Well, Blackie Lawless and Co. returns for yet another ambitious project in an effort to create one of the most elaborate conceptual projects from these guys yet. With this being the part one of a two volume concept album series, Lawless again strides upon the influence of his opus
The Crimson Idol, again returning to the technical approach to musicianship as well as brining the lyrics back to epical proportions, paralleling again to
Idol and
Still Not Black Enough, leaving the conscious of the earlier/looser material for another recording session down the road.
With the concept being a more blatantly rough than
Idol's story of Jonathan, Neon speaks of anguish and the search for self discovery, basically asking what the second song states "Why Am I Here" which the obvious question is "what the fuck is humanity, anyways," just look at the track titles and you will get the jist, obviously making for one dark album, giving
W.A.S.P.'s past endeavors a run for their money.
The
W.A.S.P. sound is all over the record, Lawless and Co. put the production on this record to where it takes the best turn for creating the "rock opera," putting his greatest songwriting and musical skills to work in creating such and ambitious project. The songs themselves stand on their own, with more aggression found in songs such as
"Sister Sadie" and
"X.T.C. Riders," the sub-operatic influence of
"Overture" and
"Why am I Here," not to mention Lawless' signature dark ballads that take place with the full blown dark emotion, whereas found in
"What I'll Never Find," "Me and the Devil," and
"Underature," with the atmosphere speaking for itself, all the way to the end with the dark cut
"The Raging Storm," obviously being the portal to the sequel. The album itself changes from song to song, flowing with complete contrast, from track to track. Filled with the blazing guitar work, the occasional Hammond organs the rhythm section back by longtime
W.A.S.P. companion and former
Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali; and of course, the vocal power of Lawless, still after decades holds extremely strong and powerful.
The recording itself is dense production wise, plenty of reverb and instrumentation layering, fairly warm sounding without being muddied by the density. When looking at this as a two part set, it is going to be interesting to see how the story unfolds within the second half, due out later this summer, but one things for sure, after hearing this, it will be welcome. This marks an excellent return to further endeavors by W.A.S.P, to be continued......
Written by
Hashman Wednesday, May 5, 2004
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