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Black Label Society > Grimmest Hits > Reviews > kluseba
Black Label Society - Grimmest Hits

Not grim but diversified, psychedelic and smooth - 84%

kluseba, January 24th, 2018
Written based on this version: 2018, CD, Spinefarm Records (Digisleeve)

Black Label Society's most recent output is somewhat mistitled. It's not exactly a grim record but a surprisingly diversified effort with a few heavier songs but just as many psychedelic efforts and smooth southern rock ballads. On the other side, nearly every of the twelve new tracks is a hit, so this part of the title fits.

Thanks to this diversified approach, the record almost sounds like a compilation showcasing the band's broad horizon. Even the production is skillfully adapted to the different sub-genres. The heavier songs like the jam-like opener ''Tramped Down'' or the gripping highlight ''Illusions of Peace'' have a noisy, raw and under-produced sound while the psychedelic half-ballad ''The Only Words'' with its floating vocals and progressive rock organ sounds or the epic, hypnotizing and numbing ''The Day That Heaven Had Gone Away'' have a much airier vibe. The vocals are also adapted to each different track as ''Seasons of Falter'' reminds very strongly of Ozzy Osbourne which is a positive thing in this case while ''Bury Your Sorrow'' could come from ZZ Top's very early years to just name two precise examples. In times when more and more old legends call it quits, it's necessary to have a band like this keeping their spirits alive. Black Label Society might not reinvent the music it plays but it pays a highly inspired homage to the legends of yore.

Everything on this record is hold together by Zakk Wylde's skillful guitar play. He meanders between progressive and psychedelic rock with heavy and doom metal as well as a charismatic southern rock influences. Every song includes a heartfelt guitar solo that is often the song's climax. The guitar play and the vocals carry the whole album while the other three band members lay down an unspectacular but highly efficient foundation.

If you like heavy metal, psychedelic rock and psychedelic rock of the seventies, Black Label Society's Grimmest Hits is an authentic trip down memory lane, a first respectable record of the year and a highlight in the band's career.