THE NEON GOD: Part 2 - The Demise
I have to apologize for the tardiness of this review. You see, this advance CD landed in the
FoundryMusic PO Box the DAY before I had to head out on the road for a week's worth of travelling, and it didn't dawn on me to bring the thing with me because I didn't think I was going to have access to a CD player while out on the road.
As luck would have it, this was the week we all stayed in hotels equipped with CD players in the rooms.
Anyway, now that I have had time to absorb the second half of
The Neon God story, I can understand a little better the story W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless was trying to tell with this set of discs.
While Part 1: The Rise dealt with the creation of a dark messiah, Part 2: The Demise deals with the turmoil and the conflict the main character feels until his ultimate demise. Blackie loads up on Hammond organ (or so it seems) on Part 2, and sticks with some of the same melodic themes used in the first part of the story.
Here's the thing; unless you're a fanatic for concept albums, which I am not, you're going to be listening to this disc for the distinctive songs. So basically, if you're doing a concept album that relies on familiar musical themes, it stands to reason that the second half of the story is going to incorporate similar themes...musically...as you heard in the first part. That's exactly what's going on here.
I could deal with the movies KILL BILL 1 and KILL BILL 2 because A) they were movies, and having imagery helps when telling an epic story...but more importantly, B) there were new characters and elements introduced in the second film that made it stand out on its own. Part 2: The Demise is leaning so heavily on melodies established in Part 1: The Rise, that it's hard to look at it as any more than just another nine songs from the same disc. I hate to sounds like a kill joy, but this second disc really isn't blowing my hair back.
Thank God I'm a fan of Blackie Lawless' writing, because I really would have slammed this disc if I wasn't.
