[Album Review] Skullage by Black Label Society - Metal

[Andrej]

                                    
 
The Skullage album was produced in 2009 and consists of a mash-up of some of BLS and Zakk Wylde's best hits. Front man Wylde, former guitarist of Black Sabbath back in the Ozzy days, delivers the powerful vocals and epic guitar solos that you would expect from a long-haired, bearded man in a leather vest.
 

Song List

(Title/Length/Rating)

 

Machine Gun Man - 4:57 (8/10)
Dead As Yesterday - 2:50 (8/10)
All for You - 3:59 (7/10)
13 Years of Grief - 4:11 (6/10)
Bleed for Me - 5:30 (7/10)
Won't Find It Here - 6:25 (10/10)
Suicide Messiah - 5:48 (8/10)
In This River - 3:53 (10/10)
Fire It Up - 5:00 (8/10)
New Religion - 4:35 (7/10)
Instrumental Intro (Acoustic) - 4:57 (8/10)
The Blessed Hellride (Acoustic) - 5:10 (8/10)
Spoke in the Wheel (Acoustic) - 5:02 (9/10)
Stillborn (Acoustic) - 6:05 (9/10)
 
 
The album starts out with an old Zakk Wylde classic from back in his beardless days with Sabbath, crooning on an acoustic guitar in Machine Gun Man and Dead As Yesterday. From here you're eased slowly into the harder side of the album with increasingly heavier guitar riffs and belting tones from Zakk until you reach a trifecta of awesomeness starting with Won't Find It Here and working all the way through In This River, a tribute to one of Zakk's lifelong friends and fellow metal guitarist legend "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott of Pantera; all of which will have you giving your most earnest air guitar impressions. The album finishes you out in a similar fashion to its start, reverting back to the more mellow sounds of Zakk playing on an acoustic guitar starting with Instrumental Intro. The next three songs are acoustic versions from an earlier record The Blessed Hellride, each showing the versatility and sheer talent of Wylde's ability with any type of guitar. Coupled with his powerful and soulful tone, Zakk sends the listeners off with a subdued state after such a thorough thrashing in the earlier tracks. All in all, the Skullage album possesses what every rock fan would appreciate: soulful acoustic tunes, powerful riffs, epic solos, and a fast-paced ferociousness that will having you head banging and shaking your fist towards the Heavens in short time.
 
Overall album rating: 8/10
 

Music Videos

 

(Machine Gun Man - Live)

 

(In This River - Live (EPIC!!!) ) Edited January 5, 2013 by Andrej

[Katiora]

Points 

 

Andrej- 2