Of late 'Blackie' has been churning out 'W.A.S.P.' albums on a regular basis, with 'Dominator' being their fifth outing since the millennium. Sadly the formula is now starting to look well and truly tired, as we are again confronted with 'Lawless's' political ravings and his umpteenth attempt to recreate the magic that was 'The Crimson Idol'. Ok granted he does manage to come up with some credible material, but nothing we haven't heard before and in my opinion there is not enough meat on this album, which clocks in at under 45 minute, but that said a cover of 'Purple's' 'Burn' for some reason failed to make it to the final pressing. Needless to say just as I thought 'Darrell Roberts' was becoming a star man for 'W.A.S.P', he decides to call it a day, this has brought in 'Doug Blair', while 'Mike Dupke' takes over drumming duties in what is a barely recognisable line-up.

'Dominator' starts promisingly with the driving rocker 'Mercy', admittedly it's of similar handwriting to recent heavier W.A.S.P. songs, especially those with darker undercurrents, but thankfully this still hits the spot, with 'Blackie' delivering with conviction and being well supported by his new line-up. Following in a similar vein but arguably even better is the pulsating 'Long Long Way to Go', which ebbs and flows to an exacting rhythm and highlights some sublime guitar work from 'Doug Blair', who also gets in some blazing solos. The tempo falls for the more balladsy 'Take Me Up', in truth a passionately penned and executed song, but I feel I've heard this track in one form or another on the last four albums. The momentum is lifted with the energetic rocker 'The Burning Man', which is given a nice twist thanks to some unusual but effective down-tuned riffing, lyrically it's not one of their strongest, but still a good solid cut. 'Blackie' now unleashes his unbridled angry on us with the politically fuelled 'Heaven's Hung in Black', as with 'Take Me Up' this is passionately penned and very well executed, but it does again have that recycled feel, also was the flag waving intro really necessary. 'Heaven's Blessed' ensues and after a subtle intro, builds into an energetic rocker, which ultimately is another pretty faultless track, but did I not hear this under another guise on the last album? Taking a more back to basics approach is 'Teacher', a throwback to earlier W.A.S.P. which highlights a more carefree, yet gritty stance, that nicely balances the energy without going down the sloppy 'Helldorado' route, 'Blackie's' is on fine form here and is supported by more splendid fret work from 'Blair'. For me the album loses the plot from here, a totally needless reprise of 'Heaven's Hung in Black' is dragged out over three minutes and in my opinion adds nothing to the first part of the song or the album. Whilst the final cut 'Deal with the Devil' is a raw rocker that's reminiscent of work from 'Helldorado', again sounds recycled and is really only worthy of a mention as 'Darrell Roberts' proves solid lead guitars.

Not a bad album by a long stretch, but on the grand scale this is no better or more identifiable than 'Unholy Terror', 'Dying for the World' or the 'Neon God' saga.