Grimmest Hits (Double Gatefold LP)

With a title suggesting a 'best of' album, this is in fact a slab of all new material from perennial guitar offender Zakk Wylde and his Black Label Society. Wylde's is a familiar sonic template that doesn't change much from album to album, but here he shows a degree of restraint that a less sober version of himself never revealed.

Grimmest Hits dials back the overdriven fuzz and dispenses with his oft-overused pinch harmonics for a smoother, mellower approach. Still doom-tainted, dark and heavy, with the odd country-flavoured semi-acoustic tune, it presents a somewhat more mature picture of one of metal's favourite wildmen.