I, so far, had two W.A.S.P. tribute CDs in my collection. "Show No Mercy - Tribute To W.A.S.P." was the first one to emerge in 2001 via Versailles Records in 2001 and it was a weird combo back then since it portrayed the influence of the legendary 'shock' Rock/Metal outfit in even extreme Metal bands, not a stamped fact at the time. "Shock Rock Hellions - A Tribute To W.A.S.P." came more smoothly from Codiac Records in 2006. While traveling to Hamburg, Germany for the Headbangers Open Air festival last summer I paid a visit to the Remedy Records store soon to find out there still exists W.A.S.P. collectibles to pay for plus I was informed a double CD compilation was in the making by the label. And now, here it is.

"W.A.S.P. Tribute - The Crimson Covers" is the most diverse tribute CD and intriguing of all three of them (not aware of any other official W.A. tribute album available all these years - if mistaken, please contact me. It may not be the most dynamic in terms of final product or relevance to the originals but it surely shows how far an artist can go with a cover take, walking the right or wrong path (that's a matter of personal taste, to say the least). Presented here are 28 of the American rockers' songs - spanning their whole discography - again made by 23 Metal or close-to-Metal bands, half of them being German. No big names are presented here, I myself found out only bands like LONEWOLF, CUSTARD, TORMENT, WARHEAD, HAZY HAMLET and TRAGEDIAN could possibly be referred to as 'names' by die-hard fans.

The main point, nonetheless, is that most of the originals have been gangbanged, raped, stretched and fistfucked to death...and that's what I liked the most in this insane CD. Only in a couple of tunes I found the remakes standing close enough to the originals. Again said, there's no verdict one-any particular remake is a killer or sucks big time, there can be such verdict anyway in a covers album and you probably fool yourselves voting for or against in cases like this. It's entertaining, though, "Hold On To My Heart" (by 5TH SONIC BRIGADE) is transformed into a demo-recording melodic Rock/AOR tune, FIRE's "Hellion" exposes a bombarding Euro Power Metal profile, the take of COLD COLOURS on "Forever Free" smells Goth hostility, KNEIPENTERRORISTEN add German lyrics to "Mean Man" and make it sound even sleazier, "The Rock Rolls On" features violins on speedand NIGHTWISH-isque vocals(courtesy of GWYLLION) and some lunatics called WYLDFYRE turn "Blind In Texas" into an Elvis Presley-meets-Bluegrass music. If not something else, then these remakes confirm W.A.S.P. had/have much more variety and chameleonic behavior in their songwriting and instrumentation than probably expected by the vast majority of 'core' or normal fans all these 25 years...Surprises never end.

I ended up enjoying something more than half the menu, but that's a personal thesis for personal entertainment, but solid truth is the whole tracklist is more than interesting. As said at times, too, "worst thing for a piece of art is to create no emotions". "W.A.S.P. Tribute - The Crimson Covers" has cover versions you're love and takes you'll hate; it shall make you'll express yourself at least, dammit!