When Zakk Wylde formed the band after his long run being Ozzy Osbourne’s right hand man, he formed a southern rock band called Pride & Glory… and then Osbourne decided that he wanted to record another album, so he did, in the form of an album called “Ozzmosis”. It was around this time that Wylde was also offered not only the “Ozzmosis” tour with Osbourne but also a slot in the line up of Guns N’ Roses tour in 1995. As neither of those projects materialised, Wylde decided to finally record his solo acoustic album entitled “Book of Shadows” which unfortunately didn’t achieve the commercial success he had hoped.
Out of this phase only came good things when Wylde teamed up with drummer Phil Ondich and formed Black Label Society. It was this then side project that became Zakk Wyldes commercially successful freight train of a band releasing nine studio albums to date, with their two most recent releases, “Order of the Black” released on August 10th 2010 made it to number 4 in the US charts and “Catacombs of the Black Vatican” released on April 8th 2014 went to number 5 in the US charts, securing Black Label Society’s place in the mainstream.
I love Disney World. I know that's a strange way to start a discussion about a heavy metal band, such as Black Label Society, but the reason I mention it is because getting to see them at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney this past vacation truly made my trip even more special than it normally would have.
My wife, knowing my love for the band and for House of Blues, managed to get us a reservation and surprise me with their performance on our anniversary trip there this past year, and it truly was an incredible experience.
The crowd wasn't the greatest crowd at this venue, but I think that had more to do with not knowing the band, as opposed to not appreciating them, because Black Label Society but on a great show, and Zakk's vocals were great. Dario Lorina's guitar riffs were also quite hot, and really added a lot to the performance, in my opinion.
While it was sort of strange attending a Black Label Society concert where the audience was calmer than I'd expected to see, having been to several Black Label Society concerts, I think that this performance still held up to my expectations for the band, and I know my wife and I had a great time.
I became reacquainted with Venom in Sheffield a couple of years ago at the HRH NWOBHM show, and bought Ave on the back of that performance. Couldn’t wait to see them perform it, and after a couple of cancelled shows I finally made it to see them last night in Islington, it was outstanding. A proper Metal show in a great location, and the performance was technically and aurally brilliant. They played a good amount of the new album, they all translate to a live performance superbly, very poignant Black and Roll too. The back catalogue numbers were done exceptionally well, and even a guest appearance from former member Al Barnes for Temple of Ice.
If you want to see metal done right, Venom Inc won’t disappoint.