S.w.à.t.

Swedish/American melodic hard rock supergroup W.E.T., which derives its acronymic moniker from the first letter of each of its three member's flagship bands, formed in 2008 after Italian record label Frontiers asked keyboardist/guitarist Robert Säll (Work of Art) and guitarist Erik Mårtensson (Eclipse) to each contribute six songs to a new project with Talisman vocalist Jeff Scott Soto. The results can be heard on their well-received 2009 eponymous debut. Road-tested and operating like a well-oiled machine, the newly minted band decided to ditch the individual approach and start writing as a unit for 2013's Rise Up, which was followed in 2014 by the live CD/DVD One Live: In Stockholm. December 2017 saw the release of the single "Watch the Fire," in anticipation of the arrival of the group's third studio effort Earthrage, which dropped in March 2018.

Live…In the Raw is the first live album by W.A.S.P. (fourth album overall), released in 1987. This album can be seen as something of a breakwater between the 'old' W.A.S.P. of the first three albums and the more mature sound of the releases that would follow. It is also the album to feature "Harder Faster", which is about the PMRC declaring them "sexual perverts". "The Manimal" and "Harder Faster" were written specifically for this album and the studio song "Scream Until You Like It" was recorded for the movie Ghoulies II. The acoustic version of "Sleeping (In the Fire)" is also a studio recording. This would be the final release to feature drummer Steve Riley, who would leave the band shortly after the conclusion of the tour to join L.A. Guns.

While they started off being marketed as a band, past a certain point, W.A.S.P. became primarily a Blackie Lawless-led project. Which shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as it was the Lawless one that has written the vast majority of the group's tunes and has dictated their direction from the get-go. And also past a certain point, W.A.S.P. went from shock-rock poster children for the PMRC ("Animal," anyone?), and began focusing on conceptual albums and more mature lyrical subject matter. And it's the latter direction that W.A.S.P. continues with on their 2009 offering, Babylon. Supposedly based on "biblical visions of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (as confirmed by the album cover's doodle), Babylon is still metallic-based, and such tracks as "Live to Die Another Day" and "Babylon's Burning" are instant W.A.S.P. anthems…

By now, most are familiar with W.A.S.P., both for their razor sharp riffs and mean attitude, and their history with controversy. In 2015, they put out their fifteenth studio album titled Golgotha, and like many newer albums by bands from the glam train, it gets heavily overlooked. While W.A.S.P.’s sound has evolved immensely throughout the years, this one combines the musical foundation that made up records like Still Not Black Enough, with a friendlier approach to match Blackie Lawless’s views, which are pretty well reflected here…