W.A.S.P. — The Last Command (review)

W.A.S.P. — The Last Command album cover Album · 1985 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"The Last Command" is the second full-length studio album by US heavy metal act W.A.S.P.. The album was released through Capitol Records in November 1985. It´s the successor to the eponymously titled debut album from August 1984 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Tony Richards has been replaced by Steve Riley (formerly of Keel). "The Last Command" turned out to be a major commercial success for W.A.S.P., selling more than a million copies and reaching No. 49 on the Billboard 200 album charts by early 1986.

Stylistically the material on "The Last Command" is pretty much a continuation of the heavy rock/metal sound of the band´s debut album. Simple vers/chorus structured tracks, featuring hard rocking riffs and rhythms, some blistering solo work, and Blackie Lawless rough voice and raw sounding vocals in front. W.A.S.P. may have had a both shocking and controversial image and sometimes lyrical concept in their early days, but the music is anything but extreme. Lawless has a raw voice and a screaming delivery, but the instrumental part of the music is nothing more (or less) than heavy metal distorted rock´n´roll. As an example you can check out the chorus on opening track "Wild Child". Even my grandma would sing along to the catchy chorus melody on that one. "Blind in Texas" should of course also be mentioned when talking about "The Last Command", as it´s an album highlight and one of the band´s signature songs.

Catchiness and instantly memorable songwriting are probably the two greatest assets of the music on "The Last Command" (and Lawless voice and delivery), because the tracks are sometimes almost too simple and the songwriting a bit one-dimensional. It´s quick and easily digestable entertainment, but it´s also a bit shallow. The sound production is organic, raw, and relatively wild sounding, suiting the material well, so all in all "The Last Command" is a decent quality heavy rock/metal album from W.A.S.P.. I´m not exactly blow away by this, but it´s alright for what it is. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.
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