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.

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.

UMUR "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" is a single release by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. It was released through Music for Nations in April 1984. The single features the A-side title track, and the B-side track "Show No Mercy". "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" was originally intended to be included on the band´s self-titled debut full-length studio album, but Capital Records pulled the track from the final album release, as they feared that the explicit sexual content of the lyrics would get the album banned from some of the major US retail chains. Instead W.A.S.P. opted to release "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" as a single, but Capital Records didn´t dare to release that in the US either, so the single ended up being a UK only release through Music for Nations and "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" wasn´t available in the studio version in the US until it was included on the reissue of W.A.S.P. debut album in 1998.

Listening to "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" with the ears of today, it´s a bit hard to imagine why it was considered such a controversial track (the PMRC continuesly used the track, when they were rallying against explicit lyrics in rock music), but granted the lyrics are pretty explicit if you are sensitive to images of naked women and hard sex. The music itself is hard rocking heavy metal, but very catchy and melodic. "Show No Mercy" (which is not a Slayer cover) is one of the band´s more harder edged and dark heavy metal tracks. A pretty great B-side.

The material is well produced, well composed, and well played, and as a single release "Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" is quite successful to my ears, but I doubt that it would have received as much attention as it did, if the lyrics for the title track hadn´t been as provocative as they are. A good publicity stunt, or maybe just the circumstances of the situation elevated the release to something a bit more interesting than it really was/is. Still a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

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.

Warthur Blackie Lawless and crew had been responsible for some of the most deliciously sleazy albums of the 1980s metal scene, successfully latching onto the dirtiest, filthiest side of the glam metal aesthetic whilst keeping a more purist heavy metal sound than most of their glam contemporaries. By the end of the decade, though, glam's shiny lyrca star was fading, and to their credit the group manage to pull off an extremely successful stylistic and aesthetic pivot with The Headless Children.

It's not that it's a radical departure from what has gone before musically - it's still WASP's style of heavy metal, with perhaps less emphasis than ever before on including a catchy number here and there. But lyrically, suddenly things have become surprisingly serious, Blackie Lawless revealing a thoughtful side to his writing that must have been incredibly surprising at the time.

In retrospect, of course, we've had a bunch of more serious-minded WASP releases like The Crimson Idol, so listeners coming to The Headless Children from that direction may find it seems like a solid, entertaining example of business as usual. But compared to the material preceding it, it's a radical shift in perspective that is elegantly executed. It must surely have seen like a massive artistic risk at the time, but not only is it a great album in its own right, but it also paves the way for WASP's future career.