W.A.S.P.

Heavy Metal / Industrial Metal / Hard Rock • United States

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W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 which gained notoriety for its "shock rock"-image, music and live performances.

The band, formed in Los Angeles, California, initially consisted of Blackie Lawless, Rik Fox, Randy Piper and Tony Richards. The band initially became famous for its raunchy and at times shocking live shows; Lawless was known to tie semi-naked models to a torture rack and hurl raw meat into the audience. The band's debut single, entitled Animal (Fuck Like a Beast), was equally controversial.

The initial line up didn't last for long, as Rik Fox left the band to join (then unknown) vocalist Ron Keel & guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen in the band Steeler. He was replaced with Don Costa. Shortly after that, Don Costa also left the band and his position on the bass was filled by Lawless. At the same time, guitarist Chris Holmes joined the band.

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W.A.S.P. Online Videos

W.A.S.P. – Live at The Lyceum 1984 Full Concert online metal music video by W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. – Live at The Lyceum 1984 Full Concert
UMUR

W.A.S.P. - Scream (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records online metal music video by W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. - Scream (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records
Tupan

W.A.S.P. - Golgotha (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records online metal music video by W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. - Golgotha (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records
Tupan

W.A.S.P. - Hold On To My Heart online metal music video by W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. - Hold On To My Heart
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W.A.S.P. - Forever Free online metal music video by W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. - Forever Free
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W.A.S.P. Discography

W.A.S.P. albums / top albums

4.01 | 36 ratings

W.A.S.P.
Heavy Metal 1984

3.77 | 36 ratings

The Last Command
Heavy Metal 1985

W.A.S.P. Inside the Electric Circus album cover

3.49 | 30 ratings

Inside the Electric Circus
Heavy Metal 1986

W.A.S.P. The Headless Children album cover

4.12 | 30 ratings

The Headless Children
Heavy Metal 1989

4.00 | 28 ratings

The Crimson Idol
Heavy Metal 1992

W.A.S.P. Still Not Black Enough album cover

3.82 | 14 ratings

Still Not Black Enough
Heavy Metal 1995

3.06 | 8 ratings

Kill, Fuck, Die
Industrial Metal 1997

3.15 | 9 ratings

Helldorado
Heavy Metal 1999

3.67 | 9 ratings

Unholy Terror
Heavy Metal 2001

W.A.S.P. Dying for the World album cover

3.75 | 8 ratings

Dying for the World
Heavy Metal 2002

W.A.S.P. The Neon God, Part 1: The Rise album cover

3.31 | 8 ratings

The Neon God, Part 1: The Rise
Heavy Metal 2004

W.A.S.P. The Neon God, Part 2: The Demise album cover

3.36 | 7 ratings

The Neon God, Part 2: The Demise
Heavy Metal 2004

4.04 | 8 ratings

Dominator
Heavy Metal 2007

3.96 | 10 ratings

Babylon
Heavy Metal 2009

4.25 | 8 ratings

Golgotha
Heavy Metal 2015

W.A.S.P. ReIdolized (The Soundtrack to the Crimson Idol) album cover

2.50 | 1 ratings

ReIdolized (The Soundtrack to the Crimson Idol)
Heavy Metal 2018

W.A.S.P. EPs & splits

0.00 | 0 ratings

More Deth
Heavy Metal 2001

W.A.S.P. live albums

3.75 | 8 ratings

Live... In the Raw
Heavy Metal 1987

W.A.S.P. Double Live Assassins album cover

4.25 | 2 ratings

Double Live Assassins
Heavy Metal 1998

4.00 | 2 ratings

The Sting
Heavy Metal 2000

W.A.S.P. demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

W.A.S.P. re-issues & compilations

W.A.S.P. First Blood, Last Cuts album cover

4.33 | 3 ratings

First Blood, Last Cuts
Heavy Metal 1993

W.A.S.P. The Best of the Best album cover

5.00 | 1 ratings

The Best of the Best
Heavy Metal 2007

W.A.S.P. singles (14)

3.77 | 3 ratings

Animal (F**k Like a Beast)
Heavy Metal 1984

3.62 | 4 ratings

School Daze
Heavy Metal 1984

4.50 | 1 ratings

Wild Child
Heavy Metal 1986

4.50 | 2 ratings

Mean Man
Heavy Metal 1989

4.00 | 1 ratings

The Real Me
Heavy Metal 1989

3.50 | 1 ratings

Forever Free
Heavy Metal 1989

4.00 | 1 ratings

I Am One
Heavy Metal 1992

4.50 | 1 ratings

Hold on to My Heart
Hard Rock 1992

4.50 | 1 ratings

Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)
Heavy Metal 1992

4.00 | 1 ratings

The Idol
Heavy Metal 1992

0.00 | 0 ratings

I Am One (10")
Heavy Metal 1992

0.00 | 0 ratings

Sunset & Babylon
Heavy Metal 1993

0.00 | 0 ratings

Black Forever
Heavy Metal 1995

0.00 | 0 ratings

Kill Fuck Die
Heavy Metal 1997

W.A.S.P. movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

5.00 | 1 ratings

The Sting: Live at the Key Club, L.A.
Heavy Metal 2001

W.A.S.P. Reviews

W.A.S.P. The Headless Children

Album · 1989 · Heavy Metal

UMUR

"The Headless Children" is the fourth full-length studio album by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P. The album was released through Capitol Records in April 1989. It´s the successor to "Inside the Electric Circus" from November 1986 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Steve Riley has been replaced by former Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali.

"The Headless Children" marks a change in musical direction, as it features more serious lyrical content, and isn´t as focused on explicit sexual themed lyrics and lyrics about the rock´n´roll life as the lyrics on the first three albums. Political and social issues are now dealt with bringing a more mature element to W.A.S.P.´s sound. Some tracks also feature a darker and heavier songwriting approach which suits the rawness of Blackie Lawless voice well (tracks like "The Heretic (The Lost Child)" and "The Headless Children"). The construction of the songs is predominantly vers/chorus based, but W.A.S.P. have created more memorable riffs than before and the album features some pretty brilliant lead guitar work throughout. I can´t say Banali´s drumming is especially accomplished to my ears (it´s simple and doesn´t help the songs flow), but maybe it´s just his drumming style which I don´t agree with.

"The Real Me" (a cover of The Who) and the power ballad "Forever Free" are the most well known tracks from "The Headless Children", but it´s a good quality release throughout, featuring well written and memorable material.

Other than the great lead guitar playing (courtesy of Chris Holmes), the voice and vocal delivery by Lawless are the standouts of the performances on "The Headless Children". He has such a raw, intense and commanding way of singing, that it´s impossible not to feel awe when listening to him. "The Headless Children" also features a relatively well sounding production job (the drums could have prospered from less reverb effects), and upon conclusion it´s a pretty strong release from W.A.S.P. Fans of the early releases will still enjoy this but listeners who didn´t enjoy the first three albums, may actually also find that they can discover something to appreciate here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

2 days ago
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Report #885975

W.A.S.P. Inside the Electric Circus

Album · 1986 · Heavy Metal

UMUR

"Inside the Electric Circus" is the third full-length studio album by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. The album was released through Capitol Records in November 1986. It´s the successor to "The Last Command" from November 1985 and features one lineup change as guitarist and founding member Randy Piper has left to join L.A. Guns. Lead vocalist Blackie Lawless has taken over the rhythm guitar role, giving up his bassist role to new member Johnny Rod.

Stylistically the material on "Inside the Electric Circus" are a direct successor the hard rock/heavy rock sound of the two preceding albums. Not much have been changed here and it´s still lead vocalist Blackie Lawless and his rough voice and screaming delivery which take center stage in the soundscape...and that´s a good thing, because the instrumental part of the music really isn´t that interesting. The hard rocking riffs are relatively uninspired and the vers/chorus format of the songs make them predictable and formulaic. That is not unusual for this type of music, but when the riffs aren´t more memorable and sharp than they are here, the vers/chorus format becomes tedious and the songs a little hard to get through. It has often been said by the band themselves that they were burnt out and not particularly inspired while writing and recording the material for "Inside the Electric Circus", but while it may not be their most inspired effort, the quality of this album isn´t far behind the two preceding albums. So that probably says more about the general quality of W.A.S.P.´s music from this era, than it does about this particular release.

For the time it was released "Inside the Electric Circus" features a relatively well sounding production job. It could have been more powerful and more heavy, and they could have chosen a better sounding drum production and less reverb on everything, but I write that down to the production choices of the day, as many other releases from this era sounds a lot like this one. So upon conclusion "Inside the Electric Circus" may be a bit of a run-of-the-mill type album from W.A.S.P., where they didn´t mess around with the successful formula of the first two albums, but it´s still a decent quality release and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

3 months ago
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Report #884005

W.A.S.P. The Last Command

Album · 1985 · Heavy Metal

UMUR

"The Last Command" is the second full-length studio album by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. The album was released through Capitol Records in November 1985. It´s the successor to the eponymously titled debut album from August 1984 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Tony Richards has been replaced by Steve Riley (formerly of Keel). "The Last Command" turned out to be a major commercial success for W.A.S.P., selling more than a million copies and reaching No. 49 on the Billboard 200 album charts by early 1986.

Stylistically the material on "The Last Command" is pretty much a continuation of the heavy rock/metal sound of the band´s debut album. Simple vers/chorus structured tracks, featuring hard rocking riffs and rhythms, some blistering solo work, and Blackie Lawless rough voice and raw sounding vocals in front. W.A.S.P. may have had a both shocking and controversial image and sometimes lyrical concept in their early days, but the music is anything but extreme. Lawless has a raw voice and a screaming delivery, but the instrumental part of the music is nothing more (or less) than heavy metal distorted rock´n´roll. As an example you can check out the chorus on opening track "Wild Child". Even my grandma would sing along to the catchy chorus melody on that one. "Blind in Texas" should of course also be mentioned when talking about "The Last Command", as it´s an album highlight and one of the band´s signature songs.

Catchiness and instantly memorable songwriting are probably the two greatest assets of the music on "The Last Command" (and Lawless voice and delivery), because the tracks are sometimes almost too simple and the songwriting a bit one-dimensional. It´s quick and easily digestable entertainment, but it´s also a bit shallow. The sound production is organic, raw, and relatively wild sounding, suiting the material well, so all in all "The Last Command" is a decent quality heavy rock/metal album from W.A.S.P.. I´m not exactly blow away by this, but it´s alright for what it is. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.

4 months ago
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Report #883459

W.A.S.P. The Crimson Idol

Album · 1992 · Heavy Metal

SilentScream213

What is often hailed as one of if not the best W.A.S.P. albums is ironically more so a solo effort by bandleader Blackie that eventually got the W.A.S.P. label slapped on it so it could sell. Sometimes, an album can be a better package if it really is done entirely by one person. Especially in the case of a concept album.

Blackie had a story, he had a few main motifs and he rolled with it all the way through. The result is a strong album that feels heavily cohesive and has no moments of weakness. The music is very catchy, and adds just enough keys and other musical influences to up the “epic rocking” factor without truly dipping into cheese territory, and is actually quite serious musically. The album is surprisingly vulnerable for someone of Blackie’s reputation, as “desiring the love and acceptance of your parents” was not exactly a common theme in heavy music (though it was likely an undertone in a lot of the rebellious themes, no one would flat out admit it).

Aside from that, the story is another tale of a fictional rocker’s rise and fall, which had already been done to death by ’92. The album is consistently very strong, but if the main motifs aren’t working for you, it will get very samey and repetitive. Great listen to follow along the story, flows incredibly well, but the replay factor is quite low.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #688435

W.A.S.P. School Daze

Single · 1984 · Heavy Metal

UMUR

"School Daze" is a single release by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. The single was released through Capitol Records in 1984. The A-side is lifted off the band´s self-titled 1984 debut full-length studio album, and the B-side of the single features a cover of "Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones.

Both tracks are well performed and W.A.S.P. manage to put their own identity into "Paint it Black", while still staying fairly true to the original. Both tracks are also well produced featuring a raw yet detailed production. It can always be argued how much value a two track single represents, when you already have the A-side featured on an album, but quality wise "School Daze" is a fine release by W.A.S.P., and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.