This is the tenth album by Black Label Society with 13 tracks. Fields of Unforgiveness opens with Zakk singing in the background, as the riff chips away.
Zakk’s vocals are the best I have heard and he seems to sit somewhere between Layne Staley and Chris Cornell at times on this record. My Dying Time is the second track and the big single (has a clip on youtube) and emphasizes the Alice In Chains feel to this album. Believe, the third track is my favorite at this point, however, and that pre-chorus is so infectious (it’s been in my head all day).
I think it’s one of their best albums for ages and while it doesn’t feel like it’s going through the motions at any point, Angel of Mercy just felt a little obligatory as a soft rock number. There are a couple of other softer songs on here also (Scars, Shades of Gray, and the two bonus tracks, Hell and Fire, Blind Man) but Angel was the only one that did not particularly impress me. Shades of Gray is quite brilliant as the last track and wraps the album up satisfyingly. And again, his vocals have improved significantly since the early albums.
Hidden away deep in the album is the 8th track Damn the Flood which is classic BLS and rocks hard.
I’ve Gone Away is a surprise at the ninth track, and chugs along with muscular riffing.
Heart of Darkness is also a great uptempo riff-driven beast and will not disappoint the faithful.
Commenting on the musicianship at this point is virtually irrelevant given the caliber of the players, but it is a remarkable collection of talent, from the fretwork to the drums.
Overall, one of their best albums to date and if somebody came to me asking what BLS was like, this would probably be the album I would let them listen to as it represents their full range of material. Catacombs is a very complete album and I would be tempted to say this was Black Label Society’s “Volume 4”.
Black Label Society: Facebook
Release Year: 2014
Label: eOne
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Matt
