Black Label Society - The Blessed Hellride (2003)^{Release ID: 6653}

“If You Don't Like the Style/Genre, Don't Review It. The point of a review is to give critique of the material on the album, as it pertains within it's genre. If you aren't into the genre, don't fucking rate it.” – BadFist from RYM, for their review on The Blessed Hellride.

I can understand this mindset. If a review is for the reader’s value, then it makes sense the reviewer should be someone who is into the genre being reviewed, who is interested in it, who wants to see the best in it, and can pass their opinion down to similarly minded readers with similar taste.

But, I have a few counterparts.

1. I don’t write reviews for readers. I write them for myself, and share them because someone somewhere out there might enjoy them.

2. I am a reader as well, and I write exactly the kind of reviews I like to read.

3. I go into every album with good faith and interest, even among genres I don’t like.

4. Sometimes, the opinion of someone discussing music outside their preferred genres can be even more interesting to read than someone within the fanbase.

I say all that because I am the person BadFist is talking about. Why? Well, because I’ve heard all of Black Label Society’s previous albums and didn’t find any of them that incredible. And despite loving Metal with all my heart, Southern Metal is easily one of my least favorite genres in the tree so far. So, why am I reviewing this?

I truly believe every Metal subgenre has a shining star that I can really enjoy, somewhere out there. I didn’t love any pure Stoner Metal album until I found Terra Firma [Album444503]. I didn’t love any Drone Metal album until I found Coma Waering [Album560273]. And so I scour every album in the tree, from the roots to the leaves, always with an open mind, searching for something to love on every branch.

…But The Blessed Hellride is not that album. The Blessed Hellride sounds identical to the previous three Black Label Society albums. As such, it adds absolutely nothing to the Southern Metal formula despite weaving between Heavy, Groove, Stoner, and even Sludge at times. And so, I review this album to say – this isn’t the one. This is a painfully average Southern Metal album, and unless you froth at the mouth for “oooh yeeaah”s and chuggy, crunchy guitars, you will not find anything worth keeping around here. It’s certainly not a bad album, it’s fun enough if you like fun, and dark enough at times if you like dreariness, but the music is consistently sub-par.