Babylon

Now we're talking! Funny as it may sound to many, I honestly think writing from the Christian angle is what it took for Blackie to breathe out some new life in his music. Babylon is the first album that I'd call truly worthwhile since 2002, and if there are any from the past fifteen years worth hearing, it's this one and its follower Golgotha. The tones that were presented before are still present, except now there's actually some legit kick to them that doesn't scream "poor us." Now, the songwriting has some unique energy to it. And best of all, the band manages to pull this new awakening off without sounding preachy. Hello, W.A.S.P.? Meet Stryper!

Though this would shine brighter later down the line, Babylon grasped firmly on the reigns of hope and actually boosted it with some refined energy. "Live To Die Another Day" is exactly what I think was supposed to be the outcome on Dominator, but there was so much transitional confusion that it was a hot mess. If the instruments having more life isn't good enough, I also love how strong the musicianship is here, especially in the drums. Mike Dupke has some serious skills behind the kit, and this adds a whole layer of heaviness. Even the cover of Deep Purple's "Burn" shows some serious ferocity, and I loved it. Matter of fact, both covers were great; closing with Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" was a bold but strong move.

What's also neat is that even the sadder songs don't feel whiny. What "Heaven's Hung In Black" wanted to be wound up showing itself on "Babylon's Burning," boasting a concerned but tight epic makeup. On the flipside, "Thunder Red" has some galloping rhythms and straight-to-the-face edge that hasn't shown itself in quite a while. Even "Godless Run," though a bit long for its own good lets things continue to move forward with beefy execution.

I won't pretend that this is perfect, or that there aren't boring spots that could be overlooked. But truly, this was a serious saving grace for the band considering the exhausting output that came prior. They would continue this aesthetic moving forward, if not dialed back by just a hair. If you listen to only one W.A.S.P. album from the latest era, make it this one.

Ten years ago, Blackie and his completely irrelevant sidekicks published "Babylon" and the four horsemen on the cover promise a dark mood. But no need to worry, the album just delivers more or less classic W.A.S.P. stuff. The grand master of stereotypes feels free to dish up new variations of his one and only standard riff. Okay, there are two songs that provide significantly different riffing, but they are written by other artists... This means that only seven songs were composed by Blackie himself. Not much for an entire full-length, if I am not mistaken. However, an overload of musical creativity has never been the most characteristic feature of his oh so scandalous combo.

Short warning, don't take the CD out of the tray with open eyes, because it conceals a picture of the old and ugly Lita Ford with a black wig. But wait a moment, I hear a very deep voice - oh, the Metal God is speaking to me. "Hey, jackass, that's not Lita, it's Blackie!" Sorry, my mistake. Anyway, the next statement is true. "Babylon" does not totally suck, but it is predictable, unspectacular, without the slightest element of surprise or progression. The smooth and sometimes almost silky guitars avoid any kind of dangerous or rebellious sounds. Of course, old Blackie's lyrics speak a different language. Nothing is more important than the daily care of his outsider image. "You gotta be crazy to say you love me" - but things are much worse: I must be crazy that I always buy his albums, especially in view of my allergy to kitschy ballads. I admit that "Godless Run" is not too soft, but it conveys a whiny mood. "I did not run to you, lost on my road to ruin"... Crying Grandpas with a broken heart are disgraceful and it is embarrassing that W.A.S.P. are not able to stop writing tunes with this debatable atmosphere. But what do we expect from a band that calls its songs either "Thunderhead" or "Thunder Red"? I hope they keep on fighting until they have offered the world a number called "Thunder Dead" or something like this.

Let's highlight the positive aspects of the album. Blackie's greatest advantage is his voice. Charisma and a pleasant pitch coalesce with each other and so the vocals alone make it impossible to hate a W.A.S.P. work. They are a very important factor and as soon as the band increases the level of harshness, the great lead vocals shine in full glory. Despite its pretty unfortunate title, "Thunder Red" marks the highlight of the album. It goes without saying that it also does not break out of the conventional song pattern, but it scores with robustness and zest. The flaming duo "Into the Fire" and especially "Seas of Fire" also add value and the latter one convinces with an up-tempo beat and a certain strictness. "Live to Die Another Day" also holds the banner of melodic metal high. The production can also be mentioned in this positive context, but I see no reason to applause a band like W.A.S.P. for an adequate sound.

Needless to say that nobody waited for cover versions of Deep Purple or Chuck Berry and so the net playtime of "Babylon" is roughly 35 minutes. All in all, it is good to see that W.A.S.P. do not re-discover industrial elements or comparable nonsense, but this output does definitely not belong to the most lively albums in the history of the music we love. It's the experienced work of a band that slavishly sticks to its success formula, even if it results in expressionless openers like "Crazy" which is anything but, well, crazy. Nevertheless, to stew in one's own juice is not forbidden and the result is still okay; but if you want to listen to music that makes your pulse run faster, this output will not satisfy you. Instead, you will accept the music with a recognising nodding, no more, no less.

While in the process of exploring W.A.S.P.’s supremely competent 80s albums, I noticed their 2009 opus, Babylon, and decided to go for it. As always with bands who’ve been around for over three decades now, there was one obvious fear concerning this album: would it just be a washed-up effort by a has-been band? Would Blackie Lawless’ numerous vocal and songwriting talents have grown tired with the years? I’m glad to say that, although this album doesn’t quite reach the quality of their first five masterpieces, it’s an impressively kickass effort.

Any fears of the band’s decline are put to rest with the massive rocking opener, Crazy. This is one of those heavy metal anthems which just force you to sing along and appreciate the full energy that our beloved genre has to offer. Blackie Lawless is, as usual, the shining star of the overall sound, providing his profound and powerful vocal delivery as well as the impressive guitar work, along with Doug Blair. The middle of the song features an excellent solo, perfectly placed as an epic transition to some more riffs and the last chorus.

As the album progresses, the template of its opener is used, with some (occasionally significant) modifications, for the follow-up tracks. Babylon in its entirety is essentially classic heavy metal with a variation on the usual W.A.S.P. sound. The album is almost devoid of any of the extremely epic and emotional ballads which make albums like The Crimson Idol so damn excellent. The W.A.S.P. atmosphere, however, is in full force, and several other highlights, such as Babylon’s Burning, remind with incredible accuracy of the band’s rich heritage. Similar to Crazy in its utter catchiness and heaviness, it adds a new level of epic reminiscent of the band’s earliest days and, at some levels, even takes it further than ever before. I’m glad to say that the entire band seems as fully dedicated here as they were during their glorious beginnings. The dedication is visible in the overall effort, mainly driven by the advanced and memorable guitar work (solos abound almost everywhere), as well as by the timeless voice of Blackie. Other elements, such as the drumming, the subtle keyboards and the bass, sound just as good and work with the music as they should. This is in good part due to the production, which allows everything to be heard to perfection and gives the album an added level of heaviness, although that does give away the modern mixing technology absent from 80s classics.

On the slow side of things, which, compared to past albums, isn’t as significant, there are Into the Fire and the especially slow Godless Run. The first is a strong ballad in traditional W.A.S.P. style, with intricate riffs and an emotionally charged vocal delivery. After this, however, the album starts to lose a little bit of steam. Thunder Red’s a decent song, with some memorable riffs around the middle and the end, but it tends to be something of a monotonous drag by W.A.S.P. standards, while Godless Run is rather plodding and pointless despite some good riffs and vocals. Seas of Fire is much better, with pounding drumming backing an instantly recognizable, mid-tempo song which is a definite highlight, although not quite on par with Crazy or Babylon’s Burning. The album ends with a cover of Chuck Berry, Promised Land, which doesn’t fit with the rest of the album at all, either musically or lyrically, and sounds straight out of the 50s (Blackie’s performance is somewhat reminiscent of Elvis). Including this track wasn’t the best of ideas, but at least it’s not actively irritating.

One thing that Babylon has in full supply is a powerful atmosphere, this time around based on the apocalyptic themes that drench the lyrics almost everywhere. Although the band’s usual brand of lyrics focusing on love and passion is still somewhat present, the former subject takes precedence. It deals with a very biblical apocalypse, with a heavy emphasis on fire and the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The subject is tackled quite well and it makes the lyrics interesting to follow.

Babylon isn’t a fluke, but it’s not perfect either. With a couple of almost forgettable tracks and a misplaced cover, it’s dragged down a bit. Still, the quality material far outweighs the clunkers and this is certainly worth hearing since the W.A.S.P. trademark sound and high quality is still present. I’d even go as far as calling this album a highly desirable modern heavy metal effort, despite its shortcomings.

Still rocking the world well into his 54th year, W.A.S.P. mainman and all-round legend Blackie Lawless brings forth the fourteenth studio album of the band millions of American Christians thought might be the devil incarnate in those naive days of the '80s. Their anthemic "Wild Child", released in 1985 on "The Last Command", may be one of my favourite songs ever but short of knowing this and their self-titled debut albums I can't admit to knowing much of their material from the 24 intervening years.

Sure, their set at Hellfest was great this past summer but do W.A.S.P. still have what it takes on record in 2009 when a quick bit of research leads to the wide held conclusions that the band haven't released a truly great album in close to 20 years? Well if "Babylon" isn't the album to break that duck then W.A.S.P. are never likely to produce another 'great' album as through 43 minutes Blackie and his merry troop show their years of experience in releasing a collection of classic hard-rocking metal of the kind that is destined always to be loved.

Even ardent fans of hard rock/heavy metal of this nature would struggle to argue that the genre has had it's low moments since being spawned seemingly millennia ago, but such is the sheer likability of the sound that even today serious enjoyment can still be derived from it's rich waters. Opening with "Crazy", which itself opens with exactly the same chords as "Wild Child" (how did Blackie not notice?!), the quality is remarkably high throughout until the needless cover of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land", even including the obligatory ballad ("Godless Run") which is usually the track when my goodwill is thrown out the window never to be seen again. The conviction in which “Godless Run” is executed shows it to be infinitely better than the ballads deployed frequently by today’s power metal fraternity and stands as a testament to the ongoing quality of Lawless’ voice, a vocal that has changed little over the years yet shows no sign of tiring or fading.

Continuing the theme of succeeding where most others fail, "Babylon's Burning" is simply an excellent heavy metal sing-along destined for the live environment, while "Into The Fire", a part-ballad part-rocker, will no doubt be air guitared to in time with it's strong Foreigner "Juke Box Hero" feel and 80’s glory and decadence. Perhaps it's good that I can't much compare this to recent W.A.S.P. material; I might just have the air of naivety required to digest "Babylon" for truly what its worth. That worth is without doubt an expertly written and played hard rocking album that anyone and everyone who is reading this should enjoy.

Originally written for Rockfreaks.net