I was here when time began
I was in them all
A wicked one magician's hand
I am what John had saw
I'm a thing that lives and breathes
With slaves to worship me
There are many that are born of me
Anytime there are many me's
Crowned messiah, I crucified him
And still ya don't believe
I am kings - I am queens
Unholy terror is me
I'm the feces of the species
Still you're all in awe
I'm something a prophet saw
Hister with a rise and fall
Obsessed with Lenin
Manifested Marx
I am incest in the hearts of dark
I'm riding on some atomic bomb
To blind you all into kingdom come
I am - I am - I am - I am
I've a breath in minds of men
With the lies I breathe
No man's ever ruled the world
Not knowing the curse of me
I'm some of the seven sins
Vanity in the lust of men
I'm the Alpha - Omega man
I'll show you who I am
Hypnotic charm, mesmerizing face
My soul has a dark embrace
A magic tongue, I'll seduce you all
Till I'm your king, till you know my
Charisma - do you know my name?
I'm the God that you pray
When you worship my name
Charisma - are you idolizing me?
I'm a dangerous thing
Your new messiah's me
I'm a liar blinding your vision
Vaticam man
Preaching fear and using religion
With the bible and Koran
I wrap myself in the American flag
And tell people I'm for which it stands
I'm coming back till you know I'm God
Till you believe, till you know my
Charisma - do you know my name?
I'm the God that you pray
When you worship my name
Charisma - are you idolizing me?
I'm a dangerous thing
Your new messiah's me
I'm a fear from a shadow land
I seduce you all
Here I come new messiah man
To bow to me, make me your God
I got them all marching to the rhythm
Believing me, oh yeah, their new religion
I'm a racist with a waving flag
Of domination with a fascist plan
I'm gonna be the new world leader
I got a lot of 9 millimeter baby eaters
I'm coming back til you know I'm God
Till you belive, till you know I'm
Charisma - do you know my name
I'm the God that you pray
When you worship my name
Charisma - are you idolizing me?
I'm a dangerous thing
Your new messiah's me
- WASP (2001)
A brief background of W.A.S.P. was given in the entry for "Hold On to My Heart". The albums following The Crimson Idol had seen the band fall into a mediocrity and almost fade away. In 2000 original guitarist Chris Holmes had cleaned up a little and rejoined the band. Together Blackie Lawless and Chris were able to pen a nice little comeback album called Unholy Terror, from which this entry is taken.
This is actually 2 songs that flow together seemlessly on the album. The first, "Unholy Terror', brings us the 'master'. He is someone who has always been there and is watching over us. He has an invisible hand that guides the events around us, and we don't suspect a thing. The second song, "Charisma", follows in the same vein, but this time it is the master personified. Here he takes a direct part in all things that happen, and nothing happens without his approval. As he does these terrible things, the people will bow down and worship him for it.
Josef Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Kin Il Sung - these are but a few of those leaders that have held a charisma that caused the people to love them as they were crushed underfoot. The cult of personality built was frightening, but they were able to hold the love of the people to a frightening degree. The problem is that people have a tendency to forget history, and worse, sometimes people have a way of putting a spin on history that often results in history being rewritten under a false context.
The songs to me serve as a warning. There are always things at work that we don't see, but guide us along in our lives, for better or for worse. "Unholy Terror" paints a picture of that force that guides us for worse. Think what you want on the religious imagery, but through a lot of history, the common thread sometimes makes you wonder. As to "Charisma" we are being told to be on our guard. Danger lurks behind every leader, especially those blessed with a silver tongue and charm. That's not to say that loved leaders have all been bad, but more often than not there is a dark side to them. Even some of the more benevolent among histories leaders have had skeletons in the closet that were only discovered years later. The difference here is that those dark secrets didn't cause death and destruction on massive scales.
Musically the first song is low key as the master tells his story. The song is almost sung in a whisper, leading the listener to believe he is being told a dark secret. The music picks up on "Charisma" as his presence is announced to a larger audience. The doomy feel to both songs adds weight to the dark message.
And now for commentary I turn you over to Mardi.
The obvious tie to these songs would be the religious images that come to mind, moving beyond that we can dig a bit deeper. In the first song we hear the master explaining himself. He tells us he is evil and dark yet we follow him without questioning his motives. While I agree with Rick's analysis in the leaders in history fitting this persona to me it rings in as another type of demon.
ReplyDeleteI, myself, have never had to struggle through an alcohol or drug addiction but I have watched others do it and this song or songs bring about that image to my mind. An addiction of that sort can be the worse demon one can face. It will tear you up and spit you out without you even knowing it until you have lost everything. Sometimes for people even after that point they do not realize what has happened because the demon or master controlling them masks the emptiness.
Musically I think Rick has it pegged, the first part is quiet and sneaky almost. The second more announced.
Onward we go....