Black Label Society have released their new album “Engines Of Demolition” and with it comes the band’s frontman Zakk Wylde‘s tribute to his late bandmate and mentor, Ozzy Osbourne. That track, “Ozzy’s Song“, closes out this twelfth studio record from Black Label Society. It was finalized lyrically by Wylde after taking time to process Ozzy‘s death and his funeral last summer.
Wylde was a frequent companion of Ozzy for decades, affectionally referring to as ‘The Boss’. Wylde first joined up with the heavy metal icon back in 1987. Furthering the song’s ties to the beloved Prince Of Darkness, Wylde penned a part of this song on his 1981 Les Paul Custom The Grail — a crucial axe which at one he post he lost in transit before it was returned by a fan. That guitar was used Wylde during his first writing sessions with Ozzy.
Wylde told Guitar World of the approaching the track:
“I wrote the music before Oz passed away. But after Oz passed away, when we went back to England and we laid Ozzy to rest, when I got right from that, I went straight to Pantera celebrations with Phil [Anselmo], Rex [Brown], and Charlie [Benante]. So I hooked back up with the fellas, and we were back rolling.
And then when I got done, when we got done with the Pantera celebration run, when I got home, I was just sitting in the house and [this] is when I wrote the lyrics and just sang the song. I was just thinking about Oz, and then I just wrote the lyrics.”
A special livestreamed event has been planned around the song for this Friday, April 27th. Along with the first live performance of “Ozzy’s Song“, that free event will also see the debut of the official music video for the tribute. You can tune in over at Veeps at 06:00pm PST / 09:00pm EST. The music video will also premiere on YouTube Friday night , see below for what time you can expect to catch it.
