Artist: W.A.S.P.
Label: Capitol Records
Release: 1992
Out of the few dozen rock and metal records that have each left their mark on me in their own way, three really stand out among the heavy metal ones: “Streets” by Savatage, “Operation:Mindcrime” by Queensryche, and the record that pulled me in forever on first listen somewhere in middle school, and I’m still in there today – “The Crimson Idol” by WASP, or rather, Blackie Lawless himself.
Yep, this record comes from the very same “hard-headed” guy who back in the early eighties pulled on tiger-striped tights, strapped a buzzsaw blade around his crotch and howled like a beast. And he made it, all the way. Songs like I wanna be somebody, WildChild and Animal (I fuck like a beast) are still essential at every proper heavy metal party today, and his craziness scared the puritanical Americans so much that they actually put their music “on trial” in the hallowed halls of Congress, when heavy metal was up for debate and was defended in a performance fit for the gods by “the sickest motherfucker of all motherfuckers”, Dee Snider. That’s how we got those stickers on album covers that everyone knows today… But I’m getting off track. So WASP made it big and raged through the decadence of the eighties, but just as the decade was winding down and the end of the party was already “in sight”, they put out The Headless Children in 1989, hinting that they were more than just a mindless party band. Yes, WASP are MUCH more than that…
Before recording this very record, Blackie fired Johnny Rod and Chris Holmes and at first wanted to release the record as a solo outing, but the label talked him into putting it out under the WASP name for the sake of bigger exposure. So in September 1989 he started writing the concept of the album that became “The Crimson Idol”. The story roughly follows a boy, Jonathan – “the invisible boy” – who runs away from his stuffy, religiously fanatical “redneck” family to the big city – “Arena of Pleasure”. There the kid buys himself a red BC Rich and, like any well-raised country boy, starts shredding heavy metal, until the head of a big label, “Chainsaw Charlie”, notices him. He promises Jonathan he’ll make him the biggest ace on the scene, and Jonathan “sells his soul”. On the eve of the record’s release the kid meets a gypsy woman (The Gypsy Meets The Boy), who reads his tarot cards and warns him to be careful what he wishes for, because it might come true. As promised, the kid turns into a star overnight, driven on by raging crowds all over the world, drugs and easy women (Doctor Rocter, I Am One). But every bout of hedonism ends sooner or later, and in a moment of lucidity after a hit of cocaine (brilliantly pulled off on the record) he calls his long-estranged mother, who denies he even exists and hangs up. The big shot’s world collapses (the Idol, hold on to my heart), but he rises again for the grand finale (The Great Misconceptions Of Me), where he ends up defeated. What follows is the wrap-up of the whole story, narrated by Blackie over an acoustic guitar.
That’s a quick rundown of the story on the record, but if I stop there, I’m really doing it an injustice. Blackie polished the thing down to the last detail, worked out theater-worthy dialogues in the individual songs, and still managed to keep the form of classic heavy metal tracks. A pure fucking ten. The best way to listen to the record is back to front, so the story first, where Blackie sketches out the framework of the tale in 15 minutes of narration while toying on acoustic guitar with the figures and riffs that you later hear in electrified form on the regular part of the record. No need to waste words on the music itself, this is the perfection of heavy metal on the level of Iron Maiden (ooo, blasphemy ). Insane drum parts by ex-Quiet Riot master Frankie Banali and the guitar wizardry of Bob Kulick (brother of the ex-Kiss guitarist) blend together with crazy guitar riffs and the vocal escapades of master Blackie. What this guy did with his voice on this record is not normal. With that voice he first tears limbs off in the madhouse of Chainsaw Charlie (with the most legendary intro of all time: what’s more heavy metal than the “cranking of a rusty chainsaw”?), and soon after your heart can burst with his suffering vocals in what I consider the best heavy metal ballad of all time, Hold On To My Heart.
Maybe I’m a bit too euphoric writing this review (the album’s been spinning nonstop on my notebook while I write this, and even though I’ve heard it a million times, it still rips me apart), but this thing will soon be played live, right before my eyes and ears – hell yeah (read: W.A.S.P. concert, New Age, Roncade (Treviso), Italy, 12.12.2007)! This record (and the tour coming to Europe in December 2007) is “a must hear, must see” for all heavy metal fans . A madhouse from start to finish ! Long Live Blackie Lawless!
Lineup
Blackie Lawless – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Bob Kulick – guitar
Frankie Banali – drums
Stet Howland – drums
Production
Blackie Lawless
Tracklist
1. Titanic Overture
2. Invisible Boy
3. Arena Of Pleasure
4. Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
5. Gypsy Meets The Boy
6. Doctor Rockter
7. I Am One
8. Idol
9. Hold On To My Heart
10. Great Misconceptions Of Me
Album length: 58.05
