Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society Goes Full Throttle on ENGINES OF DEMOLITION
“…this is the most sure-footed and focused Wylde has sounded for a long time…this is plainly their strongest album since ‘The Blessed Hellride’...”
—Blabbermouth
Nearly 30 years into Black Label Society, Zakk Wylde still knows exactly how to make a guitar riff feel enormous. On Engines of Demolition, the band’s 12th studio album and first since 2021’s Doom Crew Inc., Wylde and company come roaring back with the heavy guitars, blues-soaked grooves and Southern-rock swagger that have long been part of the BLS DNA, but there’s more going on here than sheer volume. The 15-track album captures a period Wylde has described as containing some of life’s highest highs and lowest lows, and you can hear both sides of that equation. “Name in Blood” opens the record with crushing force, “Broken & Blind” settles into a muscular groove, and “Lord Humungus” delivers exactly the kind of larger-than-life heaviness its title promises. Then there are songs like “Better Days & Wiser Times,” which pull things back and reveal the melodic, reflective side of Wylde that has always made Black Label Society more interesting than simply being the loudest band in the room.
But the song that gives Engines of Demolition its emotional center arrives at the very end. “Ozzy’s Song,” Wylde’s tribute to his longtime friend, mentor and musical partner Ozzy Osbourne, trades the album’s heavier attack for piano, acoustic guitar and a remarkably vulnerable vocal before giving way to an extended electric guitar solo. Wylde had written the music before Osbourne’s death in 2025, but the lyrics came afterward; fittingly, he recorded the solo on “The Grail,” the Gibson Les Paul that has been part of his musical life since joining Ozzy at 19 years old in 1987. The result has connected well beyond longtime BLS fans, debuting at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart and No. 9 on Rock Digital Song Sales. It’s a beautiful bookend to an album filled with brute-force riffs and swagger: after all that thunder, Wylde closes by letting grief, gratitude and his guitar do the talking.
Zakk Wylde has spent four decades building one of hard rock and heavy metal’s most recognizable careers. He was just 19 when he joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band in 1987, beginning a musical relationship that would continue on and off for the rest of Osbourne’s life; in 1994, Wylde earned a GRAMMY® Award as co-writer and performer on Osbourne’s live recording of “I Don’t Want to Change the World.” He later founded Black Label Society, turning the band into a vehicle for his unmistakable guitar playing, songwriting and larger-than-life personality across 12 studio albums and decades of touring. The current lineup—Wylde on vocals, guitar, organ and strings, Dario Lorina on guitar, John DeServio on bass and Jeff Fabb on drums—sounds firmly locked in on Engines of Demolition, an album written and produced by Wylde himself. At this point, there isn’t much left for Zakk Wylde to prove. What makes this latest chapter matter is that beneath all those unmistakable riffs, he still sounds like he has something to say.
For more information on Engines of Demolition, visit their FYC page here.
REVIEWS
"Back to Black - Zakk Wylde on playing with Pantera, paying tribute to Ozzy on stage, and his brand new record." —SPIN
"Zakk Wylde Talks Touching New Tribute 'Ozzy's Song': 'Would've Never Written These Lyrics If Oz Was Still Around' (Exclusive)"
—People
"‘He had the biggest heart’: Zakk Wylde remembers Ozzy Osbourne’s toughness and generosity."
—Los Angeles Times
"Zakk Wylde Honors ‘Older Brother’ Ozzy Osbourne: ‘He Was So Easy to Get Along With’"
—Rolling Stone
