W.A.S.P.: Babylon

Produced by Blackie Lawless
Released: October 12

You gotta hand it to Blackie Lawless. Few people could have foreseen his two-chord-wonder shock rock hack act W.A.S.P. lasting much beyond its first couple of albums, and even fewer could have predicted the way the band not only lasted, but grew and developed beyond the infantile buzz-saw-wearing, blood-drinking, offal-throwing and misogynistic torture shows. Yet, armed with a modicum of real talent and an ambition, vision and drive that befits his enormous ego, Lawless has kept the W.A.S.P. fire burning now for 27 years. And if anything represents that fire, it is this, his band's 14th studio album and quite simply the best thing W.A.S.P. has done since 1992.

Flame and fire abound throughout Babylon's tracklisting: "Babylon's Burning", "Burn", "Into the Fire", "Thunder Red", "Seas of Fire" -- all kind of appropriate given the album's apparent concept as visions of the Apocalypse -- and the music is similarly ablaze with loud and heavy riffing, towering solos and Blackie's mean and demented vocal roar. There's nothing here you wouldn't have heard before from W.A.S.P.. The lead track "Crazy" starts out almost exactly like "Wild Child", for example, but this has an energy, conviction and direction that the group has lacked for a long, long time. "Babylon's Burning" is simply fantastic heavy metal that is up there with anything that could be labelled W.A.S.P.'s best and "Seas of Fire" is also a ripper. I've never been fussed on Blackie's more balladic tracks (mainly because he basically can't sing) but "Into the Fire" is also something of a highlight. The Deep Purple cover that was left off the Dominator album fits better into this concept. Stripped of the pompy keys and the funky beats, W.A.S.P. reimagines "Burn" as an apocalyptic metal song and does it pretty well. They even round things out with a metallized Chuck Berry cover that turns out sounding a little like Motörhead.

W.A.S.P. has been more miss than hit over the past decade and a half, but Babylon shows that Blackie Lawless still has a really good album in him when he gets right down to it. If you've been disappointed by his last few efforts, this should more than make up for it.

1. Crazy
2. Live to Die Another Day
3. Babylon's Burning
4. Burn
5. Into the Fire
6. Thunder Red
7. Seas of Fire
8. Godless Run
9. Promised Land

Rating: 82%