Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Heavy Rock | Heft: Jahrgang 2014, eclipsed Nr. 160 / 5-2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 7/10 | Label: Mascot | Autor: ML
Four years without a new album is an extremely long time for Black Label society. The band, which is constantly struggling with reshuffles and actually only has the ex-Ozzy-Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde as its only and real fixed point, was always present live. But the last time they recorded studio albums, they got a little lost. The band seemed more and more like a caricature of a metal band with a biker image. "Catacombs Of The Black Vatican" musically goes back several steps. With the success of the last Black Sabbath album, Zakk again seems to look at things from a seventies perspective. "Believe" could have been good on an early Ozzy-Osbourne album from Sabbathod. The heavy numbers ("My Dying Time") all work, while the more withdrawn acoustic pieces like "Scars" can't really come close to the big Southern rock models like the Allman Brothers Band. All in all, however, it is once again a BLS plant that can convince almost without exception. What's missing are all the outstanding songs.
Top track: Believe
