Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for W.A.S.P. - The Last Command (1985)

I am murder for not picking up a band’s discography in order.  Long after I had heard The Last Command, Inside the Electric Circus, The Headless Children and The Crimson Idol (not done in any chronological order), I finally got around to the bands debut offering.  In terms of the albums listed above, The Last Command got the most air-play in my bedroom as a teenager - indeed I owned it on vinyl if I recall correctly.  I was mad for two tracks off this record “The Widowmaker” with its menacing build and “Jack Action” with its thundering riffage but there was more to offer from The Last Command besides these two firm favourites of mine.

The album opens strongly with the anthem “Wild Child” which is one of those tracks that takes only a few minutes of listening to before it infects your brain with its catchy chorus.  It was obvious to my older ears upon revisiting this record recently that the song writing had picked up from the debut and there was less filler on the sophomore effort.  Even though tracks such as “Ballcrusher” and “Fistful of Diamonds” made no effort to separate themselves from the shock rock elements of the band, stronger efforts such as “Blind in Texas” and “Cries in the Night” as well as the title track showed maturity even if filler such as “Sex Drive” still populated parts of the record also.

With nostalgia playing a big part in my enjoyment of The Last Command it is a record that I have heard many times over and can easily play through in my head without needing to reach for the stream or even the CD option that I recall owning (somewhere) to actually play it through.  It is not perfect by any means but it is still an important record for me in my metal journey and one that gets a reluctant 3.5 stars since in reality it is closer to a 3.75 rating if such an option existed.