W.A.S.P. ‎"Dying For The World" CD

Following quite rapidly on the heels of 2001's excellent Unholy Terror, we now see the release of Wasp’s new output Dying For The World, an album which Lawless himself describes as a collection of songs to go kill people with.
True enough, the mood seems to be pretty grim straight from the beginning on with opener Shadow Man bringing back memories of the Kill Fuck Die album, (but this time without any of the electronics) and this basically sets the tone for the rest of the songs, taking you through stages of anger & desperation in turn.
This release also sees yet another different Wasp line-up, with guitarist Chris Holmes once again leaving the band and making way for Darrel Roberts, and long-time collaborator Frankie Banali completely taking over Stett Howland’s spot. On one hand this is a shame, because personally I found the previous line-up one of the strongest of the bands career, but on the other, both new members do their job more than adequately, and Lawless’s songwriting is, as usual, tops. (and of course, so is the production).
Anyway, coming back to the songs themselves, other highlights (apart from the opener) include both acoustic and normal versions of Hallowed Ground, which sports some of Blackie’s most emotional vocals in years, the up-tempo and catchy like hell Revengeance & My Wicked Heart and finally, what is probably the most experimental song on the album,Trial Of Tears, which features an incredible tension built-up towards the end.
To finish of this review I can say that once again, this is another first class release from Wasp, a band which never really disappointed me in the past (and probably never will in the future either, if the last albums are anything to go by), and is even slightly better than their previous one Unholy Terror.

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