Zakk Wylde's Sleeping Dogs Growl Loudly For His Latest Effort

Meek isn't in metal wild man Zakk Wylde's nature. However for the brand new "Sleeping Dogs" he does stop to get contemplative, as the mid tempo beat can attest. You sort of sense this effort goes nicely alongside a backdrop which finds you floating downstream, paddling a canoe, listening to the wise man unfurl what he knows. His chords are high level mellow which is a far cry from his Ozzy Osbourne days where his attitude level was off the chains. The drumming here doesn't stray too far away from its boundaries. Nice, contained, and in full service to the message Zakk's trying to send out. The lyrics point to how difficult it can be to attain peace of mind. That battle often suggests hard fought victory to attain a level head. In the opening stanza the protagonist, lamentably doesn't manage to get to the bridge where hectic leads to calm. Bitterness becomes his companion riding in the side car, rubbing in how incomplete a person he ultimately became. Zakk picks a chorus refrain to end all chorus refrains, a truism that shows he hasn't lost his snarling way phrasing entirely. "Gone but not forgotten. You cut me down just to watch me bleed." What mercilessness this implies. The protagonist isn't exactly letting bygones be bygones. Later on in the song he swears the last word represents the last thing that will be taken from him. The way the ambience stays at one defining level with an occasional shift into a chord that adds additional beef to the brew puts Zakk's ability to meld hard and soft textures on delectable display. As for his voice it's got the swamp fog lingering quality that isn't at all out of place beside the subject matter, very thick and at some forks in this road, mysterious. Zakk already has many disciples courtesy of Black Label Society. How they would feel about "Sleeping Dogs" stands as an argument waiting to be explored thoroughly. But, back to the platter in front of us. Zakk digs neatly into his vocal register and pulls out the kind of attention grabbing consistency reserved for the Tom Petty level of storytellers. Beat by determined beat Zakk allows his presence to be clearly felt, the moral of peace in one's own skin as the grand prize unmistakable. Too bad the lead character in this psychodrama never got to that rewarding destination. Zakk's ace in the hole artistry wise comes from not moving this heavily weighted canoe down the stream so fast that others can't digest the broad scope which allows Zakk's brushstrokes to effect the creation of a moving canvas of artwork. His time spent on VH1's That Metal Show didn't force his sensitive side to get tangled in the underbrush. Rather, he takes his man pill, rolls up his sleeves, and gets down to the business of adopting the Aesop cap, proving that at least in this scenario, age and wisdom do make an exact match. Zakk has come a long way from the "No Rest For The Wicked" Ozzy Osbourne days. He's a man who's seen his share of the seamier side of the world and has the bruise marks to prove it. "Sleeping Dogs" stands poised to wake up any hard rock fan who thinks Zakk Wylde's sharp teeth aren't still biting in the creative heft sense of the word.