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ZAKK SABBATH
Doomed Forever Forever Doomed
Magnetic Eye Records

As our heroes grow older, and in some cases pass on to the gigantic heavy rock festival in the sky, you begin to realize that you'll no longer not only get new music but you'll no longer get to see said heroes live, loud and in person again. And let's face it, Hard Rock & Metal really do sound better loud AF! There's something about the music I love at booming volumes that gets my blood pumping. But no matter how great a sound system you get is, there's no substitute to not only hearing, but seeing those bands up close and personal. So bearing all that in mind, cover bands fill that niche that I described. And if you look up the history of your favorite band, you'll no doubt see that they started out playing covers of THEIR favorite bands, before branching out into the unknown writing original songs and hoping that people would dig that as much as the songs they already know and loved.

Being a cover band is not the kiss of death as one might think. METALLICA started doing NWOBHM covers before becoming the forefathers of Thrash Metal and have an EP and a double album worth of covers to prove my point. THE IRON MAIDENS, an all female tribute to the NWOBHM Kings, tour constantly and have a huge following. STEEL PANTHER started out as an all covers band under a couple of different names, METAL ALLEGIANCE (featuring Dave Ellefson, Mike Portnoy, Alex Skolnick & Mike Menghi among others) started out doing covers too before releasing two solid albums of originals. Which brings us to ZAKK SABBATH. With BLACK SABBATH retired (and when they toured without Bill Ward on their chickenshit "reunion" tour, they were retired and dead to me already anyway) who better to bring back those legendary songs live? Having played with Ozzy Osbourne on and off since 1987, and naturally has played some of BLACK SABBATH's most iconic tracks during that time, his pedigree alone gives him a little more stroke than most IMO.

The first ZAKK SABBATH release was 2017's Live In Detroit EP, a 3 song taster of Zakk's tribute to the band that brought him, like most of us, into the house of Heavy Metal. In 2020, during the 50th anniversary of the self-titled debut album from BLACK SABBATH, Zakk and his band of merry minstrels released their tribute to that iconic, and to me, the 1st Heavy Metal album ever recorded. They called it Vertigo, named after the record label the album was originally released on. And here in 2024, ZAKK SABBATH has released a double-shot of SABBATH goodness in the form of Doomed Forever Forever Doomed.

This next chapter in Zakk's ode to his idols covers the SABB classics Paranoid & Master Of Reality. Not only chronological as the albums were released, but also in their running order. And along for the ride with Mr. Wylde on these two slabs of SABBATH worship is Rob 'Blasko' Nicholson (ROB ZOMBIE) on bass and Joey Castillo (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) on drums. Doomed Forever, album 1, is the classic Paranoid. Obviously the sonic sound of this is well superior to the OG album released in 1970. And album 2, Forever Doomed is the amazing Master Of Reality released in 1971. But to be fair, can you REALLY out-heavy BLACK SABBATH? Well, yes and no. My personal opinion is that Master Of Reality is the heaviest and greatest Heavy Metal album of ALL TIME! Tony Iommi's godly riffs are just mind boggling! "Into The Void" is the one song that I would play to anyone who asks me what is Heavy Metal. That being said, ZAKK SABBATH's version of "Paranoid" is my favorite version I've ever heard, and believe me I've heard thousands in my life. And another noteworthy thing is that the songs are played with reverence, but not necessarily note for note, something that I love. You can put your own spin on it, while still giving the songs the respect they demand. I think Zakk is an exceptional vocalist, but every now and then he can sound eerily like Ozzy himself, most notably on "War Pigs", which was very cool to hear. If you've ever heard Zakk's main band, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, then you know one of the best traits he learned from SABBATH was how to break up the heavy with mellower songs. On Paranoid you had "Planet Caravan", which ZAKK SABBATH did a great version of, but PANTERA's version of it from 1994 edges it out by a goatee whisker. On Master Of Reality you had "Embryo", "Orchid" and "Solitude". Z.S.'s version of "Solitude" is a brilliant version, with Zakk's piano playing adding another layer to the track before he rips a shredding solo.

Produced by Zakk and engineered by Jay Ruston, both albums are crisp, clean and sonically heavy AF! As I mentioned above, with no more SABBATH this should and would satisfy that gaping hole to hear these songs played again, with all the sweat, smoke, spilt beer and ringing ears that your mind conjures up when listening to these tracks. And the louder the better I always say! The perfect nod of gratitude to the founding fathers of Heavy Metal. So come now children of today, it's your time to become Children Of The Grave!!

And you bet your Fairy Worn Boots that there is Vinyl for this kickass release! As a matter of fact, I just got my double Purple Vinyl in today!! Chuffed! There are a few different color variants out there, available here and in Europe. So don't be paranoid, buy it and become a Lord Of This World!!

4.9 Out Of 5.0 Skulls