W.A.S.P. – Babylon
Global Music LTD
www.waspnation.com  

Rating: B

Blackie Lawless and his saw blade cod piece, meat covered fans and naked, bound on stage chick were part of the Sunset Strip spectacle that took 80’s metal over the top and brought in too much cartoon and not enough music or art.  Now, Lawless would, intelligently argue with me on that observation.  However, no matter how good of a debater as he may be, he threw meat on people and cut things up with a saw blade only inches away from his penis.  No matter how you slice that up, that takes away from the music.   

As Blackie ages, however, something is happening.  His music is getting better.  His lyrics are deeper and his songwriting is improving.  While most of his fans liked Fuck Like A Beast for the sheer shock value, Lawless shows his 2009 version of W.A.S.P. is a damn good, classic, heavy metal band.   

“Live to Die Another Day” is as strong a song as W.A.S.P. has ever written and the remaking of the Deep Purple classic “Burn” is done exceptionally well.  “Thunder Red” would have been on MTV back in the day and the heavy groove rocks hard.  On “Godless Run” Lawless sounds like Metal’s version of Meat Loaf, only not as good as a singer.  The album ends with the song “Promised Land,” again sounding like Meat Loaf meets W.A.S.P.  The song has a boogie rhythm to it with a grinding solo that ends the album on a high note.  

If Lawless continues to mature and progress as an artist he may have to change the acronym of the band from We Are Sexual Perverts to We Are Serious People.  Nah, scratch that.  There will always be enough sleaze in Blackie to keep it fun, no matter what the subject matter.  

By Jeb Wright