Back to Black

The last four years have been especially heavy for Zakk Wylde.

From filling in for his departed friend Dimebag Darrell on a world tour with Pantera, to honoring musical patriarch Ozzy Osbourne at the historic “Back to the Beginning” show in Birmingham, England, this past summer, and then getting the devastating news that the legend died just over two weeks later– the emotional highs and lows have been a lot, but they’ve also fueled his creative output more than ever before.

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As his own band Black Label Society (featuring JD DeServio on bass, Jeff Fabb on drums and Dario Lorina on rhythm guitar) gears up for its first tour since 2021 this week, Wylde is understandably reflective while discussing the long-awaited new material, even while he maintains the witty, comical demeanor he’s known for.

The band’s twelfth studio album, Engines of Demolition, is coming March 27 and though making it was a decidedly longer process than he’s used to, the final result is as bold and bombastic as anything BLS fans could want. It’s also remarkably bittersweet.

“Usually when we do a Black Label album, it’s just like an implosion of ideas,” he explains by Zoom. “I’d have a month to write and noodle on some things, the guys would come out and hang for about a week, and we’d track everything. But with this one, they came out in like 2022 and we tracked a batch of stuff. Then they left, and I went out on the road with the Pantera Celebration for about a year. When I came back, we were going to release the record, but then, it was like, ‘no, we’re going to go back out again with Pantera for another year.’ I came back, wrote some more songs, tracked them, then went out again for another year and a half.”

Featuring singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, with Wylde tackling Dime’s ferocious fret work and Charlie Benante taking over drummer Vinnie Paul’s pounding rhythms, the Pantera shows were wildly successful tributes to the late brothers who made the band’s metal so potent.

Though the seemingly endless touring forced delays, it gave him time to refine his new tunes and continue to write while on tour.

BLS’s signature dark, droll imagery and bluesy yet tempestuous riffage is fully intact, as heard on singles released from 2024 through 2026, such as “The Gallows,” “Lord Humungus,” “Broken and Blind” and “Name In Blood.” But there are also narrative nods to the relationships that shaped the musician long ago and the more recent losses that he’s still processing.

Wylde’s raucous spirit and imposing stature made him one of rock and roll’s most stupendous guitar gods, but the 59-year-old’s emotive evolution sees him exploring new depths fueled by a myriad of experiences the last few years.

“I mean, Dime’s infectious energy and his power, you know, it’s in the riffs and all the music,” he says of the slain shredder, a close pal for decades. “And then whenever we go out and do the Zakk Sabbath crusades, my appreciation for that music is always there too. I’m just always floored at how amazing the songs are, and then the simplicity between the songs because there’s an art to that as well. That’s definitely an influence. And you know, Tony [Iommi], has always been a huge influence on me. For me, it’s always the music first, then the music inspires a melody and then the lyrics come once I find out what I want to sing about.”

“Ozzy’s Song,” his ode to the Prince of Darkness—who was more akin to a family member than a boss—is sure to get the most buzz for the album. He wrote the tune before the icon’s untimely passing and completed it afterward as a way to honor him.

The musician, who did a short set with Pantera and performed an ardent tribute to Randy Rhoads on “Mr. Crowley,” with Ozzy at “Back to the Beginning,” shared collective shock and heartbreak with the world when Jack Osbourne called him to say his dad had died on July 22, 2025, just 17 days after the triumphant concert, which many in the Ozz camp had hoped might be an annual event. Wylde served as a pallbearer, along with his oldest son Jesse, at the funeral.

“The song was sitting on the back burner, but after Ozzy passed away and we laid him the rest, I worked on it when we came home. I sat here at the house in our little library room,” Wylde recalls. “We have one of Ozzy’s books sitting up there, and I was just listening to the music and looking at him while writing the lyrics. We ended up calling it “Ozzy’s Song,” because Barbaranne had been calling it that.”

Wylde brings up his wife a lot these days, for good reason. Managing his career since he started playing with Ozzy, Barbaranne Wylde has been his partner in love and life since the couple met in high school as teens. They have four kids, ages 13 to 33, and share a deep bond with each other and the Osbournes that goes way beyond music.

“I was 18 and Zakk was 19 when he got the gig with Ozzy so we basically grew up with them,” Barbaranne shares. “Zakk’s mom passed away very early on in his career with Ozzy, and Sharon assumed the role of ‘mom.’ She’ll introduce him as her oldest, naughtiest child. Ozzy was our oldest son’s godfather and we are all so close. When we got married in Bora Bora, Ozzy and Sharon were the first people we called from the landline at the hotel. We were together for all the most important life events. Jack was a brand new baby when Zakk got the gig, Kelly was 1 and Aimee was 2.”

“There isn’t a night that Zakk and I don’t lay down and you know, speak to Ozzy and tell him what’s going on,” she continues. “And we know he’s with us all the time… every day for two solid months after he passed, Zakk and I have found a feather at our footsteps… We have a collection of, I don’t know, maybe 100 feathers that we have found since Ozzy passed and it was really weird because I have a feather tattoo that Ozzy loved so much and when I got it, he would just be like, ‘let me see that Barb.’ That’s so beautiful. I love that tattoo. I feel like it’s been him with us.”

“I saw you yesterday / Before you went away / Remember when / Never thinking it would end.

Blue skies up above / But soon we’d feel the cold / Although we knew / We chose not to know.

But it’s okay / The skies may cry / But I’ll be holding on, holding on.

– “Ozzy’s Song”

A gentle yet aching power ballad, “Ozzy’s Song” ends the record and gives it a raw, full circle dimension. During our chat with Barbaranne, which took place just after Zakk wowed fans at Amoeba Music in L.A. and hosted a listening event at the nearby rock bar Knucklehead in Hollywood—she reveals that Black Label will be playing the song live for the first time when the tour kicks off, adding that they just filmed a video for it to come out the same day as the album release. It’s sure to be an emotional endeavor, just as playing Dimebag’s parts in Pantera has been these past few years.

As seen last week during the Brit Awards’ tribute to Ozzy, in which Wylde  played alongside bassist Robert Trujillo, drummer Tommy Clufetos and UK crooner Robbie Williams, his evocative style feels more layered and cathartic than ever, especially on the classics. He’ll be doing double duty on the tour, opening the BLS shows with Zakk Sabbath (his ode to the metal groundbreakers).

But there’s a certain freedom for Wylde in playing his original compositions, even while staying faithful to the nuances and riffs of Pantera, Black Sabbath, and even Randy Rhoads’s work with Ozzy when he plays them. Still, he adds that “no matter what, your attack and your vibrato is still yours. If Dime was playing the solo to ‘No More Tears’ or ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ note for note, it wouldn’t matter, I could still tell it was him by his touch and his feel.”

His time with Pantera isn’t over, either. The band will support Metallica in Europe this summer and play the Louder Than Life metal fest in Kentucky this fall. Black Label will play the festival too, but before that, their North American tour schedule is packed starting March 6, followed by some European dates before a return to the States.

Clearly, he loves touring though he also stresses deep appreciation for his home and family time. The return of Black Label Society will be his focus near the end of 2026, though announcements about a new metal project with William Shatner and the possibility of making new music with Pantera might keep him busy too. He’s also excited about news of “mom” reviving Ozzfest—which he’s played countless times.

“He loves life and he loves making people happy,” says Mrs. Wylde, who hosts the popular podcast Honest AF with fellow rockstar spouse Daniella Clarke (wife of guitarist Gilby Clarke) offering glimpses at their enduring rock and roll relationships and a lot more. “Zakk really puts his most impassioned, heartfelt, sorrow, and his intensity into his music and with this album in particular, it really comes out in the lyrics. Most of the time, he writes from others’ perspectives, but this was the first record he made that he couldn’t help but have some of his feelings in the songs. It’s the most personal, first-person experience writing that he’s ever done in his career.”

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