“After tracking with Ozzy, I’d drink until 6am, walk back to my room, pick up my guitar and start writing. By the time Ozzmosis was finished, I had Book of Shadows written”: Zakk Wylde on the power of acoustic guitar, tonewood myths and Pantera’s future

When many of us conjure a mental image of Zakk Wylde, there’s probably an electric guitar somewhere on his person – whether it’s the Gibson Les Paul Customs he swore by for the majority of his career or the Wylde Audio instruments he launched through Schecter a decade ago.

You might envisage a line of amps stacked up behind him, running hot to fully convey the sheer sonic weight of his riffs, as well as overdrives and modulations to add extra muscle and color in the right places. He might be holding his guitar over his head, drenched in sweat and grinning like a Viking at the first sighting of green shores after endless months at sea. This, in many ways, feels like the man’s default setting.