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Artist: W.A.S.P. |
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Whenever someone asks me who
are my favourite bands of all time the name of W.A.S.P, always comes
up. I've been a fan of the band from the beginning and one of my
favourite live memories will always be the bands first UK show at the
Newcastle Mayfair, a night that saw me look in awe at the six foot tall
front-man Lawless as he took the crowd in his hands and squeezed every bit
of rock n' roll out of them with his larger than life stage persona.
That was a long time ago and although the likes of Chris Holmes, Randy Piper and Steve Riley have long left the band and only Lawless remains from the original line-up, my belief is that Lawless has taken the band further that anyone could have imagined and album after album he has put his heart and soul into each release and made W.A.S.P. a personal canvass for his views on the world and mans uncontrollable desire to self-destruct. This was first felt on what I believe to be the turning point album for the band, 'Headless Children'. This album still remains one of the bands finest releases to date. An album that received mixed reviews at the time, but as time has gone by, fans have grown to appreciate what this album meant in the wider spectrum of the band. 'Headless Children' opened up with the line “Father come save us from this madness we’re under” and now twenty years later those words have more meaning in a world gone mad, politicians taking the world to new lows, war and famine more in the news than ever before, the decline of the world banking system and terrorism are on our lips more than ever and it makes you wonder if the four horsemen are saddling up their steeds as we lie in our beds. So back to the album, with these facts in mind Lawless has once again set out an album of art reflecting life with this latest release 'Babylon'. The album is classic W.A.S.P. with seven original Lawless classics and two quite outstanding covers. As the album opens up with 'Crazy', you are left in no doubt who is behind this album, Lawless's song writing has always been superb and here it’s no different. A classic riff gets things underway and from here on in it's W.A.S.P. and nothing else. This excellent album continues with 'Live To Die Another Day', a charging anthem worthy of any W.A.S.P. album before, with stalwart Mike Duda on bass duties again and on lead guitar Doug Blair with the powerhouse drumming of Mike Dupke, this is another fine example of Lawless at his song writing best. My outright favourite track off the album comes in at track 4 'Babylon’s Burning', this one takes me back to the 'Crimson Idol' album, it has that same appeal great guitars and a stomping rhythm section. The first of the two covers is 'Burn', yes 'Burn' the Deep Purple classic is given the Lawless touch as he takes this classic and turns it into a metal anthem as you’ve never heard it before. Believe me this is just a fantastic version. It’s back to the original material for the sombre tones of 'Into The Fire', a dark slice of Lawless magic that ends the first half of the album in style. Then it's full steam ahead rock with 'Thunder Red' as an explosive a song as Lawless has produced, then it's back to that bass thunder of Duda as 'Seas Of Fire' gets underway. A thunderous 4 minutes 34 seconds of sheer class. What W.A.S.P. album wouldn’t be complete without a real reflective slice of Lawless song writing as that art reflecting life ethic I talked about earlier with 'Godless Run'. The album comes to a close
with the second of the two covers on the album 'Promised Land', like
'Burn' before, this one is given a real ballsy punch and one that takes me
back to the first time I heard 'Blind In Texas', it has that same vibe
about it a track that is sure to go down well live, as are the rest of the
tracks on an album. I rank this release as highly as 'The Headless
Children' and 'Crimson Idol' releases, this is another Lawless masterpiece
and is actually my "album of the month" for October. |
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Tracklisting:
01. Crazy
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All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
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