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W.A.S.P. - Double Live Assassins review



Reviewer:
8.6

55 users:
8.67
Band: W.A.S.P.
Album: Double Live Assassins
Release date: February 1998


Disc I
01. The Medley
    1 - On Your Knees
    2 - I Don't Need No Doctor [Ray Charles cover]
    3 - Hellion
    4 - Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
02. Wild Child
03. Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)
04. L.O.V.E. Machine
05. Killahead
06. I Wanna be Somebody
07. U
08. The Real Me [The Who cover]
09. Kill Your Pretty Face
10. The Horror

Disc II
01. Blind In Texas
02. The Headless Children
03. The Idol
04. Crimson Idol Medley
    1 - Titanic Overture
    2 - The Invisible Boy
    3 - I Am One
    4 - The Great Misconception Of Me
05. Little Death
06. Mean Man
07. Rock N' Roll To Death

There once was a time when the only way to capture a band's power was through live in-concert recordings. The technology of studio recordings just didn't do certain bands justice. Then the studio technology caught up and the anticipation surrounding the release of a live album subsided. That is until now...

W.A.S.P returns, rocking like never before with their ninth album, Double Live Assassins. With, in my opinion, their best line-up ever. Blackie Lawless on vocals and rhythm, Chris Holmes on lead, Mike Duda on bass, and Stet Howland on the drums. Recorded in Switzerland, Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles during the Kill Fuck Die Tour, Double Live Assassins really captures all the excitement and electricity that is a W.A.S.P Concert. I could easily say that anyone who appreciates the spirit of true rock n' roll will, without a doubt, also appreciate this.

"You're just looking for a moment to capture, and you just hope the tape machines are rolling when it occurs. I think we got pretty lucky. I mean, there's a lot of mistakes on this record, but that's part of it's charm"- Blackie Lawless.

As the first track starts spinning you'll immediately hear the rising cheers of the excited crowd. And as usual, W.A.S.P starts off with their ever-changing Medley. On your knees - I don't need no Doctor - Hellion - Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the new Morgue) is a well-chosen four piece medley because, well, simply put, those songs won't fail in getting the crowd started, that's for sure. There's also no doubting that the musical partnership between Lawless and Holmes is an amazing yin-yang relationship as they constantly feed off of each other while pushing themselves to a new musical limit in this hard rock genre. Then it's on with Wild Child, probably the album's strongest track, a phenomenal live-version with absolutely great vocals and a killer performance by Mr. Holmes.

The album flows with songs from "The Headless Children," "The Crimson Idol," "W.A.S.P (Winged Assassins)" and of course "K.F.D (Kill Fuck Die)" with a tremendous mixing amongst the songs, including almost all their hits, like Animal, I Wanna Be Somebody, Blind in Texas and the Idol . As for notice, Blackie and his men have chosen to take some of the industrial edges off the K.F.D songs, which cleary makes the songs much more characteristic, and by that, much better. However, the introduction of the song "Mean Man" (Dedicated to Holmes) almost itself makes this album a somewhat privilege, you'll have to hear it by yourself as a nice extra that'll make the album slightly more enjoyable than it would have been without it.

As for a conclusion; this is a great live album and hopefully most of your all-time favorite W.A.S.P song will be heard, and by that you will definitely not be disappointed.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 7
Production: 8

Written by Asylum #9 | 02.12.2006




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 3   Visited by: 21 users
14.04.2009 - 12:18
DayFly

Damn right, this album is essential to W.A.S.P. fans (better than "...In The Raw"), especially if you had problems with KFD's production. And for once, the album sports a great setlist (which is too often weighed down by mediocre tracks Lawless somehow prefers to perform). Very good review.
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22.07.2015 - 13:45
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Best wasp line up ... well one mean modafuk as Blackie is wasp, rest is just instrument man, IMO if he could play alone all, it would be live one man band.
Lemmy can do the bass, Nicko McBrain can do drums, Gus G guitars, , Blackie vox and uitars, still can be WASP. same goes for unknown players, still will be WASP
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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17.10.2016 - 06:22
Rating: 9
Timelord

So much better than "Live in the Raw" . It is a complete setlist that takes up 2 discs unlike "Raw" which was only one disc. No lame song from 'Ghoulies" or any other soundtrack. A well balanced setlist that contains a few medleys in order to fit in more songs.
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