Triple Bill of Metal Blasts Edmonton’s Midway

Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society stopped off at Midway in Edmonton recently on his North American Crusade Tour along with openers Florida’s Obituary and Oregon’s Lord Dying.

Perennial favourites Black Label Society, Zakk Wylde and The Doom Crew, roared their latest tour into town, blasting the faithful fan base, the Edmonton chapter of SDMF’s. Since this is a family website, I’ll leave out the MF part and define the SD. It stands for Society Dwelling. A name Zakk came up with many years ago as he created BLS. In fact the band just wrapped up their 20th anniversary tour near the end of 2019. Zakk also released a deluxe anniversary version of their debut album Sonic Brew. A few tracks from that album still grace the set list on this tour; Peddlers of Death, Rose Petalled Garden and Spoke in the Wheel.

The night opened up with a powerful in your face track from his album 1919 Eternal, called Genocide Junkies. and the metal assault continued with Funeral Bell, a hard driving number from The Blessed Hellride. If you weren’t in the mosh pit from the opening number those brave enough to enter jumped in with full vigor and stayed there for most of the set. Zakk Wylde claims Randy Rhodes as one of his major influences even though his hard riving riffs sound more like Tony Iommi, he sure can bend the strings like Randy during his solos.

Speaking of Ozzy, Zakk Wylde auditioned to replace Jake E Lee back in 1988 when he was just 21. He was graced with the position and still remains Ozzy’s main guitar player, while taking time off here and there for his various side projects such as BLS. Ozzy once stated that Wylde brings a high level of energy and passion to the stage and studio. Zakk has started his own Black Sabbath tribute band a few years ago called Zakk Sabbath. If you’re fortunate enough to have that show pass through your town, I highly recommend it, and I grew up on Black Sabbath. Zakk does justice to the songs and the legend.

That energy and passion were on display Sunday night in Edmonton. At one point of the show he sat down at the piano for a few songs showcasing his talent as a multi instrumentalist. He played the keys with grace and aplomb on a couple songs from the first album and for this reviewing, the highlight was Spoke in the Wheel. There was a moment where Zakk and bassist John DeServio traded licks. The victor was surely DeServio with his wicked 5 string bass. Mind you this wasn’t cheesy 80’s hair metal piano playing either as Wylde has some serious chops.

One constant, aside from the solid musicianship on stage at every show, is the tribute for Dimebag Darrel, a close friend of Zakk’s who was killed on stage by a deranged fan back in Dec of 2014. Since we have just passed the 15th anniversary, you could tell Wylde still gets choked up. He was like a brother to Zakk. He always referred to Dimebag as someone who was changing the sound of metal the way Iommi did in his first few years. Their tribute, In This River, wrapped up the piano set of the night. Afterwards it was time to get back into pit and jump and slam into each again.

Zakk opened the final few songs of the night with the ever popular Blessed Hellride which he came back to centre stage playing a double neck guitar showing off his versatility once again. The guitar even had a style of his trademark bulls eye design. Zakk Wylde always draws a moderate crowd at his shows. One might think they are at a biker rally given the leather vests that look very much like an outlaw motorcycle club cuts. That is not the case. They are just part of the Edmonton chapter of the SDMFs and are present at every show, no matter the city, size of venue or country. Zakk Wylde is a well worn musician and gives it his all every night.

Kicking the night off were Portland’s Lord Dying. Straight ahead heavy metal. They were out supporting their third album 2109’s outing Mysterium Tremendum, a conceptual album that’s about death. They were pretty solid, but could have benefited from proper lighting and one point guitarist and vocalist Erik Olsen said, “Can you give better lights?” They were washed in a bath of harsh white lights and I think that threw them off their game a bit. That said they were still solid from start to finish. The still didn’t give fig as they plowed through the rest of their all to short set. I’m sure they’ll gather up more new fans as this tour continues.

You may actually refer to any metal concert featuring Obituary as a double bill. They hail from Tampa Florida and are always well received in Edmonton. The band also just celebrated an anniversary, their 30th. Known as one of the forefathers of death metal under the name Xecutioner. The had a small break from the late ’90s to early 2000’s. They were well received as they got the party started with Redneck Stomp and powered through for another 60 minutes wrapping the night up with the title of their debut album, Slowly We Rot. I’ve always enjoyed their shows. Even though sometimes I can’t understand a word that being sung, but that’s death metal for you. It could be about a walk in the park for all I know, but with song titles like A Lesson In Vengence and Straight To Hell, I highly doubt that to be the subject matter. There’s just something to be said about the sound waves crashing over your body from a stack of Marshall amps.

The North American Crusade continues east fro the next few weeks. For more info check http://blacklabelsociety.net/tour-dates/ for more information.

For info on Obituary stop by http://www.obituary.cc/

And to check out Lord Dying head to https://lorddying.bandcamp.com/