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W.A.S.P. - Kill, Fuck, Die review



Reviewer:
9.4

140 users:
7.39
Band: W.A.S.P.
Album: Kill, Fuck, Die
Release date: 1997


01. Kill, Fuck, Die
02. Take The Addiction
03. My Tortured Eyes
04. Killahead
05. Kill Your Pretty Face
06. Fetus
07. Little Death
08. U
09. Wicked Love
10. The Horror

With the original lineup or rather the most visual part of the original lineup consisting of Chris Holmes and Blackie Lawless reunited, glam's premier shock act set out to reclaim the vacant (or otherwise occupied) throne of shock rock. Like Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper and a host of other veteran acts, W.A.S.P. opted to operate in industrial metal, the chosen medium of the decade's most notorious act Marilyn Manson. Despite the new sound, the band's sonic fingerprint remains but make no mistake, Kill, Fuck, Die puts W.A.S.P.'s heavy metal into the industrial format, not the other way around. This is also the reason why K.F.D. could succeed in the first place, for if such a major change were not followed through to the end, a band would not only face the familiar accusation of selling out but also of creative cowardice.

Aside from the familiar characteristics of a industrial metal (distorted, harsh vocals, heavily effected production, etc.) W.A.S.P. also introduce a new aspects to characters in their lyrics. These are all deeply narcissistic and additionally often either reckless or simply hostile. The exact content matters little, what does matter is that they add wonderfully to the album's already bleak timbre, arguably creating clearer and more believable images than the slightly detached Idol. Of course, none of this would do any good without proper songwriting but thankfully Lawless and Holmes (who receives writing credit for every song) manage to arrange white noise fuzz into great hooks. The title track, the only moment where the album sounds somewhat like the classic, hedonistic W.A.S.P., acts as a welcome bridge between the familiar and the unfamiliar. More representative of the new sound are faster, vicious tracks such as "Little Death" and slower, disturbing songs such as "My Tortured Eyes". The great "U" draws a bit from both sides, shifting from chilling verses nicely accentuated by crooning vocals to a raging chorus. Probably even better is the captivating and compositionally peculiar "Kill Your Pretty Face" which unleashes a screaming hell on the three minute mark.

The reception to K.F.D. was not too good in Europe where critics and fans alike were all to happy to dissociate themselves from the American market. Never mind that, with this album the band legitimized their previously superfluous claim to the crown of shock rock. K.F.D. is also the band's last classic (thus far), so appreciate it while it lasts.

Written by DayFly | 24.07.2009




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: 6   Visited by: 66 users
20.10.2009 - 01:20
Rating: 9
AngelOfDisease

Wow, someone finally gave this album the praise it deserves my favorites are "my tortured eyes" and "the horror"
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21.10.2009 - 21:17
Baz Anderson

Maybe a little generous, but yes, this is actually a good album. Really enjoyable to hear how heavy metal and industrial metal meet.
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06.01.2011 - 14:33
jimmy

Great album, and unfortunately overlooked and underrated a lot of the time.
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06.01.2011 - 15:11
Rating: 7
Angelic Storm
Melodious
I certainly wouldnt give it 9.4, but I think this album is quite underrated, and contains some really killer tracks. The first 4 songs and "Wicked Love", are awesome W.A.S.P. songs! xD
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17.10.2016 - 06:10
Rating: 8
Timelord

Written by Angelic Storm on 06.01.2011 at 15:11

I certainly wouldnt give it 9.4, but I think this album is quite underrated, and contains some really killer tracks. The first 4 songs and "Wicked Love", are awesome W.A.S.P. songs! xD


I have said this many times and will again make the statement. There is NO such thing as OVER or UNDER rated. The public has made THEIR decision as a whole which has nothing to do with your personal likes or dislikes. While you may think something is great the majority thinks otherwise. So I never use that analysis when speaking about my personal tastes.

That being said I really enjoy K.F.D. as it breaks free from the WASP by name only era of concept/opera releases and reunites the classic team of Blackie and Holmes. My biggest problem is not the music itself but the obvious reasoning for taking the "Industrial" style. Blackie was not ready to accept that he had been replaced as the most "shocking" rock star by Marilyn Manson. So he tries to outdo him in a genre totally out of WASP's fanbase and it backfired for the most part. The quality of the music didn't matter as MM fans were NOT going to get into some old metal guy trying to be like their god Brian Warner. Enough time has passed that I think people now can listen more objectively and begin to appreciate K.F.D.
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17.10.2016 - 09:59
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by Timelord on 17.10.2016 at 06:10

Written by Angelic Storm on 06.01.2011 at 15:11

I certainly wouldnt give it 9.4, but I think this album is quite underrated, and contains some really killer tracks. The first 4 songs and "Wicked Love", are awesome W.A.S.P. songs! xD


I have said this many times and will again make the statement. There is NO such thing as OVER or UNDER rated. The public has made THEIR decision as a whole which has nothing to do with your personal likes or dislikes.


Well, there is such thing called OVER and UNDER rated. It's not on the personal beliefs, it's from general consensus. They're records which should have been appreciated but people didn't really enjoy that much considering the fact that they have their own perceptions to weigh an album. It doesn't mean an album is bad. At times, a record is been unnecessarily glorified when it really doesn't have anything in it. So, therefore no personal likes or dislikes validation here.

Also, If you shadow your own judgement of particular record and give highlight to public decision, then I think you struggling with forming your own judgement. Therefore, you don't even entitled to claim of anything such as "overrated" or "underrated".
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