Babylon

While in the process of exploring W.A.S.P.’s supremely competent 80s albums, I noticed their 2009 opus, Babylon, and decided to go for it. As always with bands who’ve been around for over three decades now, there was one obvious fear concerning this album: would it just be a washed-up effort by a has-been band? Would Blackie Lawless’ numerous vocal and songwriting talents have grown tired with the years? I’m glad to say that, although this album doesn’t quite reach the quality of their first five masterpieces, it’s an impressively kickass effort.

Any fears of the band’s decline are put to rest with the massive rocking opener, Crazy. This is one of those heavy metal anthems which just force you to sing along and appreciate the full energy that our beloved genre has to offer. Blackie Lawless is, as usual, the shining star of the overall sound, providing his profound and powerful vocal delivery as well as the impressive guitar work, along with Doug Blair. The middle of the song features an excellent solo, perfectly placed as an epic transition to some more riffs and the last chorus.

As the album progresses, the template of its opener is used, with some (occasionally significant) modifications, for the follow-up tracks. Babylon in its entirety is essentially classic heavy metal with a variation on the usual W.A.S.P. sound. The album is almost devoid of any of the extremely epic and emotional ballads which make albums like The Crimson Idol so damn excellent. The W.A.S.P. atmosphere, however, is in full force, and several other highlights, such as Babylon’s Burning, remind with incredible accuracy of the band’s rich heritage. Similar to Crazy in its utter catchiness and heaviness, it adds a new level of epic reminiscent of the band’s earliest days and, at some levels, even takes it further than ever before. I’m glad to say that the entire band seems as fully dedicated here as they were during their glorious beginnings. The dedication is visible in the overall effort, mainly driven by the advanced and memorable guitar work (solos abound almost everywhere), as well as by the timeless voice of Blackie. Other elements, such as the drumming, the subtle keyboards and the bass, sound just as good and work with the music as they should. This is in good part due to the production, which allows everything to be heard to perfection and gives the album an added level of heaviness, although that does give away the modern mixing technology absent from 80s classics.

On the slow side of things, which, compared to past albums, isn’t as significant, there are Into the Fire and the especially slow Godless Run. The first is a strong ballad in traditional W.A.S.P. style, with intricate riffs and an emotionally charged vocal delivery. After this, however, the album starts to lose a little bit of steam. Thunder Red’s a decent song, with some memorable riffs around the middle and the end, but it tends to be something of a monotonous drag by W.A.S.P. standards, while Godless Run is rather plodding and pointless despite some good riffs and vocals. Seas of Fire is much better, with pounding drumming backing an instantly recognizable, mid-tempo song which is a definite highlight, although not quite on par with Crazy or Babylon’s Burning. The album ends with a cover of Chuck Berry, Promised Land, which doesn’t fit with the rest of the album at all, either musically or lyrically, and sounds straight out of the 50s (Blackie’s performance is somewhat reminiscent of Elvis). Including this track wasn’t the best of ideas, but at least it’s not actively irritating.

One thing that Babylon has in full supply is a powerful atmosphere, this time around based on the apocalyptic themes that drench the lyrics almost everywhere. Although the band’s usual brand of lyrics focusing on love and passion is still somewhat present, the former subject takes precedence. It deals with a very biblical apocalypse, with a heavy emphasis on fire and the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The subject is tackled quite well and it makes the lyrics interesting to follow.

Babylon isn’t a fluke, but it’s not perfect either. With a couple of almost forgettable tracks and a misplaced cover, it’s dragged down a bit. Still, the quality material far outweighs the clunkers and this is certainly worth hearing since the W.A.S.P. trademark sound and high quality is still present. I’d even go as far as calling this album a highly desirable modern heavy metal effort, despite its shortcomings.