Catacombs Of The Black Vatican

Catacombs of the Black Vatican will stand as an enduring testament to Black Label Society s sheer force of will and mastery of each and every musical neighborhood the hard rock titans choose to stomp through. The aggressive bite of the barnstorming BLS banger Damn the Flood sits comfortably right alongside the stripped down, emotionally searing Angel of Mercy, Scars and Shades of Gray. The album s opening tracks, Fields of Unforgiveness and lead single My Dying Time, drop the throttle into swampy, down-tempo menace that wouldn t sound out of place in a Classic Rock band s catalog nor at the creative height of the grunge era.

There s a beauty in caveman like simplicity, in the break-bottles-and-break-necks gusto of a loud power chord. To many listeners, Wylde invented pinch harmonics every bit as much as Chuck Berry s dreamt up the duck walk. When the Guitar Hero franchise was all the rage, Wylde was a playable character in the game.

Every time you re going to make a new record, it s exciting, he says of the run-up to the creation of Catacombs of the Black Vatican. When you re in the studio you can approach it like Salvador Dali where you ve got a blank canvas in front of you. You can paint a little bit, sit back and look at it and go, Oh man, let s add a little more red over here, let s make this darker over there. Because live? It s a free-for-all. People are bleeding. There s fire going on. You re getting attacked by grizzly bears...