Album Reviews
Black
Label Society
Mafia
Artemis Records, 2005
8 anuses out of 10
Review By: Eliminator
Originally Zakk Wylde wanted to review his own album. The Anuses would never allow such a thing, so I've decided to review this album.
Zakk is back with another piece of loud, fast paced, metal mastery. It seems like Zakk has stepped up his game as far as his tricks with the effects pedals for the guitar. He incorporates much more trickery throughout the album than he has done in the past. Other than that, Zakk is picking up right where he left off with the superb Blessed Hellride. Mafia is another fist-pounding album with plenty of sing-along anthems and catchy guitar riffs. In concert most of these songs will have the entire venue going crazy.
The album starts with "Fire It Up" a great anthemic metal song to get you in the mood for an album that Zakk himself would probably describe as "Fuckin' Rockin'." This album kicks it up to 10 and it hardly comes back down. There are only two exceptions: "In This River," his tribute to fallen friend Dimebag Darrell, and the last two songs on the album, "Dirt On The Grave," and "I Never Dreamed," a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover. Although these departures from "fuckin' rockin'" are nothing new to Zakk, it may throw off some fans of Zakk's music.
It also throws off the full-on beer-drinkin' good time vibe of the album. However, it is a needed change to keep the album from sounding too monotonous. Although, the riffs and vocals on Mafia are nowhere near as blatantly repetitious or uncreative as they are on other albums that suffer from being labeled "monotonous."
However, after a while you may start to lose interest in this album. First, after the Dimebag tribute, "In This River" there is the one exceptionally bad track on the album, "You Must Be Blind." I'm not sure why this was even included on the album. I can't imagine Zakk being very proud of this track. After track 8, the instrumental, self-serving guitar solo track "Dr. Octavia," the album almost starts to drag on for a bit.
It's not quite as cohesive as Blessed Hellride, but Mafia
is still a pretty decent album with enough stand-out cuts to make it a
worthy purchase.
Track Listing:
1. Fire It Up
2. What's In You
3. Suicide Messiah
4. Forever Down
5. In This River
6. You Must Be Blind
7. Death March
8. Dr. Octavia
9. Say What You Will
10. Too Tough To Die
11. Electric Hellfire
12. Spread Your Wing
13. Been A Long Time
14. Dirt On The Grave
15. I Never Dreamed
©2009 The Elimination Dept.
