Black Label Society - The Song Remains Not The Same II

‘The Song Remains not the Same II’ is part of the ‘None More Black’ box set, a collector’s full tilt boogie affair featuring all of Black Label Society’s albums, ‘remastered, recarpeted, reassured & remarried’ according to the official website, on beautiful vinyl for die-hard fans, plus this sequel right here, mirroring ‘Book of Shadows II’ released by Zakk Wylde a few years ago.

However, while the first ‘The Song Remains not the Same’ was made of some acoustic versions and a couple of covers, here, the same recipe is followed, but on a much larger scale, with 22 songs and a running time of 100 minutes. Personally, I do believe that calmer tones and piano passages fit the material well and highlight Father Zakk’s voice, on songs that already make sense on paper (‘A Love Unreal’) and others that are less obvious choices (‘Empty Promises’). ‘The Nomad’, a forgotten ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican’ bonus track that makes you want to take a drive across country, manages to steal the show. Lastly, this wouldn’t be complete without some kind of homage dedicated to the patriarchs, Black Sabbath, with a cover of one of their best tracks, ‘Snowblind’.

A good opportunity to revisit the catalogue while waiting for the new BLS that’s coming out this autumn.