic guitar, shimmering lead, and piano, that would sound at home in a small-town country bar. “The gathered wounds I carry, reminder of what I no longer wish to see,” Wylde sings in his twangy croon.
The album ends with a heartfelt tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in the piano ballad “Ozzy’s Song.” Wylde sings about spending time with Ozzy during his last days, making the most of the time he tried to convince himself wasn’t running out. “Although we knew, we chose not to know,” he sings. Tonally, it’s a piano dirge, and Wylde’s gentle voice sounds on the verge of cracking, but the song is more about celebration than mourning. “Enjoy the ride before it’s gone,” he sings. “Just trying to get by, trying to survive. Broken down yet I’m still alive.”
Engines of Demolition shows that Black Label Society hasn’t lost a step over the last 28 years. It’s uncompromisingly heavy while doling out hard rock hooks and introspective meditations on mortality. The metal music scene sometimes seems like an arms race for who can play the heaviest, which, at its worst, results in indecipherable riffs and atonal mush. Black Label Society takes a different tack, focusing on menacing grooves, blues-soaked riffs, and song compositions that would work just as well if they turned the gain down and played like old-school rock & roll. For all of the bleak imagery of war, suffering, and death, a line in “Ozzy’s Song” sums up a key takeaway from the album: “When all was said and done, I couldn’t ask for more.”
