Black Label Society brought the heavy while honoring legends at Harrah’s Resort SoCal with Zakk Sabbath and Dark Chapel
On Thursday March 12th an incredible heavy metal extravaganza rolled into Harrah’s Southern California Resort in the form of an amazing live concert event featuring headliners Black Label Society, with supporting bands Zakk Sabbath, and Dark Chapel. Black Label Society or BLS is a band formed in Los Angeles by legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde in 1998, featuring a blend of heavy metal, southern rock, and groove metal. The group has recorded eleven studio albums with a new LP entitled “Engines of Demolition” having just released on March 27, 2026. This live incarnation of the doom crew absolutely pummeled the Harrah’s casino crowd in Funner, CA at this weeknight concert. Tons of heavy metal enthusiasts came out for the show with people from all over the San Diego and the greater SoCal area making the trek to the excellent sounding casino based venue. It was a bit of an odd experience seeing this intense heavy metal band, with its fans almost always normally breaking out into giant moshpits, in a more family friendly casino ballroom. However, the Harrah’s security admirably was doing their absolute best to keep the peace, and for the most part the show was a fantastic experience for everyone in attendance.
Dark Chapel was the 1st band up on this heavy night, fronted by guitarist/singer Dario Lorina (who also plays with Black Label Society), the group blends precise guitar work, sludgy grooves, melodic hooks with bluesy touches with some grunge spirit. Dark Chapel’s 2025 debut LP, *Spirit in the Glass* balances heavy, ethereal, and intense musically skilled elements. The band’s live show is incredible to watch and just bursting with energy. Drummer Luis Silva was a standout with his incredibly powerful and bombastic performance behind the drum kit, he was an absolute pleasure to watch and powered this band through each and every track. Dark Chapel’s raw energy as a band was hard to ignore, and the fantastic soloing and riffing by Lorina and company was an excellent start too this long evening of heavy music.
Zakk Sabbath is a heavy metal supergroup/cover band that is a popular Black Sabbath tribute act, led by guitarist and vocalist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist) and featuring some of his musical brothers from Black Label Society including the talented John “JD” Deservio on bass, and the killer Jeff Fabb on drums. Formed around 2014 the band covers songs from across Black Sabbath’s catalog but with their own signature heavy spin. Imagine if all the classic Black Sabbath songs had been written and recorded today instead of the 1970’s, all of the songs have a little more heavy flavor, chugging bass and drums, and a lot better sonics on the recordings. The band was on fire as usual with Wylde absolutely crushing these famous heavy metal riffs. The crowd went crazy for this act and it is just such an incredible treat to hear these songs live in full power at full volume played exactly the right way, honoring the original music in such a great way.
Black Label Society capped this evening with a headline set that was just a pure blast of energy from start to finish. As a guitarist and live performer Zakk Wylde is an undeniable talent, he knows how to work a crowd like this so well. As he moved from song to song, original BLS hits to tributes, the guitarist and vocalist payed homage to his metal brothers like Ozzy, Dime and Vinnie along the way. His incredible stage presence is just so much fun to experience, and he even ran out into the audience performing a long solo from atop the seats in the rear of the theater posing and showing off for fans in the aisles along the way. Songs like “The Blessed Hellride,” “Fire It Up,” “Suicide Messiah” were all standouts with a wonderful tribute to Ozzy Osbourne “No More Tears” brining the crowd to their feet. The band closed with a killer version of “Stilborn” that was so much fun, the crowd rushed the stage at the end of the show to try and get picks and sticks from all the band members. This show was an absolute blast, and all of Zakk Wylde’s many musical projects seem to really strike the right chord with San Diego fans.
