Black Label Society recommendations

This is one of those bands that i have long ignored for no particular reason. Having only lived with Order of the Black in my collection, i finally blindly upgraded to 1919 eternal and The Blessed Hellride, both of which i have yet to hear.

Is this a good way to start? What would you recommend next?

1919 is my favorite by them, next i'd get Mafia and Catacombs of the Black Vatican.

The two you picked up are really good.

I have five BLS CDs, I'd rank them something like this:

1. Blessed Hellride
T-2nd. 1919 Eternal
T-2nd. Stronger than Death
...
4. Mafia (ok)

....

5. Hangover Music (not good)

I have their whole catalog and I think these are their five strongest albums:

1. Order Of The Black
2. The Blessed Hellride
3. Sonic Brew
4. Stronger Than Death
5. Mafia

Which of their albums would be deemed the most "straightforward heavy metal"?

My favorites are:

1919 Eternal
The Blessed Hellride
Order of the Black

Gilbert wrote:

Which of their albums would be deemed the most "straightforward heavy metal"?

Stronger Than Death, although Zakk always likes to pepper in some somber, ballad-types songs on every album.

I too have the whole BLS catalog and I like everything to a degree. For a first-timer, I'd probably avoid the stuff like Hangover Music or Unblackened. It's mostly acoustic and piano-based music. Also, when Zakk slows things down, his voice can sound like a cat with it's tail caught in a wringer.

1919 Eternal and The Blessed Hellride are good places to start though. They have a new one coming out in January, Grimmest Hits. which, despite sounding like another greatest hits package, is all new music.

Agreed about the ballads, which was a major fault of the otherwise classic Pride & Glory project. Zakk sure loves to get emotional haha.

On another note, I've tried but BLS just doesn't stick for me. While I can listen to any Zakk-Ozzy or P&G tune without getting sick of it (except for you, f*cking Mama I'm Coming Hoooooooooome), BLS just sorta goes in one ear and out the other. Still, I'll keep trying. Maybe it'll just hit me one day.

As far as Zakk's ballad singing goes... I think he sounded great on the first Book of Shadows album and Hangover Music Vol. 1, but he did start to change his vocals to a weird "cat in heat" approach on the latter stuff.