Sonic Brew

Sonic Brew is the first album by the heavy metal band Black Label Society, however unlike the albums that followed, this album still possessed a distinct Southern rock overtone that up to this time had predominated Zakk Wylde’s solo writing style. The album was initially released in Japan on October 28, 1998. It contained 13 tracks (lacking “Lost My Better Half” and “No More Tears”); the cover art was printed on clear plastic, with a separate paper booklet. The back cover was printed with golden ink, and the packaging was, overall, a lot higher quality than all later versions.

There was a long delay before it was released outside of Japan, because the drums and vocals were buried on some of the tracks towards the end of the disc, so it was collectively decided to remix it for the US release. Due to the delay, Wylde and drummer Phil Ondich decided to give the USA an added bonus and went to the studio in California and recorded the aggressive “Lost My Better Half” as a one-off bonus track for the album - the recording of which reportedly prompted Wylde to pursue a heavier direction for the band’s music thereafter. Sonic Brew was finally released on May 4, 1999 with a standard gloss-printed booklet. Early copies came packed with a free Zakk Wylde guitar pick.

Subsequently the Johnnie Walker whisky company issued a cease and desist order to Wylde on the album cover, which had been designed to look just like a bottle of Johnnie Walker’s Black Label Whisky. The band decided to reissue the album with a different album cover, this time merely the band’s skull logo and as an added incentive, they wanted to record a further bonus track for the fans who wanted to buy this now-third version of the album.