Black Label Society - Stronger Than Death (2000)^{Release ID: 6651}

An exemplary specimen of fully realized Southern Metal, embodying all the influences of the genre strongly. The eclectic nature of this album is its strongest suit, touching upon many different styles yet always within the singular umbrella of Southern Metal and keeping that sludgy, worn-out cowboy aesthetic integral to the genre.

The guitar playing stands out most, and the majority of the songs are entirely led by layered guitarwork, with rhythm and vocals playing second fiddle. There’s a good variety in guitar playing styles as well, with Southern Rock leads, Groove chugs, Heavy Metal riffs and nice acoustic finger plucking for the more somber cowboy numbers.

The huge problem with this album is the mood and actual melodies. The mood of this album can generally be described as “I’m a tough guy, watch out for me” and the melodies to these songs don’t evoke anything at all, they’re just stock riffs. The whole album gives me the sense that I would not enjoy spending time with people who write or enjoy this kind of music. The vocals have a really annoying southern drawl yarl to them as well, only adding insult to injury with the embarrassingly juvenile lyricism. The rhythm section never does anything interesting either, which is a big negative for me.

The tracks that evade those issues are best. “Rust” actually has some atmosphere to it, being a more somber, mostly acoustic track with some electric guitars adding very good underlying harmonies.

I can see it as a fun album with some tasty guitarwork, but it’s painfully shallow.