Welcome to Part II of the W.A.S.P Album by Album Challenge. This time around we’ll pick up with 1999’s Helldorado, make our way through the two part conceptual epic of 2004’s Neon God Part 1 & 2, and all else in between and thereafter. How did these albums stack up? Did the Brainfart survive this challenge? Did he tap out screaming at any point? Stay tuned and read on to see what happens in this conclusion of the W.A.S.P Album by Album Challenge.
Helldorado
Release Date: May 18, 1999
The Good: Helldorado, Damnations Angels, High on the Flames, Cocaine Cowboys, Cant Die Tonight,
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Dont Cry (Just Suck), Dirty Balls (harder faster), Saturday Night Cockfight, Hot Rods To Hell (Helldorado Reprise)
Wow, talk about a complete 180. Blackie must have got all that industrial techno bullshit out of his system because with Helldorado is the polar opposite side of the spectrum. The opening title track caught me off guard so much that I had to replay it again just wrap my head around it. It’s almost as if Blackie piled everyone into the time traveling Delorean and took us back to 1987 and made a record that should’ve been the Inside the Electric Circus album.
With Helldorado, Blackie really backpeddled by about 12 years and like I said, this album very would could’ve and probably should’ve been the Inside the Electric Circus album. The songs on this album are decent and while there isn’t really a bad song on this album, none of them particularly stand out as outstanding. The lyrics aren’t nearly as juvenile as the Electric Circus stuff but the vibe of the playing and the songs themselves just remind of a lost album. Matter of fact, if someone told me this was a lost W.A.S.P session from the 80’s I would’ve believed it. This album was enjoyable for the most part but really forgettable. I doubt I’ll be revisiting this one.
=============================================
Unholy Terror
Release Date: April 3, 2001
The Good: Let it Roar, Hate to Love Me, Loco-Motive Man, Euphoria, Raven Heart, Evermore, Wasted White Boys
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Who Slayed Baby Jane,
Score another for Blackie Lawless. What a great fucking album that I never once laid ears on. Unholy Terror is yet another unearthed gem that I had no idea would be this fucking great. “Let It Roar” kicked things off into high gear and right away I was all excited. By the time we got to “Loco-Motive Man” I figured that Unholy Terror was EXACTLY the album that should’ve been made right before The Headless Children. The delivery on this album is old school with a fresh, new energy to it and the songs are just top fucking notch. “Euphoria” is an amazing instrumental that reminds me a lot of a Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” and “Evermore” is a six minute epic that I felt completely engaged by and connected with. The album closer “Wasted White Boys”, of all songs, was the highlight of the album for me. I was so blown away by the energy and vibe of this song and that closing guitar solo is just absolutely facemeltingly amazing. I would’ve never known it based on the corny song title once again teaching me to never judge a book by its cover.
Unholy Terror is a lost W.A.S.P classic that I can’t believe never got the attention that it so deserved. If you are even the most casual of W.A.S.P fans I feel like you will love this album. Matter of fact, I think it would be fun to play the debut, this one, and then The Headless Children back to back just to see how that sounds. This was a really great surprise for me and so much so that I played the album twice. Yeah, it’s that fucking good. Do yourself a favor and get on this one.
=============================================
Dying for the World
Release Date: June 11, 2002
The Good: Shadow Man, My Wicked Heart, Black Bone Torso, Hell for Eternity, Hallowed Ground, Revengence, Trail of Tears, Stone Cold Killers, Rubber Man
The Bad:
The Indifferent:
Once again I find myself listening to another lost classic W.A.S.P album. It’s beyond me how these albums didn’t sit higher up on the pedestal of heavy metal. Dying for the World is such a solid album but at this point this album could’ve been any other good W.A.S.P album. I don’t mean this as a bad thing but there is very little that sets this album aside from Unholy Terror. It’s almost as if those two albums could’ve been a double album coming out at the same time. Maybe at this point Blackie was writing in a formula or something but again, this isn’t a necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it’s also that Unholy Terror was such a good album that I kind of expected to hear another album of equal quality. Maybe it’s also that Blackie’s predictability is unpredictable. Does that make sense? Ok, maybe not.
Dying for the World didn’t have a bad song in the bunch but damn were there some stand out tracks. “Shadow Man” is such a strong song and it made me realize that, much like Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P albums tend to open with superbly strong track that sets the bar high for the rest of the album. “Black Bone Torso” is probably one of the most unique tracks I’ve heard W.A.S.P do and I loved that it served somewhat as a prelude to “Hell for Eternity” which is also an outstanding track. “Hallowed Ground” reminded me of a cross between “Sleeping in the Fire” from the debut and something that could’ve been on The Crimson Idol. “Stone Cold Killers” turned out to be a highlight for me and was a song that got a few repeat listens to me. Blackie’s vocals never cease to blow my mind and why he’s always left off the list of best metal singers is beyond me. Dying for the World is another really good W.A.S.P album that while lacking a bit of identity still manages to turn out some spectacular material.
=============================================
The Neon God: Part 1 – The Rise
Release Date: April 6, 2004
The Good:
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Overture, Why Am I Here, Wishing Well, Sister Sadie (And The Black Habits), Why am I Nothing?, Asylum 9, The Red Room Of The Rising Sun, What Ill Never Find, Someone To Love, X.T.C. Riders, Me The Devil, The Running Man, The Raging Storm
So here he goes again. I don’t know what Blackie’s thing with making concept albums are. I mean, wasn’t one enough? It’s almost like this guy listens to way too much Who and wants to be the metal equivalent of Pete Townsend. Blackie Townsend? Pete Lawless? Whatever it is. I’ll be honest, the album as a whole really isn’t bad at all but it’s like he’s trying so fucking hard to tie together some kind of story about a rock god and his rise that the songs just don’t seem to have any kind of real catch or click to it. It all just sounds really contrived.
As usual, the songs are really well played and Blackie sings his ass off but the songs just didn’t do anything for me. I tried to really listen to each song on its own and, again, while they didn’t suck they did very little for me because they just sounded so forced to try and tell a story. The songs had so much potential for greatness but they all just felt so forced and disjointed. Don’t tell me a story Blackie, just rock my fucking face off. If you really want to tell me a story, do it on a song by song basis as opposed to an entire fucking album.
=============================================
The Neon God: Part 2 – The Demise
Release Date: September 28, 2004
The Good:
The Bad:
The Indifferent: The Raging Storm, Never Say Die, Resurrector, The Demise, Clockwork Mary, Tear Down the Walls, Come Back to Black, All My Life, Destiny’s to Come, The Last Redemption
Ok, so I can’t say anything much differently than the review of the first part of this “epic saga.” All I can say is that once again, Mr. Lawless just tried too fucking hard. I’m still not quite sure what the story was that he was trying to get across. Maybe this is some kind autobiographical work but I just feel like it’s played out and time to stop this crap. Stop making two part concept albums about some kind of self-indulgent concept/story. Matter fact, just knowing that this was the 2nd part of this long, drawn out story made it nearly impossible for me to make it through it but I did.
Much like with Part 1, the songs are well played and the music fucking rules. There was so much potential for greatness with these songs but it just wasn’t there. By the time the 13 minute epic “The Last Redemption” was over I was thanking a the Neon God himself that it was all over. I mean, I love W.A.S.P but do we really need a 13 minute W.A.S.P song? The answer is hell no we don’t. There’s two more albums to go and I can only hope that they will lift me out of this conceptual black hole and kick my ass like it needs to be kicked.
=============================================
Dominator
Release Date: April 16, 2007
The Good: Take Me Up, The Burning Man, Heaven’s Hung in Black, Heaven’s Hung in Black (Reprise), Deal with the Devil
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Mercy, Long, Long Way to Go, The Burning Man, Heavens Blessed, Teacher,
Right out of the gates Dominator just didn’t sit right with me. That raw, naturally heavy sound of the classic WASP production was gone and replaced by a very modern and digital sounding production. The overall sonic sound of this album was just lifeless and flat and as boring as the songs themselves. It’s funny how Blackie was able to not write any bad songs for this album but just make a bunch of songs that were drab, mediocre, and just meh. Is the mighty Mr. Lawless running out of ideas?
The first two songs on the album just sounded so drab and forced but leave it to Blackie to once again come up with a slow burn kinda balladesque type song with “Take Me Up.” That song was outstanding and very well could’ve been on “Headless Children” or something. I really enjoyed that one quite a bit. “Heaven’s Hung in Black” was another really great example of Blackie flexing his ability to write really beautiful slow, dark, brooding metal songs. In some ways I wish he would maybe do a full album of material like this because it seems that over the years he’s perfected this kind of material. “Deal with the Devil” closed out this album with a bang and was really the most enjoyable “upbeat” song on this album. I’d love to take those slow songs and add them to a playlist of my own favorite WASP slow tunes.
=============================================
Babylon
Release Date: October 13, 2009
The Good: Crazy, Babylon’s Burning, Burn, Into the Fire, Thunder Red, Seas Of Fire, Godless Run, Promised Land
The Bad:
The Indifferent: Live to Die Another Day,
This is the last studio release from W.A.S.P and here comes Blackie once again to prove me wrong. Just when I thought he was out of ideas and making flat sounding albums, here he comes and puts out a powerful, in your face album like Babylon. I love the fact that maybe Blackie took a listen to Dominator and said, “We need to get back to that original sound of production.” This time around the album is bombastic, warm, and has that classic WASP tone to it.
“Crazy” was a great way to open the album and reminded me of something we could’ve heard on The Last Command. “Live to Die Another Day” was a bit on the lame side but then BAM! “Babylon’s Burning” comes along and proves to be one of Blackie’s greatest all time moments. That song is so fucking good that I had to listen to it again before moving forward. Staying with the trend of nailing the living fuck out of cover songs, Blackie and Co. dove right into the Deep Purple classic “Burn” and closed with the Chuck Berry classic “Promised Land” and nailed the fuck out of both of them. “Into the Fire” is another signature slow tune that once again kicked my ass and in all honesty, the rest of the album was a fucking blast to listen to. Blackie Lawless proved me wrong once again. This guy is far from out of ideas. His ideas may not always be the best ones and he may not always nail it. Babylon had me feeling pumped to be a WASP fan and already has me looking forward to what he has up his sleeve for the future.
=============================================
About The Author
