Released from the confines of being Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist, Zakk Wylde turns in a surprisingly solid debut album from his own band, Pride & Glory. Wylde's guitar still has that Sabbath crunch, but what makes Pride & Glory so listenable is the way it is melded to the deeply Southern rock & roll of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Wylde manages to turn in a handful of well-written songs, but even when the songwriting isn't so hot, the playing is. And that's the point of this kind of rock, anyway. [The 1999 reissue of Pride & Glory contains a bonus disc, featuring two studio outtakes ("Torn & Tattered," "The Hammer & the Nail"), plus covers of Sabbath's "The Wizard," Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dyin'," and the Beatles' "Come Together." All five songs are in the same vein of hard rock as the album, and are fairly enjoyable, at least for hardcore fans of Wylde.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine|

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