April 18, 2000 - Stronger Than Death

About a month after my last release and a little under a year since their debut "Sonic Brew", Black Label Society released their second album "Stronger Than Death" on April 18, 2000. Zakk Wylde is still playing the same style of southern metal and he still does everything besides the drums. He clearly had a lot of songs built up because less than a year after a 15-track album we have another 10 songs! Let's check out the latest from BLS!

The album kicks off with "All For You" and Zakk leads the way with a repetitive but pretty catchy and solid guitar riff. He plays some less repetitive and pretty cool guitar in the verse, but his vocals are hard to understand and definitely not his best. Aside from the sub-par vocals, things sound pretty good and of course there's a pretty cool guitar solo by Wylde that is nice and long and filled with some great stuff. Up next is "Phoney Smiles & Fake Hellos" and Zakk leads the way with another pretty catchy and sweet main riff. Wylde's vocals in the verse are not his best again, but thankfully he sounds more like his usual self in the chorus. Zakk sets the stage for himself perfectly with a pretty awesome rhythm guitar riff, and then he proceeds to fucking annihilate overtop with a really fast and awesome solo. He connects things back to the main riff really nicely as well, if it weren't for the sub-par verse vocals, this would be an awesome song because the music is amazing. Track 3 is "13 Years Of Grief" and it just might be my favourite BLS song! Zakk plays a cool guitar riff that goes slowly up the neck, and then slowly back down and Phil Ondich comes in and out with some loud drums to make this a pretty cool chorus riff. The main verse riff is super fucking catchy and nice and heavy and I like Zakk's vocals a lot more on this one, including the line "just an ignorant cunt, talkin' such shit". After a couple really solid rounds Zakk plays a new awesome riff that sounds fantastic and this is the rhythm riff! He then solos overtop, and that's even fucking better! All this makes for a pretty fucking awesome song! The next track is a longer one called "Rust" and Zakk plays a much slower, much quieter guitar riff to lead the way but things sound decently epic. He fills in with a matching bass line and a different slow guitar riff that compliments the first one nicely. Zakk's slow, Southern vocals sound good in this setting and even though it's pretty tame compared to the other tracks so far I still like it. Zakk sounds pretty good when he holds the long notes and after a few minutes of light jamming Zakk starts to solo overtop and he does a pretty great job of starting slow and ramping into a pretty freaking awesome ending. After a final chorus the song seems to be fading to a finish, but that finish takes a full minute and it's just way too long to play this light ending part. Track 5 is "Superterrorizer" and unsurprisingly Zakk leads the way with some more pretty cool guitar and I really like the heaviness of this opening/chorus riff. Words don't do proper justice to all the great guitar in this song: the verse is great, the chorus is great and the solo is beyond amazing and lasts over a minute! This might be a close second and the first half of this album has had a couple drawbacks but has mostly been very good! Up next is "Counterfeit God" and Zakk plays another heavy and pretty catchy main riff to lead the way and he sounds solid holding lots of long notes overtop. The chorus isn't all that special but the solo is pretty awesome as you'd expect and overall it's still a good tune despite the lacklustre chorus. Track 7 is "Ain't Life Grand" and Zakk follows his template of laying down a cool main riff to carry things and then singing overtop. The chorus is really slow on this one, but everything is super low and sounds so heavy! The solo is short but pretty sweet and then they slowly wrap things up with the long but decent chorus. The next track is "Just Killing Time" and it's the designated piano ballad of the album as Zakk plays some light and slow but still solid piano. Zakk's voice sounds really good in this quiet setting and even though it's easily the tamest song on the album it's really well done. Zakk spices things up with a guitar solo midway that starts slow like the piano, but he nicely ramps into a pretty fast and wicked solo. It was great for what it was: a sappy piano ballad. Track 9 is the title track "Stronger Than Death" and it has a nearly minute long intro riff that is decent before they finally settle into the main riff with Zakk playing some great guitar and some solid bass as well. He sings a solid verse and chorus and he rips off a pretty awesome short solo after the first verse. Another round later he plays a much longer solo and it hits all the right spots, he's just such a great guitarist, words don't do justice. Another solid song for sure! The final track on the album is the eight minute "Love Reign Down" and there's no vocals for the first two minutes as Zakk plays several different riffs, all of them pretty cool in their own way. It all leads nicely into the first verse and Zakk fits the mood perfectly. The chorus has some more sweet guitar as this song is just a showcase of epic riffs and that certainly continues after the next round. He sets the stage for the solo perfectly and after a nice slower opening section he really lets loose with some of his best soloing on the album, it's pretty awesome! It leads perfectly back into the chorus as well, and then things take a sharp turn to a new riff as Zakk cues up yet another catchy riff. Ondich plays a catchy drum beat to match and they jam out this new riff until the end of the song.

That is the end of "Stronger Than Death" and I thought it was another pretty good album from Black Label Society. Zakk is not only a great guitarist, but he's just so good at writing catchy and cool riffs as well. "13 Years Of Grief" was probablyvmy favourite, but there were lots of good songs on this album. Having said that, I don't think it's better than their debut "Sonic Brew", but it's a close second! I'm glad Zakk Wylde is making such great music during the long gaps between Ozzy albums. Keep up the good work Zakk!