Undo your ponytail and blow the dust off your air guitar, Blackie Lawless is back!

“Babylon” is presented to the press as W.A.S.P.’s new concept album, evolving around the tale of the Apocalypse Four Horsemen, represented on the front cover in an unequivocally metal version. This was later denied by Blackie Lawless himself in an interview, but does it really matter? Once again, this eccentric loner produces some old fashioned epic metal tunes which won’t disappoint his loyal fan base.

The opener ‘Crazy’ has more than just a hint of ‘Wild Child,’ and sure that’s not a bad thing. Following ‘Live To Die Another Day’ is another good apocalyptic piece, but ‘Babylon`s Burning’ is probably the one that stands out most, with its classic uplifting guitar riffs and all the cliché 666 and beasts that are so dear to Iron Maiden. Yes, definitely the highest point of this album, even my dog is head banging!

With the Deep Purple cover ‘Burn,’ Blackie Lawless manages to reinterpret a classic and turn it into something that he could have penned himself. ‘Into the Fire’ is nearly a power ballad, more power than a ballad indeed, both dark and intense. ‘Thunder Red’ resumes the head banging and some positivity. Actually, as dark as Blackie Lawless can be, “Babylon” is thus far quite uplifting considering it is supposed to focus on the Apocalypse and the chaos of modern life.

‘Seas of Fire’ is fast and powerful like a forest fire in a very windy night, taking down everything in its path whilst the village wakes up terrified and totally powerless. ‘Godless Run’ is an actual ballad where Lawless' vocals play the main role, although Doug Blair's guitar solo also shines.

Time to end the album with yet another cover, this time it is Chuck Berry’s ‘Promised Land,’ and once again what Lawless managed to do with this classic is simply outstanding. You wouldn’t expect W.A.S.P. to come up with something that Elvis Presley has covered, but it is a very welcome, refreshing surprise from this unpredictable and dare I say genius songwriter.

Some might say “what do you mean that’s it? Nine songs including two covers?” But personally I’ve always been against those fifteen tracks albums (unless we’re talking Rancid style two minutes pieces), because you end up with some boring fillers that would barely be good enough as B-sides. “Babylon” is made of nine proper songs, including the covers, where you can find Blackie Lawless creativity and full effort is displayed on each single one. Finally, an album that lets you listen to nine good songs without having to keep your finger on the skip button.

Hallelujah.