Zakk Wylde's latest Black Label Society album, Order of the Black, should be a text book for every up-and-coming hard rock band out there.

It's Zakk's eighth BLS album since 1999's Sonic Brew, and he's every bit as ballsy and brutal as he was when he first started the band. Order of the Black is locked and loaded with some real riff-driven barn-burners, namely "Crazy Horse" and "Godspeed Hellbound." However, it's also got some of Zakk's most poetic so far—"Darkest Days" and "January." The man can do it all with a microphone, a piano and an arsenal of guitars. The whole scene should take note....