Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with guitar legend ZAKK WYLDE (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) for a lengthy discussion on artists and albums that influenced his playing. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

UG: The first VAN HALEN album.

Zakk: "Oh, that's another iconic thing. Eddie's guitar tone pretty much changed the planet and you figure 'Eruption' but everything changed on that. It just kinda pulled the guitar into the future."

UG: Eddie Van Halen was a really big influence on you?

Zakk: "I've got other friends who are real big Eddie guys 'cause I was such a BLACK SABBATH guy. I just dig the power of the Sabbath stuff 'cause Van Halen's such a happy party band. I mean everything's up with them whether it's the boogies but it's all just swing stuff. It's almost like ZZ TOP on steroids. You know what I mean? It's all shuffles and stuff like that. Just up stuff because that's what Dave was into and that's what they were. Where Sabbath was a big sludgy, dark, power riff type thing and LED ZEPPELIN was the power blues and everything like that. Then you had Van Halen was the ultimate party band and they had it down. You knew when you were gonna put a Van Halen record on, they sounded like California. If you lived in Jersey you were like, 'Wow, that's what it must be like to live in California.'"

UG: The first GUNS N' ROSES record, Appetite For Destruction?

Zakk: "It's beyond iconic, man. Everything's great on that thing and every song on there is just phenomenal. The solos and just everything, man."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Catacombs Of The Black Vatican will be released in Europe on April 7th via Mascot Label Group and in North America on April 8th via eOne Music. The cover art and tracklisting are as follows:

'Fields Of Unforgiveness'

'My Dying Time'

'Believe'

'Angel Of Mercy'

'Heart Of Darkness'

'Beyond The Down'

'Scars'

'Damn The Flood'

'I've Gone Away'

'Empty Promises'

'Shades Of Gray'

'Dark Side Of The Sun' (bonus track)

'The Nomad' (bonus track)

Check out an album trailer below:

Wylde is currently on a 13-city solo tour across Canada, featuring intimate versions of some of Black Label Society's most popular songs, as well as tunes from Wylde's best-selling solo album Book Of Shadows, and Southern rock band PRIDE & GLORY.

Tour dates:

February

17 - Edmonton, AB - The Ranch
18 - Calgary, AB - Flames Central
19 - Medicine Hat, AB - The Esplanade Arts Centre
21 - Regina, SK - The Exchange
22 - Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theater
23 - Winnipeg, MB - Garrick Theatre
24 - Thunder Bay, ON - Crocks
26 - London, ON - London Music Hall
27 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall
28 - Montreal, QC - Corona Theatre