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1919 ETERNAL
Alright, I'm going to use a big fat fucking cheesy line, but who cares?
Zakk's Back.
There, I did it. OK, I feel better. Now, I've had this disc for over a month now (thank you Earl), but I wanted to really soak it in before I wrote anything up about it. Upon first listen to 1919 Eternal, you realize that Zakk hasn't lost any of his trademark chops or riff-writing ability. If anything, he's learned how to make his alcohol-fueled riffage a little more palletable.
"Bleed For Me", the first track on the disc, sounds like it was written for Ozzy Osbourne to be singing...and from what I understand, it was written with him in mind. You see, I have a feeling Zakk knew for a while he might be re-joining the Ozzman's ranks, and wrote a bunch of songs that he thought would be used on a new disc. From what I've heard, a lot of the tracks were shot down when offered up to Ozzy (by whom, I'm not sure), so Zakk used them on his BLACK LABEL SOCIETY disc. To be honest, Ozzy should have used them on Down to Earth, because a lot of the writing on that disc pales in comparison to the pure fury that Zakk spews forth on this disc.
While I am a big fan of Stronger than Death and Sonic Brew, I feel that Zakk's writing (and yeah, he wrote all the tracks on the disc) has really matured since those past releases. The guy's writing some solid hooks, without losing any of that PANTERA-ish head-cracking crunch he's known for. Take the riff in "Demise of Sanity" for instance. It's very cruchy, very heavy, but VERY hummable as well.
Zakk's also not afraid to show us his softer side. "Bridge To Cross" and his acoustic version of "America the Beautiful" show you exactly how much of a 180-degree switch he can do when he puts his mind to it.
If you haven't picked up a BLS disc yet, you should start with this one...then when you wear it out, buy it again.
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