W.A.S.P.

(UNITED STATES)

THE CRIMSON IDOL

(1992)
LABEL:

CAPITOL

GENRE:

HEAVY METAL

TAGS:
Concept-album, Rasping vocals
""The Crimson Idol" is W.A.S.P.'s masterpiece, a timeless and unparalleled autobiographical heavy metal concept album."
NIURK (16.04.2009)  
5/5
(0) opinions (0) comment(s) (1) Biography + (5)
The road was long and tumultuous for W.A.S.P. from 1984 to 1992, from the first Heavy album with dubious stage antics and the life behind the scenes punctuated by a chronic instability, until this immense, absolute, legendary project. While The "Headless Children" had initiated in 1989 a radical turn in the way Blackie Lawless conceived his music, he isolated himself for 3 years and took the time to make this new artistic approach succeed, composing alone what was to become his masterpiece. Because yes, although released under the name of W.A.S.P. and played by the whole band, "The Crimson Idol" is the project of only one man, of a single voice full of rage and emotion.

It is under the features of a concept album that Blackie will choose to tell a story - his story - that of Jonathan Steele, a young man abandoned by his parents and dreaming of glory to see it consume him body and soul until the most fatal outcome. A theme of choice for generations of rock stars that nothing had prepared for what they would experience, but a theme for which our author will find the right words and the necessary nuances.

The opening is in itself a summary of everything that will fall on you during an hour made timeless: inspired acoustic arpeggios, voice full of sensitivity, lightning of the drums, bludgeoning of unstoppable riffs, symphonic incursions, splendid themes, then appeasement. "Invisible Boy" and "Arena Of Pleasure" definitely put in orbit a work with unlimited power but absolutely mastered. It will be still the case for "Doctor Rockter" or "I Am One", evolving in the same format, but the summum will be undoubtedly reached with "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)", of which the listener would like that it never stops in spite of the hard test to which it submits our eardrums!

And what about the ballads? "The Gipsy Meets The Boy" opens a series that could hardly leave you unmoved while "The Idol" is to be ranked among the most beautiful of the genre. While it sees the debauchery of notes calming down, the intensity rises again a notch the time of moving choruses, supported by beautiful soli to cry. 

"The Great Misconceptions Of Me" closes a record that is no longer a record, that has long since turned into a sublime act of creation, untouchable, unequalled, passed into another dimension. This finale alone offers the finale of an immense work in the face of greatness, infinite in the face of the absolute: legendary.
- Official website

TRACK LISTING:
01. The Titanic Overture - 03:31
02. The Invisible Boy - 05:12
03. Arena Of Pleasure - 04:15
04. Chainsaw Charlie (murders In The New Morgue) - 07:36
05. The Gypsy Meets The Boy - 04:16
06. Doctor Rockter - 03:54
07. I Am One - 05:25
08. The Idol - 08:40
09. Hold On To My Heart - 04:22
10. The Great Misconceptions Of Me - 09:46

LINEUP:
Blackie Lawless: Chant / Guitares / Basse / Claviers
Bob Kulick: Guitares
Frankie Banali : Batterie
Stet Howland: Batterie
   
(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS    
Top of the page
   
(0) COMMENT(S)    
 
 
Top of the page
READERS
4.2/5 (6 view(s))
STAFF:
4.5/5 (12 view(s))
MY RATING
 
 
OTHER REVIEWS
NOFX: The Decline (1999)
HARDCORE - With "The Decline", NOFX shatter most preconceptions about punk and offer us a major work, a sad vision of a suffocating society.
ANTHROPIA: The Ereyn Chronicles Part I (2006)
PROGRESSIVE METAL - Well anchored in a Symphonic Power Metal at the limit of the progressive, "The Ereyn Chronicles Part I" is a superb concept album which shakes the codes and shows a group in full creative apogee.
 
 
OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT W.A.S.P.
W-A-S-P-_Unholy-Terror
Unholy Terror (2001)
4/5
4/5
SANCTUARY / HEAVY METAL
W-A-S-P-_KFD
KFD (1997)
4/5
3.3/5
CASTLE / HEAVY METAL
W-A-S-P-_W-A-S-P-
W.A.S.P. (1984)
5/5
4.4/5
CAPITOL / HEAVY METAL
 
F.A.Q. / You found a bug / Terms Of Use
Music Waves - Rock (Progressive, Alternative...), Hard Rock (AOR, Melodic,...) & Metal (heavy, progressive, melodic, ...) Media
Reviews, News, Interviews, Advices, Promotion, Releases, Concerts
© Music Waves | 2003 - 2025