Zakk Wylde and his iconic bull’s-eye guitar are back, but not quite with a vengeance.

Wylde’s band Black Label Society’s ninth album, “Catacombs of the Black Vatican,” takes a step backward in terms of creativity, but Wylde’s guitar playing saves it from falling into total mediocrity.

“Catacombs of the Black Vatican” is Black Label Society’s first album since 2010’s career peak “Order of the Black,” where the band started dabbling in speed metal. The results were the best set of songs Wylde notched under his belt, with corrosive guitars, biting vocals and, of course, his signature shredded solos.

But the band’s latest release shows them reverting back to their old sludge metal formula, with languorous, muddy riffs and Wylde sounding more like Chris Cornell than Ozzy Osbourne.

It’s not that metal has to be fast to be good. If Black Label Society had released “Catacombs of the Black Vatican” in 1998 when they got their start, it would be a perfectly fine first effort. But fans of the band have heard all this material before. After showing the world in 2010 that it’s not a one-trick pony, the band made the baffling decision to go back to its old tricks.

The album’s saving grace is Wylde’s skill as a guitar player. Although many of the lightning fast, squealing solos on the heavier tracks  — i.e., every song but “Angel of Mercy,” “Scars” and “Shades of Gray” — start to sound the same about halfway through the record, Wylde’s talent is undeniable. His solos are all that’s keeping “Catacombs of the Black Vatican” from sounding like an Alice in Chains or Soundgarden rip-off.

These solos keep the music metal.

But the best guitar players are the ones who turn their instruments into something human. Technical skill is a must, and being able to shred is certainly a prerequisite to be taken seriously as a guitar player in metal, but the greats don’t stop there. The greats scream, cry and howl with joy through their instruments, making music that elicits an emotional response from listeners.

Wylde achieves that here, especially on “Angel of Mercy.” The ballad boasts a melody and structure similar to the greatest metal slow burners. Think Metallica’s “Fade to Black” with updated production, a Southern vibe and more power ballad cheese.

The song’s lyrics, like most of Wylde’s, are far from poetry. He’s a straightforward lyricist to a fault. But the music is memorable and touching, especially once Wylde’s mournful guitar solo kicks in.

“Angel of Mercy” is the first example on the album that Wylde is more than a shredder. He’s expressive in his playing, and if there’s one tear-jerking moment on the album, it’s this one. It’s not when he’s singing, “No angel of mercy is gonna hear my call/ No angel of mercy to dry the tears that shall not fall.” It’s when he’s letting his music speak for itself.

While the record is thin on surprises, there are some strong tracks that don’t just rely on Wylde’s playing. “Damn the Flood” is one of the songs that sounds the most like classic metal, as if Wylde wants to remind listeners that he played guitar for Ozzy.

The track starts off as driving hard rock before shifting into a half time head banger before segueing into a blues solo and wrapping up right where it started. It’s a wild journey to take in a little more than three minutes, but that kind of variety is what Black Label Society needs in order to step out of its own shadow.

Sludge is great in rock and roll. The muddier the better. But after more than a decade and a half as a band, Black Label Society needs to explore other avenues. It incorporated speed metal into “Order of the Black” and ended up with its freshest, heaviest and best work to date. Wylde and his crew need to find something more than their Southern-tinged, sludge metal formula if they want to stay relevant.

Published on April 15, 2014 at 1:30 am

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