Review by Lisa Burke, videos by Matt Nielson
October 9th & 10th 2015, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Zakk Sabbath, the Black Sabbath cover band fronted by Zakk Wylde on guitar and vocals along with Blasko on bass and Joey C. on drums, played two shows at the Viper Room in West Hollywood last weekend, with mega-influential Los Angeles stoner rock champions Fireball Ministry as sole opening act both nights. Unsurprisingly, the two shows were sold out, and the Metal Assault team attended both. Enjoy a review of night #1 by Lisa Burke along with videos from night #2 by Matt Nielson:
Friday night on the Sunset Strip can be as adventurous as you are willing to make it, as usually more than a few rock stars are found playing in the streets, and sometimes they even play at venues. On this occasion, my adventure started at The Viper Room with just two top notch bands Fireball Ministry and Zakk Sabbath. Upon my arrival I noticed that there was a line containing anxious metalheads spanned around the corner and a few buildings down. Once inside, on a day where the temperature exceeded one hundred degrees, because naturally that’s how it’s supposed to be in October, it felt just like hell on an extra satanic day. (Editor’s note: The Viper Room did state that the air-conditioning was on full blast but simply was not enough to handle the capacity crowd of 250). Even while consuming beverages to cool down, it became almost impossible not to escape for a minute to get some fresh one hundred degree air outside. Despite this minor malfunction of nature, both bands’ performances were the best I’ve ever witnessed from the incarnations I’ve witnessed before.
Fireball Ministry hit the stage and the sound was at the perfect levels from the beginning which sparked the fire that lit up the whole rest of the night, and maybe even Scott Reeder’s bass. Fireball Ministry, having just got off the Motörboat cruise, carried some great energy that tuned them together excellently. To me, it seemed Emily Burton, the band’s only female member, harmonized on vocals even more than previous shows which only enhanced the stoner magic that this band is capable of bringing. In a previous review on this band I describe them as similar to what I imagine a stoned Motörhead would sound like. I still stand by that, but must note that the originality of the harmonizing and sheer unique stylings of this band stand them apart from your average metal band and enhance the entertainment to a degree. If that’s not enough, a lit-up bass can’t hurt either. Jim Rota’s vocals seemed cleaner and more pleasantly sung at this performance than the last time I saw them, and the guitars were dueling well off one another. Rota also amused himself as well as the audience by shotgunning them down with his guitar using wild-eyed facial expressions. This great energy formed an enthusiastic crowd that was left with a feeling of satisfaction of money well spent by the conclusion of the performance.
Video of Fireball Ministry performing a cover of The Who’s ‘Trick Of The Light’ (night #2):
Related: Review + photos of Fireball Ministry @ Motörboat 2015
Fireball Ministry Set List (night #1):
01. Flatline
02. The Broken
03. Spill The Demons
04. Choker
05. Daugher of the Damned
06. Sundown
07. King
08. VIM
On to the attack of Zakk Wylde and his signature bullseye guitar, the satisfaction continues. Zakk Sabbath, of course, being a Black Sabbath cover band, is just one of the few Zakk Wylde projects out there. Having played for years with Ozzy Ozbourne he clearly adapted his vocal style better than I ever imagined he would, and although he will never be Tony Iommi he also wasn’t trying to be anyone but himself, yet successfully accomplished that true Black Sabbath sound. On this night he did make one fatal mistake and forgot the signaure Ozzy Ozbourne bucket of water to keep cool and to throw at the audience as that would have ruled and saved us all, but I suppose he had better things to do than throw a bucket around, like perhaps play guitar. Zakk has a reputation of being either loved or hated as far as his guitar tone and styling is concerned because he has a very signature sound. I’m not a huge fan of the tone he uses in Black Label Society myself but there is an undeniability that he is an excellent guitar player, and I love everything Ozzy Ozbourne. That stated I must say that this performance was shockingly clean, accurate, and so much in the vein of true Black Sabbath that only at one or two short moments did I notice Zakk Wylde’s signature tone peeking out.
The set list was great, as only two songs in, it was ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ time which is one of my absolute favorites, and shortly after, ‘War Pigs’ stole the show. Of course, ‘Snowblind’ was a winner on the Sunset Strip, and ending in the ever popular ‘N.I.B.’ left us in good spirits. The rest of Wylde’s troops really brought a strong Black Sabbath quality to the stage as well. It was so packed in this venue that at one point I got my hand slapped down for taking a photo from a girl who looked like Amy Winehouse reincarnated and was selfishly taking her own photo next to me. Good times at the Viper Room always, and shortly after this, the steam that came out of my ears for a few minutes made the room heat up so much I had to step outside even though I would normally have stayed because I was loving it. However in doing so, I realized even more how good and Sabbathy it was not seeing the impostors, but only hearing it amped up in quality to a greater degree. I’m ecstatic that I went and while you might think a cover band is nothing special, I strongly disagree, especially with one of this caliber. If I had planned better I would have absolutely attend the added on second night as well because the whole show was far from boring. Go see these two talented bands if you get the chance, as it is well worth the experience and completely memorable.
(Editor’s note: Some special guests including Ozzy Osbourne were strongly rumored to join Zakk Sabbath for the encore on night #2, but these rumors did not eventualize as there were no guest performers)
Video of Zakk Sabbath performing ‘Wicked World’ (night #2):
Zakk Sabbath Set List (night #1):
01. Into The Void
02. Fairies Wear Boots
03. Lord of This World
04. War Pigs
05. Snowblind
06. Children Of The Grave
07. Wicked World
08. Wall Of Sleep
09. N.I.B
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