'W.A.S.P.'s' illustrious career has brought forth many quality albums, their first three raw efforts were excellent examples of early Metal, while their current material is brilliantly written old school Melodic Metal. It is however the late 80's / early 90's that are regarded as their best period and for me 'The Headless Children' is the pinnacle of all their releases. 'Blackie' really changed things around here as he pens a superb album and while at times it's quite melodic there's still the crunch of earlier classics. Also worth noting is 'Chris Holmes' guitar work, for me he produces the performance of his life and 'The Headless Children' stands as his and W.A.S.P.'s' finest accomplishment.

An atmospheric, brooding intro opens 'The Heretic' and indeed the album, this doesn't last though as the track explodes into a rhythm heavy, punishing rocker. The lyrics as will all the tracks present are quite superb and cleverly thought through to make for a great opener. Next up is a cover of 'Pete Townsend's' 'The Real Me' and 'Blackie Lawless' turns in a great vocal performance on this superb rendition, which includes a lot more pace and aggression than the original. The atmosphere darkens for the brooding but ultimately ingenious title track, here 'W.A.S.P.' step up a gear on arguable their best ever track. This is a quite superb anthem, which features stunning work from 'Chris Holmes' and 'Frankie Banali', the latter of while blazes away throughout- the instrumental break should not be overlooked either, a cracking performance. Continuing in a similar vein is the lively and uncompromising 'Thunderhead', here we see heavy drum and bass work propelling this top notch rocker. The addition of the demonic voiceovers works especially well, I'm not usually a fan of this sort of approach, but here it only adds to the ambience of a great track. The old 'W.A.S.P.' is more apparent with the raw and lyrically tongue in cheek 'Mean Man', but again they get it spot on with another splendid fist raising anthem. The more melodic side is resurrected with 'The Neutron Bomber', slightly similar to 'Thunderhead' in approach but lyrically and musically not quite as good, all the same this is still a decent effort. To break the album up before the final onslaught, two softer pieces are introduced, the first is a short instrumental which really acts as an introduction to 'Forever Free'. This is probably one of their most known songs, as I believe it was quite a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. 'Blackie' turns in a strong emotional performance and is backed up admirably on this exceptional ballad- this definitely gives your 'Bon Jovi's' and 'Def Leppard's' a run for their money. The pace is restored for the rawer sounding biker-track 'Maneater', not one of the best present but far from poor- at times sounds like they've borrowed the riff from 'Paranoid'. Lastly we are gifted the no holds barred 'Rebel in the F.D.G.', what the hell does 'F.D.G.' stand for I hear you cry, well I believe it stands for 'F**king Decadent Generation' and knowing 'Blackie' I wouldn't be surprised. As with all the tracks 'Chris Holmes' turns in a fine show on this hard rocking gem.

If you don't have this late 80's jewel, try picking up the re-released version with bonus tracks as there's plenty of quality 'B' sides and lives versions to enjoy. First up is a cover of 'Jethro Tulls' 'Locomotive Breath' and although I'm not familiar with the original, this still makes for a solid track. Next up is a very strong rocker by the name of 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', not a cover of the 'Metallica' classic, but a song that sounds very similar to work from the next 'W.A.S.P.' album 'The Crimson Idol'. The pace drops for another 'B' side 'Lake of Fools' and again this is a strong effort and while it's not as heavy as a lot of their material it features an excellent instrumental break and some sweet free flowing fret work. 'War Cry', the final flip side continues the fine run, complete with passionate vocals, choice guitaring and a powerful rhythm section. All in all the four tracks mentioned above are all worthy of album status and goes to show the sort of quality a band in form can produce. The last two bonus tracks are fine live renditions of 'L.O.V.E. Machine' and 'Blind in Texas' but the last track is especially funny as 'Blackie' brings someone out of the audience to sing along- he sounds absolutely terrible and 'Blackie' tells him so!

A superb release and especially so as it's a side step from their previous style. Many people favour the concept album 'The Crimson Idol' as W.A.S.P.'s best release but in my opinion you have to go a long way to better this.