Strength. Determination. Merciless. Forever.
What do you get when you put Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Lynyrd Skynyrd in a blender? You get Black Label Society: an American Heavy Metal band formed in 1998 by former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde. Although the band is not well-known among mainstream music fans, they are quite well-known among metalheads and have been quite successful, releasing 11 studio albums, a live album, and 3 compilation albums. The band has a very vocal and passionate fanbase, who have been nicknamed "Berzerkers."
Discography:
Studio Albums:
- 1999 - Sonic Brew
- 2000 - Stronger Than Death
- 2002 - 1919 Eternal
- 2003 - The Blessed Hellride
- 2004 - Hangover Music Vol. IV
- 2005 - Mafia
- 2006 - Shot To Hell
- 2010 - Order Of The Black
- 2011 - The Song Remains Not The Same
- 2014 - Catacombs of the Black Vatican
- 2018 - Grimmest Hits
- 2021 - Doom Crew Inc.
Live Albums'''
- 2001 - Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live!! +5
Compilation Albums'''
- 2005 - Kings of Damnation 98-04
- 2009 - Skullage
- 2010 - Black Label Berzerkus 2010
In This Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Zakk Wylde used to be a very heavy drinker, until he was nearly killed by a blood clot caused by years of alcohol abuse. These days he's sober.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: The stage outfits worn by the BLS musicians resembles those worn by outlaw motorcycle clubs. Biker imagery also features heavily in the band's merchandise.
- Anti-Love Song: "Stillborn" is about a man who has been treated so poorly by his woman that the feelings he once had for her are completely dead.
- "Spoke in the Wheel" is about a man who has had his heart broken by being callously dumped ("shattered, cast aside, stripped of your pride like you were never nothing special"), and he warns his former lover that someday the same thing will happen to her.
- Badass Biker: The BLS musicians use this as their image.
- Country Matters: Used in "13 Years Of Grief."
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Sonic Brew was pretty much "Pride and Glory Volume 2." Stronger Than Death moved away from southern rock and into a heavier metal sound where they've been ever since.
- Genre Mashup: Zakk's playing style is a mix of a wide assortment of influences. His lead playing in particular is a mixture of jazz, country, classical and metal derived from the likes of John Mc Laughlin, Duane Allman, Esteban, Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen.
- Greatest Hits Album: So far they've released three of them.
- Grief Song: BLS has two of them: "In This River" is dedicated to Dimebag Darrell, and "Layne" is dedicated to Layne Staley.
- Man in a Kilt: Zakk Wylde began sporting a kilt onstage at some point in the 2010s, apparently as an expression of warrior spirit.
- Metal Band Mascot: The BLS Skull (sometimes nicknamed "Skully").
- Metal Scream: "Stillborn" opens with an extended one of these between Zakk and Ozzy.
- Mood Whiplash: 1919 Eternal is heavy metal... until the final track which is an acoustic guitar rendition of "America the Beautiful."
- New Sound Album: Hangover Music Vol. VI is an album that's mostly acoustic ballads. It sounds quite different from Black Label Society's usual sound. which makes sense, since anyone suffering a hangover probably doesn't want to get blasted with heavy metal.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Zakk Wylde is a devout Irish-Catholic, and refers to himself as "a Soldier of Christ."
- Signature Instrument: Zakk's trademark "Bullseye" painted Les Paul, which was intended to be like the poster for Vertigo, but Gibson's artists couldn't get the effect to work. He liked the results so much he decided to keep it anyway, and the bullseye pattern has featured on nearly every guitar he's played with since.
- Take That!: Zakk has been known to spice up live versions of Super Terrorizer with the phrase "Limp Bizket sucks dick!"
