Retro Spins: W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children

 

After receiving and taking to heart the critical reception of 1986's Inside The Electric Circus, lead singer, and only remaining founder of W.A.S.P., Blackie Lawless took a break from the studio to reflect on the band's musical direction. During this time, they'd still continue to tour, and several lineup changes would occur, specifically with a non-stop rotation of drummers.

When Steve Riley left the skins to join L.A. Guns, he'd initially be replaced by Chad Nelson. However, this would just be the start of the rotation, which soon saw Glenn Soderling, and Kelly Martella also stepping into the role. By the end of 1988, W.A.S.P. had no drummer. As such, when they returned to the studio to record what would become 1989's The Headless Children, former Quiet Riot drummer, Frankie Banali, would step in to give them a hand, but not formally join the band.

The Heretic starts things off and has a boss level slow building intro before things take off in the almost eight-minute epic. Things are definitely going in the right direction right from the get-go. This is followed by the thundering drums, and equally adept bass filled The Real Me.

Even when songs didn't necessarily grab my attention at first, such as the case with the title track, when the guitar solos of Chris Holmes took over, often kept up in pace by the fantastic drumming of Frankie Banali, my head started bobbing, and my foot tapping. My favorite combination of the two was probably Thunderhead. You know what? Check it out below for yourself and let me know your thoughts.

Other standout tracks for me included Mean Man, and Forever Free. Though, overall, I would call it a near perfect album. Mainly because each song had something worth listening to, often the guitar solos and drums.

Five months after its release, August of 1989 to be exact, Chris Holmes would decide to leave the band, stating that he wanted to have fun. Basically, it came down to the music direction Lawless was taking the band. Holmes preferred a much more straight forward hard rock style, while W.A.S.P. was leaning into a more progressive rock style. He would, however, return in 1996, only to depart again in 2001.

With and without Holmes, W.A.S.P. recorded and released twelve albums between 1992 and 2018 and continues to remain active. Yeah, sure, there's been a lot more lineup changes, with Blackie Lawless being the only constant. These days, Mike Duda serves as bassist, with Doug Blare on lead guitar, and Aquiles Priester on drums. As of June 24, 2026, they're all on the road touring with dates anticipated to wrap up on December 12, 2026.

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