W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P.

I’ve been trying to see this band for about two years! It’s all been messed up by Covid-19. I missed this band in the late 80s and early 90s for some reason. There were stories of Blackie Lawless throwing raw meat into the audience and I wonder just how true those stories are? It doesn’t really matter. This band cemented their reputation with the song “Animal”. I love the sound of this album but it’s not one I’ve played loads as I prefer the live album which has many of these songs on it. This is proper 80s cock rock.

  • Fuck Like A Beast – AKA “Animal”, a brilliant song and really quite funny.
  • I Wanna Be Somebody – a galloping song of excellence.
  • Love Machine – another galloping song and it’s great.
  • The Flame – Pretty good.
  • B.A.D. – a little slow for my liking but a generally good song.
  • School Daze – Blackie’s voice is so classic. This song is ok. Funny cow bell like sounds.
  • Hellion – I’d love to mosh to this one. It has a good speed, the crowd would be amazing.
  • Sleeping (In The Fire) – a great slower song.
  • On Your Knees – Nice up tempo song. Classic W.A.S.P.
  • Tormentor – Excellent.
  • The Torture Never Stops – Proper galloping.

Walk On – Boston

This has been playing while I take a flight in X-Plane.

I need your love – well constructed but bland!
Surrender to me – starts really well. Decent riff. Pretty much maintained this until the end.
Livin’ For You – slow and boring. probably a good song.
Walkin’ At Night – somehow missed this when it was playing or it was a short song.
Walk On – Amazing guitars after a slow start, very rock ‘n’ roll.
Get Organ-Ized – Decent organ solo instrumental. Very operatic.
Walk On (Some More) – Decent reprise of Walk On to make the last twenty minutes one song.
What’s Your Name – Another pretty decent song that’s written really well.
Magdalene – Look, this is a good song, but it’s boring.
We Can Make It – It’s an ok song.

Here’s the thing I’ve said before about Boston. It’s absolutely really well written music and it’s great for the car. I would imagine that if you know the songs then they would be brilliant for singing along to.

Vulgar Display Of Power – Pantera

There are those people who fixate on a couple of bands and then there are others who just like lots of slightly different same sounding stuff. I’d like to think I’m in the second group but I’ve obsessed over bands in the past and some I’ve seen multiple times. Anyway, that’s a really boring way of saying that Pantera are OK but they never really hit home with me for some reason. I got this album and really like Mouth for War, Walk and Fucking Hostile. I think I remember being at a concert in Brixton (?) when Fucking Hostile came on in the before the gig music selection and I really enjoyed it. But, that’s about it. For some reason I never quite got into Pantera.

Volkerball: Live In Nimes – Rammstein

There’s a lot to say in this communication but also at the same time every song on here is covered in another communication where I review the studio album. So, there isn’t a lot to say. Except, Rammstein have the best fucking sound I have ever heard live. The show is amazing but the sound shocks me at how good it is. I’ve seen them three times and haven’t had a bad experience. Wembley Arena, Donnington, and Milton Keynes Stadium, every time it was an amazing experience and I loved it. This is a band who knows how to put on a show and knows how to create an album. See it, love it.

Volcano – Satyricon

I got some Satyricon albums when I was due to see them as part of a festival in 2014. The festival got cancelled and I didn’t end up seeing this band. I might have listened through this once, I’m not sure. I didn’t like it.

Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses – Slipknot

I’ve had this album playing while I’ve been sorting out my SSL certificate on this website. So, given the music has finished I’ve been working on this for about an hour. I’d like to say I managed to do it all myself but I had to employ some lovely people at my hosting company a few times to guide me through the process. I think it’s something I did about two years ago so it’s unlikely for me to remember all the things I have to do. I also find that terminology changes between help pages and the actual webpages that you are trying to edit so it can be a pain sometimes when you aren’t sure if you are doing the right thing.

This album has some awesome songs on it, mostly I think I know them from the Antennas From Hell live album but they are still good songs. I highly recommend The Blister Exists, Duality, Before I forget.

It’s a Slipknot album. It’s what you expect. Chaos and noise. It’s great.

Vixen – Vixen

It’s been a while since I wrote an album review but I’m tantalisingly close to getting this done. I’ve started to understand the problems with winning a Grand Slam or the World Championships – it’s something you dream about and hope for and work towards, then, once you win, there’s nothing left to aim for, it’s done, all that work is ended. Now, while not a sporting accomplishment, I get that kind of feeling when I finish a television series. The time, the emotional investment, the pain, it all comes down to the final hour of broadcast and then is over. It’s something I simultaneously want to do and yet, I’m worried about what comes next. So, here we are with the album reviews and my around the world flight on X-Plane. Some day these reviews will end. Once I’ve done the A-Z of albums I’m going back to review all the non-metal albums! I’ve already got plans to review all the EBM albums I have, which is pretty much everything I’ve bought over the last ten years. I am mildly terrified what I’ll do once I get back to RAF Valley on my around the world flight. I’m currently in South Korea and still have to get around the Americas but one day that will come to an end.

I do love this album. It’s a product of its time almost perfectly. It’s such an 80s rock sound and is great to listen in the summer. I think it makes perfect BBQ background music, but then I could be wrong about that. I know that whenever I put music on the atmosphere dies so . . . . This album was recommended by Mark H when I was at school. I think he had a copy and so I got it on tape. Music cassettes were the easiest way to transport music and also listen while moving in those days. I don’t think there’s a bad song on this album. It’s brilliant middle of the road tempo rock that works in almost any situation. The fact that it’s recorded by women is secondary to all that.

If you want an album to recreate the worst or best of the 80s without the blatant misogyny then this is a good choice. Women playing hard music and beating the men at the job. I really do enjoy this album. It’s always enjoyable.

This is communication number 2014 and so I write a few things that happened in that year of the common era, all the while knowing that soon I’ll have to make a decision about what happens when I reach 2022.

  • Belgium legalises euthanasia.
  • MH370 disappears.
  • 304 people die when a Korean ferry capsizes.
  • Alan Eustace sets a world record highest and longest free fall jump from 135,908 feet.
  • Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae probe successfully lands on Comet 67P.

Vivid – Living Colour

I got this album because Living Colour should be something I want to listen to. I’ve never listened to it.

This is communication number 2004. Here are some things that happened that year.

  • Transit of Venus which I remember watching at work.
  • Schumacher wins his final F1 title.
  • The Millau viaduct opens.
  • The Boxing Day tsunami.

Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor – Rob Zombie

All the Rob Zombie stuff is good. I bought a load before seeing him at M’era Luna a long time ago apparently, I seem to remember it was just the year before last, covid has fucked memories. I couldn’t tell you anything specific about this album. I don’t think you’d be disappointed if you got it.

This is communication number two thousand and two. Here are some things that happened in that year:

  • The Euro becomes the currency of those countries in the Eurozone.
  • Iraq agrees to disarm wrt UN Resolution 1441.

It’s been curious completing these little lists of things that happened in each year. When I started back in the 1800s I think there were lots of things that stuck out from the rest as I went through the list of events on Wikipedia. I found fires, human rights and climate change things with ease. Now I’m looking at the lists of things from the 2000s it’s becoming harder to find things that resonated with me in that time. The 80s and early 90s were quite clear and events stuck out. But, now, not so much. I wonder if that’s to do with my experience of those years and whether I just wasn’t that aware of what was going on? It will be interesting to see what happens as we come closer to the present day.