There he comes, walking onto the stage in “Game of Thrones” fashion, with facial hair too long even by rock ‘n’ roll standards and clothes that seem to have lasted through the 1900s. His band looks old, worn out from years of tour bus pastries and stage falls, with patterned instruments that look like they came out of Amazon boxes.
Catacombs of the Black Vatican
A-
Black Label Society
eOne Music
But then, out of the silence, a guitar string reverberates. And then another. And then a drum beat comes in, only to be accompanied by the rest of the band in a unison unheard of by most millennials. The crowd screams, still not letting their voices overpower the orchestral metal that they would be granted over the next hour.
Twenty five years into his career, Zakk Wylde seems to still have it all. Fashioned by years of experience in both solo and collaborative careers, Wylde has once again brought his technical proficiency and his knack for constructing elaborate rock ‘n’ roll to his band, Black Label Society.
Its latest release, Catacombs of the Black Vatican, isn’t anything you haven’t heard before from Black Label Society. In fact, it follows the same format — each track loops through an enduring guitar theme. Three quarters of the way into the song, there’s a free-time riff. Yet no two tracks sound the same. In fact, Black Label Society seems to have covered its bases, with songs that are thematically varied and melodically assorted.
Catacombs of the Black Vatican has something for everyone. Impassioned “Scars” draws on country slide guitars to resonate to ballad-favoring fans, and “Shades of Gray” closes off the album with melancholy, showing that emotions have their place even in an album where many of its lyrics go mumbled and unnoticed. No track is simple. Even the acoustically constructed “Angel of Mercy” incorporates more instruments than I can count on my fingers.
At the same time, Black Label Society isn’t afraid to show that it means business. Every ballad has a more eccentric track that follows, spontaneously jumping between keys and tempos, coming together in the form of a record that never fails to keep you surprised. “Damn the Flood” is chaos, but an organized one at that. “My Dying Time,” the first single off the album, and “Believe” immediately hook, with enough instrumental variation in its steady pulse to keep listeners till the end.
While Catacombs of the Black Vatican may have tracks that are far more memorable and intuitively constructed than the heavy metal and rock music making its mark today, Black Label Society has lost some of the grace and charm it had the turn of the 21st century. When Sonic Brew was released in 1999, Wylde’s proficiency on multiple instruments ensured that all of its sounds were equitably featured throughout the album’s tracks. The album was difficult to place in any one genre, as each track seemed to contain elements belonging to different categorizations. “Born to Lose” started off with a slow, hard metal, only to transition into rhythmic rock ‘n’ roll, similar to what you would have heard from Wolfmother back in the day. In contrast, “Spoke in the Wheel” brought out the softer tones in Wylde’s voice and the Jersey twangs in Wylde’s pronunciations, backed by nothing other than acoustic plucking.
Catacombs of the Black Vatican is less hyped. It’s less weighty, with tracks that fall more under the category of heavy rock than metal, and its guitars are less distorted, accompanied by more articulated vocals and explicit lyrics. At the same time, it’s refreshing. Wylde stays true to his roots as heavy metal vocalist and guitarist to incorporate its technical elements of bass-laden instrumental harmonies and fast riff transitions to rock.
No, it’s not innovative. But it’s still so damn good.