Search - Wasp :: Headless Children

A WASP masterpiece

Robert D. Williams | Reading, PA USA | 12/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh, my ... where to start with this one? I'm recalling this thing from 1988... not to say I'm any less familiar with it, because I listened to it countless times. Why? It's among the greatest rock albums I've ever heard. There isn't one bum cut here, people. It's metal. It rocks. Pure and honest, even in the cover of "The Real Me", which was endorsed positively by Pete Townsend himself. ANY REAL WASP fan knows that this is a true slice of Blackie's heart... topped only by a few discs in his career: Crimson Idol, KFD, and perhaps the self titled debut. Ready to step back into what was great in the late 80's? Start here."

The best of WASP's catalogue, right here.

Griff the music snob | Lynchburg, VA, USA | 06/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First off, I want to point out that, contrary to a previous reviewer's statement, Chris Holmes appeared nowhere on this album. Blackie did rhythm and bass chores, and brought in Bob Kulick (brother of ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick) to perform leads. Frankie Banali (ex-Quiet Riot) did the drums here. Chris Holmes was ousted from the band shortly after his cameo appearance on "The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II - The Metal Years" where he, in front of his mother, drank most of two fifth-bottles of Smirnoff in the duration of a 4 minute interview. That clip is widely considered one of the most pitiful moments ever captured on tape, and Blackie couldn't continue to be associated with such a disaster of a human being... There are some that say that "Thunderhead" was written about Chris, although you'll never get Blackie to admit such a thing...



Now that the technical aspects are done, let me just say that if Blackie had released this album back in 1984 instead of their self-titled debut, we'd be talking about WASP as one of the all-time greats of metal, rather than the not-quite-there-when-they-needed-to-be bands that time forgot.



Blackie Lawless made a crucial mistake when he first got this band rolling - he TRIED to write commerically viable music. Everyone saw through it, both hardcore metal fans (like myself) and glam fans (who wanted more party-harty and less head-slam anyway) and they were lost in the void.



Fortunately for all of us who really appreciate metal, he woke up and recorded this masterpiece.



Beginning to end, this was easily the best album of the year in 1989. Blackie was 100% in vocal form for this record, Kulick cranked out riff after asassinating riff, and the end result is an incredible metal album that stands up proudly next to gems like Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and demands to be given its due."