W.A.S.P “The Neon God”
By: The Pmrc
Sanctuary Records
I have never been a fan of concept albums. Reason being, although I look at the actual music being the number one component to an album I want the lyrics to be meaningful and or something I could relate to. The way I see it, music is passion and for me to really get into someone’s music, I have to feel the emotions of the performer and or at least relate in some form or another to what they are singing about. Whether it is Maiden singing about historical events, or Judas Priest singing about being rebellious… they find a way to connect with their audience. At the minimum, the artist has to at least feel passionate about it so it will reflect in the actual music. How do you do that in a concept album? How can you be passionate or find passion in a fictional story that you yourself can’t relate to? The problem with that question is that it is an assumption.
In short, the story is about a kid named Jesse Slain whose father passes away. In a deep state of depression the mother turns to drugs and begins to become delusional. She accuses him of being the devil and decides to get rid of him. She gives him away to a Catholic Orphanage where he is mentally and sexually abused. At the age of 13 he runs away never knowing of love and questioning his own existence. He runs into another runaway orphan whom he would later come to start a cult with. He would come to have a large following. The attention would leave him drunk with a sense of purpose. Ultimately being so out of touch with reality that he would eventually start to believe he was possibly GOD himself.
When I first looked over the story line of this album, my first thoughts were not positive.
I thought it was a desperate attempt at Blackie’s visions of grandeur. Quite frankly, I looked at it as somewhat of a joke. That all changed when I began to delve deeper into the story. I think sometimes as fans, we tend to be too quick to judge and let our biases influence our opinion of art before we look at it objectively. I think we have all been guilty of that, as I was most certainly here.
I don’t want to play psychologist here, but I feel it is important to understand the story line and where Blackie’s passion came from for writing the Neon God. After doing some research on Blackie’s life, I have come to find there is much more to this story than meets the eye. Blackie was raised Christian and was sent away to military school at 14. I think the story of the Neon God directly connects to Blackie’s issues with organized religion and institutional learning facilities. As Jesse’s (the main character of the Neon God) main issues seem to be that of abandonment, questioning what he was taught by the church and questioning his purpose in life. Which from what I gather in past interviews with Blackie, seem to be similar issues he had gone through at a period in his life.
At the end of the Neon God part1, Jesse has gone from preaching in tents to arenas and video releases. Parallel to Blackie, Jesse finds fame. However, I think the most intriguing part for me was when Jesse begins to ask questions. “Had I been put on this Earth to do what I was doing? Was I God? Was I a piece of God (in the sense that we are all part of God)? Am I a prophet? Am I a messenger from God? Was I just a man with my own message born out of no love? Am I evil? Am I "The Great Deceiver"? or does God even know I exist?”
I found this to be interesting to say the least. I once read in a Blackie interview where he said “anybody that has done this for ten or more years has been elected by a generation to say something. That’s what I’m doing”. Not that Blackie thinks he is God or anything, but is this him reflecting upon the message he wants to send out in his music? Brilliance, self-medicating, or just coincidence in the parallels of Jesse and Blackie’s lives? You decide, but I am of the opinion that Blackie has always been far too calculating for such a coincidence.
The current W.A.S.P. lineup is Blackie Lawless (vocals, guitars), Darrel Roberts (lead guitar), Frankie Banali (drums) and Mike Duda (Bass).
Although there are areas of WASP’s music in which I notice the absence of what Chris Holmes brought to this band, Darrel Roberts more than makes up for it in his passionate lead play. Being that Blackie’s style is mostly melody driven, the emotion that bleeds off Darrel’s fingers is more than complimentary to W.A.S.P.’s music, adding emotional emphasis. Duda and Banali have been playing with Blackie for sometime now, keeping the rhythm section intact and tight.
However complimentary to Blackie’s style these players maybe, let’s face facts here--this band has always been about Blackie’s vocal melody. No shortage of that here, with plenty strong vocal hooks and choruses.
1) "Overture" – A 3:33 minute instrumental / Intro to the disc, in what seems to be some sort of collage of tracks from the rest of the album. This track has several samples of various tracks through out the album.
2) "Why Am I Here" – Is a 35 second acoustic track, which actually has vocals on it. “Oh tell me my Lord why am I here? Lost in all our pain and sorrow, are we to live in pain and fear? Oh, tell me my Lord why am I here?”
3) "Wishing Well" – The first real song on the disc and one of my favorites. Up tempo rhythm with Blackie seemingly screaming in pain “Oh God, I wanna die!!” Love the bass line on this track, classic WASP.
4) "Sister Sadie"– (And the Black Habits) – The best song on the album. The song structure and hooks are comparable to W.A.S.P. classics, in the sense that it grabs you and makes you want to sing along. This song has everything. Great hooks of vocal melody, drum and bass rhythm that makes you want to pump your fist, a passionate solo that leads into a galloping rhythm, topped off by a change up in melody (that would be great for a crowd sing along live, as Blackie sings “Hey I, heeeeey-eee-aaaa-eeee-aaaa I, Hey I”) that leads right back into the chorus. The best way to describe this song is as “the complete package”
5) "The Rise" – This track has guitar melody that is reminiscent of the vocal melody from “Kill Fuck Die”. Blackie’s influence is apparent from in this song, with "Who" like keyboards.
6) "Why Am I Nothing" – This is a 58 second track, that seems be there for nothing more than the purpose of telling the story. Rather frustrating actually, because it has a nice sound. Blackie repeatedly asks questions of “Why”.
7) "Asylum #9" – Excellent track. Yet another classic sounding W.A.S.P. track that is best described as “The complete package”. No other way to put it. However redundant, this song has it all.
8) "The Red Room of the Rising Sun" – One of my least favorite tracks on the disc. It has an anemic sort of feel to it, just kind of drags.
9) "What I’ll Never Find" – One word, FEELING. This song is pure feeling. From the lyrical content, to the music that accents it. From the guitar solo to the vocal melody. This solo brings back a lot of what I think solos are missing these days. Capturing the essence of the song by putting an emphasis on the songs passion.
10) "Someone to Love Me (All I Need)" – Much like track 6, this 51 second track serves no other purpose than to help tell the story.
11) "X.T.C. Riders" – Nice bluesy riffs added into the background of the rhythm. Excellent leads, catchy chorus.
12) "Me and the Devil" – Another shortened track at 53 seconds, but after playing the album, I actually find my self singing it after the fact.
13) "The Running Man" – Galloping rhythm, musical breaks with tight drum fills. Darrell Roberts continues to impress with his leads that mimic the feeling of the song.
14) "The Raging Storm" – A ballad type track that is seemingly tearing at Blackie’s soul as he sings with a volatile emotion that ranges from soft whispers to screams. The perfect way to cap off this masterpiece of melody.
My only complaint about this album is that there seem to be a few too many recycled riffs from albums past. However, this album is creative enough for you to get past that. Overall W.A.S.P. fans, this album shouldn’t disappoint.
* * * *
