Blackie Lawless cites Pete Townshend as being a major influence on his music. This could not be more evident on what may be considered W.A.S.P.'s "Tommy".........."The Neon God".

W.A.S.P. released "The Neon God Part I - The Rise" back in April and recently released "The Neon God Part II - The Demise" back in September.

The line up on "The Neon God Part II - The Demise" consists of Blackie Lawless (guitars, vocals), Darrel Roberts (lead guitar), Mike Duda (bass) and Stet Howland (drums).

"The Neon God Part II - The Demise" concludes the story of one boy's search for acceptance and purpose in his existence. This album pretty much picks up where Part I ended. The music contains many of the same melodies, themes, guitar riffs and drum beats. The only thing Blackie seems to listen to are W.A.S.P. albums because there is so much repetition in his music. To be honest, I listened to this album several times and still had a hard time trying to find things to say about it that haven't been already said about the last four or five W.A.S.P. releases. Redundancy has really set in. In fact, there are even some melodies from "The Crimson Idol" that are used in the song "Clockwork Mary". Some differences I do notice on Part II is that this album seems to be more guitar driven than Part I. There are no narrative interludes between tracks. Also, the production on this release, especially where the drums are concerned, seems thin.

W.A.S.P. should have released both Parts I and II as a double CD. I think the consistency of the story and the album as a whole would have flowed much smoother and better.

Still, after listening to this album several times despite all the redundancy, I found myself liking it, though not as much as Part I or any other recent W.A.S.P. releases.

Blackie Lawless has really matured as a musician both lyrically and musically, reaching a pinnacle of sorts. But I feel next time he should take a step back and make a fun record, something in the vein of the very first W.A.S.P. record; something raw but fresh sounding at the same time.