Tikkabik

Just had to plug Angel of Retribution by Judas Priest and Mafia by Black Label Society while I'm thinking of it -- had metal on the brain last week. Both albums are great, and they offer really contasting perspectives on how metal has evolved.

Regarding Angel of Retribution, there's certainly a lot to recommend it, though it's occasionally inconsistent. There's some stuff that's evocative of "classic" Priest of the British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance era, and there's some stuff that's totally self-indulgent (the 13-minute finale "Lochness" comes to mind). But Rob Halford has a hell of a set of pipes for a guy who's in his mid-50's -- he sounds like he's in his early 20's. And while Ripper Owens wasn't bad, it's glad to have Halford back where he belongs: Out in front of Judas Priest screaming like a banshee, while axemasters Tipton and Downing play point-counterpoint.

Listening to Angel of Retribution, I'm immediately brought back to my teen years before I became a punker: I listened to a lot Priest when I was in junior high and early in high school. The sound really hasn't changed that much over the years, and why should it? Sharks haven't evolved in 100 million years because, well, nature crafted them more or less perfectly for their environment. By that same measure, 2005's Judas Priest is just as well-suited to craft that gleaming polished-chrome, oiled black leather, Satanically-fueled arena metal as they were in 1983.

As far as Mafia is concerned, holy crap is this bone-crunching metal. There is absolutely nothing delicate or graceful about Zakk Wylde's approach to songwriting: Just listening to it fills my nostrils with the smell of stale beer, sweaty ass and motorcycle exhaust fumes. Anyone who's heard an Ozzy Osbourne or a Black Label Society album anytime in the last 15 years knows what to expect from Zakk Wylde's stylings -- this is unabashed, unapologetic heavy fuckin' metal almost from start to finish. It's not as machine-gunning as 2003's "The Blessed Hellride," but every bit as potent.

Zakk Wylde's position in the pantheon of rock's all-time great guitarists is secure, and he's certainly proven his ability to act like a vocal battering ram with Ozzy-like growling and howling -- Nick Catanese, James Lomenzo and Craig Nunenmacher all provide potent punctuation for Black Label Society's brand of smashmouth metal. But Wylde shows his versatility taking a turn at ballads like "In This River" and "Dirt On the Grave," and a cover of Skynyrd's "I Never Dreamed." Mafia is an absolutely must-have if you're a SDMF, or want to be one.