Customer Reviews

Helldorado

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This CD is by no means a dud, its just unfortunate that some tunes are, that the CD clocks in short, and that the highlights aren't high enough to allow forgiveness upon the lesser lights. Another downer in regards to this one is the fact that all the outrageously lyricised and return to 'blood and guts' attitude songs sound like 'Blind In Texas' repeated over and over until you want to scream (and perhaps not until you like it either) infact they down right annoy! Worthy of mention is 'Damnation Angels' with its obvious AC/DC Hells Bells influence, a sleeper with distant echos of 'Sleeping In the Fire', but to describe this song as of the same calibre would not be accurate. At least it stops the slide into oblivion in the pits of sameness if a litte too late at track number four! Things return to dumb and mind numb with the awful 'Dirty Balls'. Surely we have come to expect and deserve more than this? 'High On The Flames' is better though a little uninspired, a kind of 80's era Kiss left over. What is rather nice is the kinda twin harmony vocal thing going down on the chorus on this song which reminded me a little of the past glories of the debut disc, and then makes me question why I'm not listening to that rather than this! 'Cocaine Cowboys' and the follower of 'Can't Die Tonight' could both be the same song neither of which you would describe as good! The bliss of 'Saturday Night Cockfight' breaks the drought once again with an almost Celtic swagger and bravado, hey bravo! The finale comes in the form of a reprise of the set opener 'Helldorado' which at track nine stings the eyes and didn't improve since I heard it way back at the beginning. Back to the drawing board...

Blackie Lawless should be ashamed of this release. I am a huge WASP fan, but like KFD, this cd is total garbage. Two songs are concert worthy, thats it. Save your money and pick it up at used cd warehouse, but do not spend [money] on this crap.

W.A.S.P. is back, and they are better than ever. This CD showcases a return to the down-n-dirty days that made W.A.S.P. a favorite of fans all over the world. Blackie Lawless, peerless among vocalists with his trademark voice, never sounded better. The lyrics are X-rated and beyond. Don't let you kid sister hear this CD. Unless, of course, you want your kid sister to become as depraved as possible. There truly isn't a bad track on this CD. W.A.S.P. fans, rejoice! Blackie's back and he's meaner than ever!

I'm a big W.A.S.P. fan and have been for many years, but this CD's a little bit of a let down.

I am really happy to see the boys back with a some new material and with Chris Holmes yet!

But I really liked the direction they were heading with each album and now they've returned to their so called 'demo' days and have songs on this CD that reflect that.

As a advid follower of Blackie's Crimson Idol, and having loved the W.A.S.P. cd The Headless Children, I was really hoping for much more.

Good party tunes, but nothing I can sit back and enjoy like those previous CDs.

This is an album with a purpose: you listen to it while getting drunk. Don't try to enjoy this one sober, it ain't "thinking man's music" as some previous albums such as Crimson Idol or Headless Children were. The album kicks off with a well paced rocker Helldorado to set you in the good mood for opening the bottle. Then we go through all the stupidities people do when they are partying a tad too drunk. Sex, fighting, obscenities, and so on. The whole idea is that we are all going to h*ll anyway, so why not go in flames and blazing! Finally, the disc ends with a reprise of the starting song Helldorado, this time not so smoothly produced, sounding more rough and tumbly, kept a bit simpler altogether. Just what you need after drinking your booze and it elevates your spirits high enough to bring a big grin on your face. By this time you should be finishing your bottle and getting ready go out for more partying through the night.

Up until the release of the unremarkable "K.F.D." (stupid acronym: "kill, f**k, die"), I always thought of W.A.S.P. as an outfit that had more than just a fraction of integrity when it came to songwriting. I think this was best exibited on "The Crimson Idol," even though the album was a miserable disappointment, as both a concept album and as a pacifier to W.A.S.P's ardent fan-base who waited three years for it. It also marked the beginning of the band's most capricious years, that saw Blackie trying unsuccessfully to make a recording that tried to find a happy-medium between tentative and enjoyable (Perfect example: "Still Not Black Enough," which ended up sounding like a crappy basement tape). "Helldorado" is okay; there's some good tracks to be found here, like: "Dirty Balls" and, the doggerel "Don't cry (just suck)." A stark improvement over the pseudo-Manson-esque "K.F.D." which had the most benighted lyrics I've ever heard (it was wise for Blackie not to print them). This should be enough to placate fans.

Most of the songs are too average with tha exception of Damnation Angels which is a very good song. This may be the worst Wasp album. If you are new check out the first 4 albums and especially Wasp.

Really nothing more to say. Blackie is awesome, he is a great vocalist and writer. Unfortunately, this displays none of his finer qualities. It was an attempt to get back to the basics and play some down and dirty rock and roll. It's dirty enough, but the songs are just piss-poor. Avoid this release, anything else from their catalogue is far better.

The reviews on this are so evenly split it's funny! Granted there is nothing new or original on here but this album is FUN! Don't Cry (Just Suck), Dirty Balls, and Cocaine Cowboys will have you singing along in no time. Damnation Angels is so good it doesn't really even belong on this album. To all the naysayers all I can say is that I bet if this was released before or after Last Command you'd all eat it up. I try to not place a time period on music and just enjoy it for what it is. I think what hurts this album is that Crimson Idol was so damned good and also the production of this album is absolute rubbish. I like how WASP can be serious on one album then just have a party on another, it's what keeps them interesting. This is a total party album.

released in the wrong decade. after such albums as 'the crimson idol','still not black enough','KFD' and 'the headless children',this seems like a step back for wasp. songs like "don't cry just suck' and 'dirty balls' would have worked great back in the 80,s and on wasp's first two albums.the rest of the album is classic wasp and would be a 5 star material from wasp without the aforementioned songs.this was just a step back from the albums that had came right before this.also like all wasp albums lately, it is short.