BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

When ZAKK WYLDE first put BLACK LABEL SOCIETY together, they were a relentless, explosive force, releasing seven studio albums in their first decade and appearing at every festival worth a shiny fuck. If time has slowed the band's output, there have been excellent reasons, from Wylde's continued partnership with the late, great Ozzy Osbourne, to PANTERA's well-received sort-of-reunion. Everybody loves Zakk Wylde, whether for his extraordinary talents as a guitarist, or simply because he always comes across as a lovable, goofy dude with a no-nonsense attitude and a profound love for the act of making music. More recent BLACK LABEL SOCIETY albums may have failed to set the world alight in quite the same way that "Sonic Brew" or "The Blessed Hellride" did, but delivering the goods has never been a problem.

"Engines Of Demolition" arrives five years after the largely overlooked "Doom Crew Inc", and at a time when Wylde is once again hurling himself into his own thunderous creativity, but with the recent death of OZZY looming large over his every move. Seemingly pieced together over several years, this had the potential to be a patchy mess, but instead, the 12th BLACK LABEL SOCIETY album is the best record to bear that name for at least a decade. Confident, cohesive and bereft of the clunky filler that has occasionally padded out the band's records, this is the most sure-footed and focused Wylde has sounded for a long time.

It should have been obvious from the three singles that preceded it. "The Gallows", "Lord Humungus" and "Broken and Blind" are all top-tier entries in the BLACK LABEL canon, with incendiary solos galore and vocals that are as soulful as they are raucous. Pleasingly, the rest of these 13 songs maintain that level of quality and frequently surpass it too. The formula remains unchanged, of course, and we wouldn't have it any other way, but there are some genuinely great and classy songs here. "Name In Blood" starts things off, a muscular and melodic opening salvo that boasts the first of countless blistering solos and will remind long-time fans precisely why they fell in love with the six-string wizard in the first place. Elsewhere, "Gatherer of Souls" brings the SABBATH-worshipping hammer down, decimating peers and pretenders alike; "Better Days & Wiser Times" and "Back To Me" are masterful, tearstained ballads with big hearts and bigger melodies; and "Pedal To The Floor" is a scabby-knuckled, blues metal bonfire, with one of the finest bursts of freewheeling virtuosity that Wylde has committed to tape in years.

Perhaps surprisingly, the last three tunes are among the best. "Broken Pieces" is an electrifying, psychedelic squall, "The Stranger" is another gleaming chip off the old SABBATH block, and the closing "Ozzy's Song" is utterly beautiful and a more than fitting tribute to the man that gave Wylde the ultimate career boost on a Platinum plate back in the late '80s. Even those with the hardest of hearts will struggle to suck the tears back in.

We know what to expect when BLACK LABEL SOCIETY make a new album, and "Engines of Demolition" never deviates from the noble course that Wylde has followed since "Sonic Brew". But this is plainly their strongest album since "The Blessed Hellride", and a timely reminder that you can't keep a true guitar hero down for long. There is still a world of magic lurking behind that beard.