Song Remains Not the Same

Personnel: Zakk Wylde (vocals, guitar, piano); Will Hunt (drums); John "JD" DeServio (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Adam Klumpp; John "JD" DeServio; Zakk Wylde.
This companion piece to Black Label Society's 2010 offering Order of the Black finds Zakk Wylde and company running through selected tracks from the record, as well as a handful that didn't make the cut, like a lovely rendition of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home," in an acoustic fashion. Stripped down, songs like "Overlord" and "Parade of the Dead" owe more to Alice in Chains' 1996 Unplugged album than they do Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, but the string and piano-laden accompaniment lends a more ornate, Skynyrd-meets-Bad Company vibe to the occasion than it does a rainy, hopeless, late-'90s day in Seattle. Wylde's powerful croon is more pronounced (you can almost hear his colossal beard), and the arrangements are well thought out and appropriate for the material, making it less a gimmicky version, despite its excellent title, of Order of the Black and more like its dark shadow. ~ James Christopher Monger