80s metal week continues with The Headless Children, the first album from W.A.S.P. to actually make me consider them as more than a 80s metal shock-rock hybrid of KISS and Alice Cooper. I got the provocation and tongue-in-cheek of songs like “Animal (F— Like A Beast)” and the saw blade gauntlets Blackie Lawless adorned on the cover of The Last Command. But the music didn’t grab me at all until the theatrics were put aside (or at least toned down) to make way for Lawless’s songwriting and real inspiration. You want to think this band was in the band for the aforementioned artists, but if anything The Headless Children takes its cue and bows before the feet of prime, classic The Who.

There, I said it. I’m sure I’m not the first. And it’s not because of their cover of “The Real Me”, though I’ll go on record as saying it’s a fantastic cover: the drums are massive, the bass is spot on, the little keyboard/horn stabs are on point and Blackie’s vocals are perfect to cover it. Even Pete Townshend commented how much he liked it. So sure, the cover is an obvious touchstone, but the entirety of The Headless Children reeks (in the best way) of the kind of songs Townshend was writing in the band’s classic era, albeit wrapped in the trapping of a more modern, heavy sound. Opener “The Heretic (The Lost Child)” ominously chimes in, gradually building in layers of effects and electric guitars until it explodes in a burst of propulsive gallops. For a band that traded in shock, maybe this was the most shocking to date: a serious, conceptual hard rock anthem.

Lawless has always been the driver of the band, but it’s important to note the other bright stars of The Headless Children: Chris Holmes and Frankie Banali. Holmes may be more known now for his drunken antics in Penelope Spheeris’ documentary The Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years, but he is a demon on this album, also co-writing the two best songs on the album in “Heretic (The Lost Child)” and “Thunderhead”. And Banali, fresh out of Quiet Riot is the perfect drummer for what the band is attempting. His drums sounds enormous and in your face, and he’s able to really extend and play with the structures rather than sit back and simply keep time. He’s always been an underrated drummer, and on here and especially 1992’s The Crimson Idol he’s free to show off his skills in a way he never could before.

As for Lawless? He admittedly has a voice that takes some getting used to, but his love of classic 60s and 70s rock shine through in the way he harmonizes with himself and lets those screams unfurl. The title track is another scorcher, and late album songs like “The Neutron Bomber” and the surprisingly effective ballad “Forever Free” shows his facility in using his falsetto and stacking up harmonies. And when he goes for the down and dirty street tough of tracks like “Mean Man” and “Maneater” (I guess any song with the word “man” in it) that same facility is used to push the attitude to 11.

I love a band who really knows how to utilize those “ooohs” and “yeahs” and W.A.S.P. might be one of the best to do it on this album. Do I want to go back and listen to earlier albums? Not really; between this and The Crimson Idol I probably have all I need from the band, but sometimes that’s more than enough.