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Jun 12, 20234 min read

𝗪.𝗔.𝗦.𝗣. — 𝗗𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 (2002)

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟  𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…


21 years ago this month (June 11) in 2002, W.A.S.P. released their tenth full-length studio album “Dying for the World” via Metal-Is/Sanctuary.



Background:

The album was written and recorded in less than a year which is very fast by Lawless' perfectionist standards.


“Dying for the World” was Blackie Lawless' dedication to all those who perished in the attacks of the 9/11 events, especially heard on the "Hallowed Ground" track.


When asked by Metal-rules.com what the mean was behind the albums title, Blackie vaguely replied; “Well to be honest with you, I'm not trying to be difficult here, there may be some titles where I'll say to somebody "Okay point blank, here it is. This is what I mean", but there was a number of ideas that I had, and I've learned that art has to be multidimensional and I don't really want to tell people exactly what I'm thinking. You know, I'd rather just have them use their imagination and have it apply to them, because if I do that I cut off their creativity. Kind of like you know, when I write a song that I show to the other musicians, I don't tell them right away what I'm thinking, as far as what they should maybe be doing. You know I want to hear what they have to say first, because if what they come up with doesn't work we can always go back to what I'm doing, what I was thinking. I would rather hear what they have to say. I would just say this: For me, there's a number of ways it can be interpreted but I'd rather not shut anybody's imagination down.”


Its liner notes feature one of Lawless' strongest statements about political correctness, inspired by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In those liner notes, Blackie Lawless angrily declares, "F*ck political correctness; that went down with the World Trade Center."


When asked by Metal-rules.com about what inspired some the songs on “Dying for the World”, Blackie replied with his usual vagueness; “Well you know, like any other artist what I'm doing is just trying to show people who I am at the moment. You know, because who you are now is not who you were five years ago, or who you're going to be five years from now. I think it's important to, if you're going to take people along, if your going to have a true career, if you're going to take people along for that lifelong ride, they have to feel like they really know who you are, if you have to make them become intimate or allow them to become intimate with you. And if they're not intimate with you, they're never going to feel like they know you. And the only way to really do that is to open up your heart, your soul, your mind, kind of crack your head open and allow people to come and walk around barefoot inside your head just to see what's there. And to do that, you really have to expose elements of yourself that some artists may not be comfortable with, because they don't want people to know them that intimately. But if I don't do that, you're never really going to feel like you know who I am. If you followed my career from the beginning, you watched it evolve, you've got a pretty good idea of who I am right now. And the reason you'll know that is because I've shared it with you. I think if you look at artists that have had long careers that's one of the things they have in common, is they've been willing to share themselves with the audience. When you read the liner notes of what I do on the record, one of the reasons I like doing that is because as a fan, you know, I'm a huge Beatles fan, whenever I read stuff that's intimate about them, especially stuff that takes you into the recording studio, to allow you to see the process develop you know, that's fascinating to me. So I like doing that. Whenever I make a record and put the lyrics in there, that's one part of it, but the liner notes are just as important, maybe even more so, because what I'm doing is opening the door to the studio and I'm saying "Come on in. This is how it happened", and I just love that.”


Critical Reception:

In his review for AllMusic, Alex Henderson writes; “On “Dying for the World”, the veteran headbanger never gets into shock value for the sake of shock value. This 2002 release has a consistently serious tone, and that seriousness was, to a large degree, inspired by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Lawless' liner notes assert that when the World Trade Center became a mass grave, he was determined to record an album that expressed his anger -- and “Dying for the World” is definitely angry. However, Lawless' lyrics don't necessarily come across as overtly political. "Revengeance," "Stone Cold Killers," and "Hell for Eternity" call for the destruction of those who destroyed Manhattan's Twin Towers, but the songs are worded in such a way that if you didn't read Lawless' liner notes, you wouldn't necessarily know that he was railing against al-Qaeda terrorists. Similarly, the moving "Hallowed Ground" was inspired by Lawless' October 2001 visit to what New Yorkers now call "Ground Zero," although he doesn't mention the World Trade Center by name. And not every track has to do with terrorism; the haunting "Trail of Tears," for example, is about the oppression of Native Americans. Musically, “Dying for the World” breaks no new ground for W.A.S.P., which sticks to an '80s-like sound -- and for die-hard fans of '80s Metal, that isn't a bad thing. Not all of W.A.S.P.'s albums have been consistent, but this excellent CD is arguably the band's strongest, most focused release since the '80s.”


Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

Click this link to listen to “Dying for the World” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/dying-for-the-world/1141921271


Click this link to follow W.A.S.P. on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/W.A.S.P.Nation


Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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