W.A.S.P. — W.A.S.P. (review)

W.A.S.P. — W.A.S.P. album cover Album · 1984 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"W.A.S.P." is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. The album was released through Capitol Records in August 1984. It was originally titled "Winged Assassins", but is mostly known under the eponymous title. The original version of the album was to have featured the track "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", but as a consequence of pressure from the PMRC (The Parents Music Resource Center), Capitol Records decided to cut the track from the album, and W.A.S.P. instead opted to release the track as a UK single. The album, and especially the opening track "I Wanna Be Somebody", was an instant success, and the promo video for the latter further enhanced the group´s profile.

The music on the 10 track, 38:20 minutes long album is hard rocking heavy metal, featuring hard edged guitar riffing, blistering solo work, a pounding rhythm section (loads of anthemic galloping rhythms to be found here), and Blackie Lawless powerful "I swallowed a dozen razors" voice on top. The instrumental side of the music is well played, but slightly formulaic sounding as a result of the vers/chorus structured tracks, but the vocals and the backing- and harmony vocal arrangements make the music shine.

While few tracks on the album reaches the excellence of "I Wanna Be Somebody", which is a really powerful and relatively raw rocker, the material are generally well written and quite memorable too. Some of the anthemic choruses are infectiously catchy, and it´s hard not to pump your fist in the air and shout along. It´s very audience friendly music, and I can imagine how great the material functioned live in those days.

The album is decently produced, featuring a raw and organic sound production. The drums and especially the bass drum sound could have been handled with a bit more finesse, but overall the sound production suits the material well. So "W.A.S.P." is upon conclusion a pretty strong debut album by W.A.S.P., and a promising start to their career. Not all tracks are equally great, but all tracks are catchy and stay in your memory long after the album is over. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I've occasionally thought of buying this on CD but I only remember "I Wanna Be Somebody" and "School Daze" and I only remember the latter because of the pledge of allegiance at the beginning. Something tells me that, like many 83/84 albums I loved back then, hearing them now would be fun once and then they'd sit quietly for many years.

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