Zakk Wylde's Black Sabbath tribute band, Zakk Sabbath, is poised to unveil one of the most ambitious projects a tribute band has ever undertaken, Vertigo.
Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album was famously recorded in a single day in October of 1969.
In honor of that incredible feat and the groundbreaking record it produced 50 years ago, Wylde's ultimate tribute band attempted to record a tribute to Black Sabbath in the same conditions.
Recorded live in the studio with a film crew documenting the process, the marathon session resulted in one of the most comprehensive celebrations of the world's first bonafide heavy metal band.
You can hear Zakk Sabbath's version of "The Wizard" in the player above.
Zakk Sabbath features two members of Ozzy Osbourne's longtime live band, Wylde and bassist Rob 'Blasko' Nicholson, alongside former Queens of the Stone Age drummer Joey Castillo.
"It's hilarious to me, because we were 17 years old playing keg parties at a friend's house and now I'm 53 years old and I'm still playing 'N.I.B.' and Sabbath songs at keg parties, except there's a couple more people," Wylde told Rolling Stone this summer.
Vertigo isn't a note-for-note recreation of Black Sabbath. The puts the band members' identities on full display, but through the vehicle of Black Sabbath's music.
"Compared to Paranoid, which is almost like a best-of record, the bulk of the material on Black Sabbath is deep cut, really experimental stuff that was never thoroughly explored, so that was a challenge, not to forget that we wanted to meet our own high standards," Blasko said of the project.
Vertigo won't be available digitally via music streaming platforms in another effort "to make the release feel authentic to the time when vinyl rules the Earth." The release will be available as a digipak CD, CD/DVD hardcover book with the album behind-the-scenes-interviews and make of, and as a limited-edition yellow vinyl.
You can get more information on Vertigo here.
Photo: Getty Images