The CD opens up with a “unique” bass line and vocal track. After a while it grew on me, but the first time I heard it I went “WTF is this”. After that the CD is exactly what one would expect from BLS, Great Metal. That is until track five, “in this river”. I wouldn\'t be surprised if this was their second single after “Suicide Messiah”, if there is a second single, but this song took a while for me to like. I wasn\'t a huge fan when I first heard it, but the song grew on me. I am a big fan of the guitar solo in the middle, but still, it slows the pace of the CD down to a crawl. Almost like them where fully aware they had a good song that didn\'t really fit, they fade track 6 in slowly and come back with a really good song. “You must be blind” is a good song, minus the fade.
Track 8, dr. Octavia, is an awesome guitar solo! I wish the CD would have opened with it...
The opening of Track 10, “Too Tough to Die”, instantly made me think of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly. At least I think that\'s what it was, but that\'s where the similarity ended. I liked this song as well, but it was more of the same.
The rest of the album was exactly what one would expect. The last track, “Dirt on the grave”, is a perfect ending. It has an addictive guitar line; it uses many musical talents, and is something people will put on repeat a few times to hear it again. At least I did. The first time I heard it I replayed it three times.
I started listening to this CD wanting it to be a five, but because of certain things I just was unable to do so. Is it just enough for a band to meet our expectations with every CD release? For the fans yes, they never want the experience to end. SDMFs will love this CD because it\'s more of a band they love. For everyone else, I believe it will be just a good album they don\'t mind listening to. Perfect for their MP3 player and able to blend in easily with the rest of their collection. For those that want to pick up a new CD and don\'t want to be disappointed, this is great. But it\'s not a must have. There isn\'t anything new and innovative. There isn\'t anything real special about it, except its Zakk Wyldes Black Label Society.
I don\'t think Zakk Wylde cares much anyway. He put this CD out for his fans. The rest of us can shove it. Just like I expect to hear in the forum.
If you know nothing of this band, please visit http://www.blacklabelsociety.net & http://www.zakkwylde.com/
"Mafia" is on sale March 8, 2005 from Artemis.
