1919 Eternal

by Black Label Society, Zakk Wylde

Overview

Not the sh*t-kicking shtick the man's Grizzly Adams appearance and metal-as-a-way-of-life persona might suggest, 1919 Eternal might just be the most down-tuned record this side of Crowbar's dirge, or the Melvins. Every riff is a meaty, grindy morsel that sticks to your ribs, Zakk Wylde's vocals are either guttural grunting like he's Wino from the Obsessed with a hangover or a pleasant, passive voice like when Phil Anselmo covered "Planet Caravan" (see the dark ballad "Bridge to Cross"), and the rest of the instrumentation is decidedly secondary to the cause and effect. The dark feel of the mix causes even the thrashier moments, such as opener "Bleed for Me," that alternates between Ozzy and later-period Metallica, and the self-explanatory "Battering Ram," to seem sluggish, like they're sinking in quicksand. With the majority of the disc residing in mid-tempo-land, the sound is akin to running in a dream; you're not getting anywhere very quickly, and eventually you wonder where you were trying to go in the first place. Wylde means what he says, whether he's speaking with words or his axe, and such conviction is encouraging. A few gems reside, such as the lively "Genocide Junkies" and "Life/Birth/Blood/Doom," a spooky tune with rhythmically funky bass courtesy of Robert Trujillo that'll get your head nodding and a solo that is to die for, but much of 1919 Eternal sounds like the stuff that didn't make the last couple of Corrosion of Conformity records. And the stuff that was on the COC discs wasn't that great either. ~ Brian O'Neill

Product Details

Release Date:	12/03/2021
Label:	Eone / Spv
UPC:	0634164655617
Rank:	25005

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Black Label Society   Primary Artist
Zakk Wylde   Primary Artist,Bass,Guitar,Vocals
Craig Nunemacher   Drums
Robert Trujillo   Bass
Christian Werr   Drums
Craig Nunenmacher   Drums

Technical Credits

Eddie Mapp   Engineer,Associate Producer,Engineer,Producer
Black Label Society   Performer
Samuel A. Ward   Composer
Ron Boustead   Mastering
Sam Story   Engineer
Lou Michaels   Assistant Engineer
Kent Hitchcock   Assistant Engineer
Zakk Wylde   Design,Composer,Art Direction,Art Conception,Executive Producer
Adam Guyot   Illustrations
Katharine Lee Bates   Composer
Peter Tsakiris   Design,Art Direction
Ken Huffnagle   Editing
Terry-Marianne Bilham   Photography
Paul Bibeau   A&R
Tami Fukatami   A&R