ZAKK WYLDE Discusses Inspiration For BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's 'Ozzy Song', Explains Five-Year Gap Between Albums

During a January 28 question-and-answer session at the HMV store on Oxford Street in London, United Kingdom, Zakk Wylde spoke about BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's upcoming album, "Engines Of Demolition", which will be released on March 27 via MNRK Heavy. The follow-up to 2021's "Doom Crew Inc." contains 15 tracks, including the four previously released singles, "Name In Blood", "Broken And Blind", "The Gallows" and "Lord Humungus", as well as a tune titled "Ozzy's Song", which is a tribute to the BLACK LABEL SOCIETY guitarist/vocalist's longtime bandmate, the iconic BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne. Asked when he wrote "Ozzy's Song" and how it came together, Zakk said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I actually wrote the music before, obviously, I wrote the lyrics. I had the music done, and I was just, like, 'I'm really happy with the way it came out,' but I was just, like, 'I gotta figure out what I [wanna write about].' Usually, for me, always the lyrics are last, 'So I gotta figure out what I wanna sing about.' Like 'Lord Humungus', you know what I mean? So let's figure out how write a song about Lord Humungus and Mad Max."

Zakk continued: "I didn't have any lyrics for it, but after we had laid Ozz to rest… 'Cause we had done the ['Back To The Beginning'] show [in early July 2025], and then I went back home. We were playing with PANTERA [in the U.S.], and after we did the gig, and I got the phone call from [Ozzy's son] Jack, Jackie boy, and I spoke with Jack [about the fact] that Ozz passed away. So then we flew back over [to the U.K.]. We laid Ozzy to rest, and when I got back home, right after we got back, I went right back to playing with PANTERA celebration. It was crazy, 'cause the first gig we did back, when I flew back after we laid Ozzy to rest, was at Jones Beach in New York. And I remember playing there with Ozzy when it was pouring rain and people all in the front, everybody was standing in knee-high water. So I'll never forget that show. So we were playing there. So all I was thinking about was Ozzy at that first [PANTERA] show [after Ozzy's funeral]. And then after we got done with the PANTERA celebration, once the tour ended, I got home. It's crazy. In our library room, where we have books, we have Ozzy's books up on the the library shelves. And I was looking at him while I was listening to the tunes, and then I just wrote the lyrics."

Regarding why it has taken five years for BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to release the follow-up to "Doom Crew Inc.", Zakk said: "I can't believe it's already been — 2021 was when 'Doom Crew Inc.' came out. And so we started working on ['Engines Of Demolition'] middle of 2022. And it was just, like, we went out and did the PANTERA celebration for a year. I figured after we got done writing, we'll put the new BLACK LABEL album out. And then we went back out [on tour] again, and I came back and wrote some more riffs and some song ideas. I said, 'Well, I might as well get the fellows out to the Vatican [Zakk's home studio called the Black Vatican] again. Then we'll record some more.' Then we went back out [on the road] for another year, and then recorded some more. So next thing you know, we're sitting here talking right now, and four years have gone by in the blink of an eye. To me, it was just, like, 'All right, I'll just keep writing until PANTERA celebration takes a rest, and then we'll put the album out.' There's no sense of putting the album out if I'm not gonna be able to give it any TLC [tender loving care], you know what I mean?"

Wylde went on to say that the songwriting process for "Engines Of Demolition" once again took place at the Black Vatican. "Yeah, it always usually takes place at the Vatican when I get home [from tour]," he explained. "I mean, once we get out on the road, whether we're doing ZAKK SABBATH or we're doing PANTERA celebration or whatever, there's not that much that I do writing. I might as well jam when I'm in my room. But I might get a song idea or a ballad thing or something on the guitar — maybe — but usually when you're writing heavy riffs, the instruments that you're playing on usually dictate and inspire you the way you're gonna play. When I'm sitting behind the piano, you're gonna start playing — you'll get more reflective, mellow, either THE [ROLLING] STONES, ALLMAN BROTHERS, Elton [John], THE EAGLES, that that kind of stuff is gonna come out of you with an acoustic guitar. When you're playing a piano, you really don't think about writing something like [the classic BLACK SABBATH songs] 'Supernaut' or 'Into The Void', you know what I mean? But when you're playing an electric guitar — I'll plug into my little practice amp at the house, at a low volume with some reverb on it so it sounds like I'm playing at Madison Square Garden with nobody in it, and it's inspiring. It inspires you to write riff-orientated stuff. So that's why I usually just wait until I get home."

Wylde formed BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in 1998 and has kept the band busy in between touring and recording with Ozzy Osbourne, whose backing group he first joined nearly four decades ago.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's "Order Of The Black" (2010) and "Catacombs Of The Black Vatican" (2014) both broke into the top five on the hard rock album charts.

Since first joining Ozzy, Zakk had played on all of the BLACK SABBATH singer's solo albums except for 2020's "Ordinary Man", including such classic efforts as "No More Tears" (1991),"Ozzmosis" (1995) and "Black Rain" (2007).

In an October 2025 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Zakk was asked if he thought Ozzy knew he would die shortly after performing at the "Back To The Beginning" concert in Birmingham, United Kingdom in early July 2025. Zakk responded: "No, I don't think so. The way I always felt, all the things that I've gone through with them, it was always — if it was a setback or anything like that — it was more of a speed bump and it was just like, 'All right, we'll fix the flat tire on the truck and then we'll just keep moving.' So, I think it was more like that, because I knew he still wanted to make records and things like that. But I was just thinking, 'Who knows, man, hopefully if this thing goes over well, then we might be able to do some other shows or do select shows throughout the year.' Like these Ozzfest-type things, just so Ozz can still keep doing gigs, but maybe not touring in the capacity of doing four shows a week or whatever."

Asked if Ozzy felt indestructible to him, Zakk said: "Yeah, totally. It's just like with THE [ROLLING] STONES, you just always think they're going to be there. I felt like that with us. Even when we were doing that show, I didn't go, 'Oh, this is the last time I'm ever going to play 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' with him or 'Crazy Train' with him' or anything. You're in the moment anyways. You're playing, so my concern was making sure he was okay. I wasn't thinking about any of that, because it's like you're playing a game. You never think it's your last Super Bowl; you're playing and you're playing to win. So, yeah, I didn't think about it, and like I said, I've always been optimistic. I would always tell him, no matter how bummed he got, 'Just keep doing therapy and keep doing everything you've got to do because what's the option? Then you just quit in the corner, and you whine about it. Or you could do something about it, with therapy and hitting the weights and doing everything you got to do.' There was no quit in him. So, that's where we were at. I never thought like, 'Oh, yeah, this was the last gig.' I didn't think after we did the show, two weeks from now, he was gonna be gone. I wasn't thinking that at all."

Zakk, who became Ozzy's guitarist in 1987 after sending the singer a demo tape, previously discussed the legendary BLACK SABBATH frontman's passing last August in an interview with Waste Some Time With Jason Green. He said at the time: "It was so crazy, 'cause when we went back to the house — obviously we went home [in early July after the 'Back To The Beginning' concert], and then Barb [Zakk's wife Barbaranne] called me up [when I was on the road with PANTERA to tell me] that Ozz passed away.

"Whenever any of this stuff [about Ozzy's health issues] would always come up with us [in the past], just 'cause Ozz was just so tough and resilient, it would just be, 'Oh, it's just another bump in the road or another hurdle. We'll get through it.' So it was just always that. So you just always — not that you take anything for granted ever, but it'd be like Ozzy being Evel Knievel [American stunt performer and entertainer] — it's, like, he survives, he makes a jump, or even if he gets into an accident, we get him to the hospital, [and] he'll be fine. And then he gets out and he's all right, and then we'll do another jump. You know what I mean? So you never think, like, 'This is the end.' You're just, like, 'Ah, Ozz will be fine.' Then we'll either do another record or whatever until Ozz gets better. But truly it was just like he willed himself to hang in there long enough to knock that [final] show [at the Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom] out. 'Cause I was just saying, like, what happens if the show was [scheduled to take place] this month [in August]? He doesn't make it. That's what's crazy about the whole thing. And you just always had that sense that he's gonna be around forever, just kind of like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and all the guys."

When podcast host Jason Green noted that Osbourne's health issues didn't keep him from making music in recent years, Zakk concurred. "Obviously until he get his health back, it was just, like, 'Ah, just keep plugging away, man,'" he said. "And either you quit or you keep conquering and climbing. And he never had any quit in them. So, yeah, it was just, like, all right, well, then in the meantime, until you can get better, well, we'll write and make records or whatever you wanna do, man. I mean, that's what I just figured. It was, like, 'Ah, I'll see Ozz on Tuesday,' and we'll start working again or whatever."

In late July 2025, Zakk spoke to Guitar World about the final text he received from Ozzy before the singer died. Wylde performed during the aforementioned "Back To The Beginning" farewell concert on July 5, 2025, and according to the guitarist, Osbourne reached out to him after the show.

"Everybody and their mother were in the backstage dressing room and I just wanted to give him a break," Wylde said. "I figured we'd see him later on — the next day or whatever. But no. The last text I got from Ozz was saying, 'Zakky, sorry, it was like a madhouse back there. I didn't see you.' He goes, 'Thanks for everything.' It was just us talking, saying, 'I love you, buddy.' That was it."

Wylde added that the singer was "almost like an older brother" to him. "There was almost a 20-year age gap between us," he told Guitar World. "With our relationship, there was the fun drinking — but if I ever needed advice, I could talk to him."

Wylde also told Guitar World that his priority with Osbourne's farewell show was "making sure that Ozz was okay."

Ozzy died on July 22, 2025 of a heart attack, his death certificate revealed. The certificate filed in London also said Osbourne suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson's disease.

A private funeral service for Ozzy was held on July 31, 2025 on the 250-acre grounds of the house the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer and his wife bought in 1993 in Buckinghamshire, England. Only 110 of the singer's friends and family members attended the service, including his SABBATH bandmates, Robert Trujillo (METALLICA),Rob Zombie, Wylde, Marilyn Manson and Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT).

The day before the private funeral, thousands of fans gathered in the streets of Birmingham to pay tribute to Ozzy. Sharon, along with their children Aimée, Kelly and Jack, joined mourners for the emotional tribute.

BLACK LABEL SOCIETY is:

Zakk Wylde - vocals, guitar, piano
John "JD" DeServio - bass
Jeff Fabb - drums
Dario Lorina - guitar

Photo credit: Justin H. Reich