Back in the mid-’80s, W.A.S.P. were considered the Anti-Christ
\nof the music world. After naming a song “Animal (Fuck Like A
\nBeast)” and getting certain Washington wives’ undies in a knot,
\nBlackie Lawless and crew became more well-known for their bad-boy
\nimage rather than their catchy, rather intelligent form of heavy
\nmetal – in fact, they were about as threatening as a
\nmini-firecracker.<\/p>\n
But changing musical tastes, lineup changes and reported
\nsubstance abuse problems took their toll on W.A.S.P., and by 1993,
\nit seemed like Lawless and crew were ready to pack it in and call
\nit a (successful) career.<\/p>\n
But W.A.S.P.
\ndidn’t<\/i> go away as many probably hoped they would; instead,
\nLawless and crew started to merge industrial with their music – and
\nmuch to my surprise, Lawless started writing songs that fit the
\nimage groups like the PMRC painted them as.<\/p>\n
Their latest release,
\nK.F.D.<\/i>, is evidence of the darker side to W.A.S.P.’s music –
\nand after over a dozen listens to this disc over the last two
\nweeks, I still can’t say for sure if I like this new direction.<\/p>\n
Time has not hurt Lawless’s voice; if anything, his vocals are
\nstronger than ever. He can go from a hellish growl to a pleading
\nwhisper without missing a beat. Guitarist Chris Holmes, the only
\nother remaining original member, has further refined his chops –
\nnever mind he was a more-than-competent lead guitarist in the
\nband’s glory days. Bassist Mike Duda often sounds hidden in the
\nmix; the times his work comes to the forefront are quite enjoyable.
\nDrummer Stet Howland often sounds like he’s playing a drum machine
\n– I prefer the acoustic drums much more, always have.<\/p>\n
The title track, an abbreviation for “kill, fuck, die,” is the
\nfirst real taste of W.A.S.P. 1997 – and it is one that takes some
\ntime to get used to. The problem I have with the track is the
\noveramplification of the percussion – too much drums, not enough
\nguitar and bass. The song just doesn’t have the kick that other
\nsongs in the W.A.S.P. catalog do, and is a letdown. There are even
\ntimes where it seems like Howland loses the rhythm on the hi-hat
\ncymbals.<\/p>\n
This isn’t to say that Lawless has forgotten how to write a
\nkiller track. “My Tortured Eyes,” complete with the pleads of “kill
\nme,” has some very beautiful moments. “Killahead” is a powerful
\nrocker that sets a head-banging tempo that refuses to let up; it
\nalso somewhat turns back to the classic W.A.S.P. sound, though
\nthere’s still lots of industrial on it as well. “Kill Your Pretty
\nFace” starts off well, but trails off a bit near the end
\npower-wise.<\/p>\n
It’s not the shift to industrial that bothers me the most about
\nK.F.D.<\/i>, it’s the much darker tone of the lyrics. People
\ngasped in horror when Lawless used the word “fuck” twice on the
\nnon-album track “Animal,” and there wasn’t
\nthat<\/i> bad of content on their second effort
\nThe Last Command<\/i> to warrant a warning on the album jacket.
\nBut here, very few of the songs don’t talk about killing in some
\nway, shape or form, and “fuck” is much more commonplace. As much as
\nI am no prude when it comes to the use of vulgarities, I find their
\nincreased use and constant images of murder disturbing.<\/p>\n
And I’m not entirely convinced that this is the way that Lawless
\nwanted himself and W.A.S.P. to be remembered. No doubt that he is
\ncarving a new trail for W.A.S.P. – and often backs it up with some
\nsolid songwriting and playing. But I fail to see what was wrong
\nwith the old W.A.S.P. that required such a shift in personal views
\nand anger. (Not that Lawless doesn’t have the right to express
\nanger, after the band’s fall from grace during the decline in
\nmetal’s popularity and the fact the band never achieved the success
\nof others like Whitesnake or AC\/DC.)<\/p>\n
No matter how many times I listen to
\nK.F.D.<\/i>, I can hear promise in the album’s weaker moments,
\nand I can glorify in the strong performances. If I had any advice
\nfor Lawless, it would be simply to cut back a bit on the distortion
\nand the industrial groove, and just do what the band used to –
\nperform balls-out rock for the sheer fun of it.
\nK.F.D.<\/i> sounds more like a release of personal demons for
\nLawless (“Can’t describe how I hate your fucking face” from “U”
\nsays volumes) – and in doing so, the music loses its
\nfun-to-listen-to edge.<\/p>\n
\nK.F.D.<\/i> might not be the best stocking-stuffer for the tykes,
\nand it may be an eye-opening listen for the long-time W.A.S.P.
\nfans, but it is, indeed, progress. Lawless and crew have been
\nforging ahead – never mind the critics, thank you very much – for
\nover ten years, and seem perfectly content to continue bucking the
\ntrends and tastes of the masses.
\nK.F.D.<\/i> is a good album, though I do hope the band does
\nrevert a tiny bitto make listening to them more like watching
\nPorky’s<\/i> than
\nThe Amityville Horror<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5899],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35836","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-w-a-s-p","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35836"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35836"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}