Sometimes I feel it when you're down on your knees.
Pamela Scarangello | Middletown, NJ USA | 01/06/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Released in 1980, "New Hope for the Wretched" is an anti-rock album that's intended to assault the senses, leaving listeners bruised and battered. Emerging from the New York punk circuit in the late 70's, the Plasmatics were a loud, uncompromising ensemble that cracked the status quo of the music industry and collapsed the foundation of mainstream America. And of course, the band was fronted by the one-of-a-kind Metal Priestess herself, Wendy O. Williams, a former stripper who uttered every album's lyrics with furious, gutteral snarls. A true icon in the music industry, she carved a bleeding trail for other hardcore, female-fronted acts, including The Lunachicks, My Ruin, and Otep.
This CD is an amplified masterpiece of dynamitic metal TNT. With its frantic drumming and raw guitars, "New Hope" features extremely loud and simplified anthems of violence, sex, and non-conformity. Although most of the songs were recorded in a studio, the sound was given as little buffering as possible, so it oozes the blood and sweat of an untamed stage performance. Some of the album's tracks, such as "Tight Black Pants," "Test Tube Babies," "Corruption," and the psychotic "Won't You" are spontaneous metal tunes that will melt your eardrums and leave your brain completely hemorrhaged! "Concrete Shoes" is a brutal and blistering song that's somewhat inspired by 1930's gangster flicks; with her incredibly angry growls, Wendy portrays a Mafia boss who tosses a corpse into the Lower East River. The album also features the single, "Butcher Baby," a hostile war anthem that conquered the Top 40 charts in the United Kingdom. "Dreamlover" is a romantic rock track that includes the over-the-top "noise jam," where the band members turned their headphones off and isolated themselves in different parts of the studio. By doing that, no one could hear what notes the other members were playing. This results in a 2-minute cacophany of beautiful chaos; the Plasmatics might as well have played their instruments while riding in a truck at 90MPH, only to skid off the road and tumble down a hill in a ball of flames! And, of course, don't forget the Plasmatics' underground classic, "Living Dead," a rebel song that addresses the damaging, 9-to-5 pressure society inflicts on its citizens. In addition to "New Hope from the Wretched," this CD package provides the entire tracklist from the band's EP, "Metal Priestess," a record that contains a slightly more polished rock sound. Skull-bashing tunes like "Doom Song," "Lunacy," and "12 Noon" are the first ones to dive into the cult bucket of sci-fi movies, festering zombies, blood rituals, and the coming apocalypse. Also, Wendy O. William's live rendition of "Sex Junkie" is as sleazy as the pages of a Hustler magazine. As a whole, this CD is a violent labor of love from a group of anti-art pioneers; it's a album that no death metal group has been able to imitate since.
While being the first stage act to fuse punk anarchy and speed metal, the Plasmatics became well-known for their dangerous theatrics: they sliced guitars in half with a chainsaw, smashed television sets with a sledgehammer, and detonated cars in front of a gawking audience. If that's not obscene enough for you, the lovely Wendy often performed topless onstage, displaying as much raunchy behavior as in one of her a XXX videos. She was a shock rocker who could have brought Marilyn Manson to his knees! Purchase this album when you can, freaks! While American buyers are slowly sinking into the artificial mud of Barbie doll clones, Wendy O. Williams's memory must be kept alive and well! The Plasmatics will live forever!"
Butcher Baby...They're gonna put you away!!
Pamela Scarangello | 08/23/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 2-in-one Plasmatics package contains the loudest, fastest and most hardcore rock music I've ever heard. When you press the play button on your CD player and hear the very first track, you will feel like you've been hit by a runaway train! Personally, my favorite track is "Dreamlover," because of its 2-minute long noise jam where the band members are isolated from one another and randomly play their instruments however they wanted...it's chaos at its best! Another favorite is "Living Dead," which is an absolute classic. Most of the tracks are raw enough that you almost can't tell whether they were recorded in the studio or if they were performed live on stage. "New Hope/Metal" is worth the money; get it while you can."
Finally!
Buddy Barker | Alexandria, VA United States | 06/09/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"While the Plasmatics' output has been recently made avialable I was sorely disappointed that Plasmatics Media had seemingly overlooked the METAL PRIESTESS ep from way back in 1981. Now I can complain no more as this ep has been added to NEW HOPE FOR THE WRETCHED (which has been fairly easy to find on disc). Wendy and company are in fine form here both in songwriting and hard rock attack. LUNACY, DOOM SONG and BLACK LEATHER MONSTER are probably the most well rounded and articulate songs the Plasmatics ever attempted. The tunes from WRETCHED are fun energetic punk but I prefer the metal/punk hybrid of METAL PRIESTESS and this is definitely a high point of this genre."
"Say goodbye to the world as you know it"
trashcanman | Hanford, CA United States | 08/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Behold The Power Of The Night
Shine That We May See The Light
Curse The Filthy Hypocrites
Crawl Into Their Beds At Night
Ooze From Slimy Depths Below
Scream Into Their Frozen Brains"
Wendy O. Williams is the most iconic of iconoclasts; all black leather, mohawk, and electrical tape onstage chainsawing through guitars and exploding cars with glee as her band laid down sonic anarchy. This is not your happy, poppy punk rock band. This is music with a message and the very picture of the "art is war" battlecry currently personified by Williams' heavy metal reincarnation, Otep Shamaya. The sound is massive, the filth and the fury tangible, and the contempt for the mainstream palpable in every note and lyric. The Plasmatics were one of the most exciting bands in music history and one listen to this CD will tell you why. I'm actually angry that I put off buying this for so many years. Don't make the same mistake; this is one of the finest punk rock releases I've ever heard.
Here's The Plasmatics in a nutshell: their cover of all-time saccharine oldie "Dreamlover". One might have expected this to be a grab at a little radio play or some new fans due to the exceptional catchiness of the original tune and the way classic pop songs translate so easily to the simplicity and energy of punk rock. But then you hear Wendy O. William's contemptuous groan/grunt delivery and the sloppy, noisy guitar riffs and realize this is hardly the same song, nor is it meant to be. As if that wouldn't turn off any less-than-hardcore potential fans enough, there is a section of the song where the entire band turned off their headphones while recording and began freestyling without the ability to hear what the other players were doing. The predictable result was a pure unadulterated chaos of bizarre guitar noise, simultaneous soloing bass & drums, and confusion for a rather long stretch before the bassist begins the chorus and everything falls back into place for the amusing finale. Other standout moments of "New Hope For the Wretched" include ridiculing businessmen ("Monkey Suit") and couch potatoes ("Living Dead"). The guitar riffs are often catchier than you'd think and there is also some surprisingly creative drumming here. Contrary to the belief of some, this is not music for dummies; far from it. The best thing about great punk rock is it never loses it's relevance. The sheer noise and aggression is as unbearable to mainstream music fans now as it was then and the lyrics in all their simplicity have not lost an ounce their truth. A million emo bands on meth could never duplicate the energy of this album. Also included are a few live versions of some of the album's tracks which are even more raw than the studio recordings.
As an added bonus to this all-time great punk album, we are treated to the wonderful "Metal Priestess" EP which delivers what it promises. A scalding hybrid of the band's punk fire of a mere year earlier and a newer heavy metal sound anticipating the thrash metal movement of the 80's led by the much-improved vocals of the ultimate punk frontwoman. William's delivery on this slice of awesome is a lot less off-putting than on the album that preceded it and really cements her place in the forefront of all-time great punk rockers. Her snarling, sneering, and even singing delivery on MP is much more suitable to the band's sound than the angry/sexual groans and grunts of before. The songwriting is also very much improved on the EP and it's addition to this package really drives this CD to the top of any hardcore fan's must-own list.
"New Hope for the Wretched/Metal Priestess" is a twofer not to be missed by anyone who dares call themselves a punk rock fan. It sounds great (in that old-school indie, low-budget production kind of way), the words are the very language of sexuality and political anger, and Wendy O. Williams was pure electric fire. She is very much missed. For those who already worship at the altar of Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and MDC, this CD is a given. For casual punk fans more familiar with groups like Green Day, NOFX The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones this is a great way to test the waters of true hardcore punk rock before diving in. Either way, check this out.
"Neutron bombs, and chemical food
Cowboy politics, and man on the moon
Murder, and rape, and chemical waste
Pollution and death, home of the brave
Racism television, corporate God
Polyurethane breakfast, Formica lunch
Insipid ideas, and conformative rules
Collapsing cities, archaic schools"
Yup. Still relevant. Eerily relevant, even.
"
A TWO FOR ONE CLASSIC RELEASE
zzzeitgeist | Detroit, MI | 09/12/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First, it should be pointed out that this is a 2-fer and so it's an excellent value. You get what were originally two separate releases pretty much for the price of one. You can find New Hope in an imported release but you pay more and don't get Metal Priestess a classic in its own right. I keep my commnents separate. NEW HOPE is without a doubt one of the American Classics, a classic punk album that in certain ways has no equal. The cover is anti-artist Rod Swenson who put the group together around Wendy and did all the stages, conceptual stuff and design at his classic excessive best. The album was nearly a disaster though and as excellent as it is, it could have been better and hence my reason for the 4 stars here instead of 5. The first problem is that this was certainly not Wendy's best line-up as far as backing band, but given the simplicity of the music this might have been dealt with if there weren't production problems during the recording. Producer Jimmy Miller had to be removed from the recording by the record company due to his heroin problems and Swenson and the Ramones engineer and later producer Ed Stasium had to try and save the project in the post production. They did a great job, but if these problems had not been there it could have been better than it is. This is all covered in the terrific DVD Wendy O. Williams and The Plasmatics: The DVD - Ten Years of Revolutionary Rock and Roll that recently came out so I won't go into it further here. It is no doubt a classic, and one of the best punk albums ever made, but although some will say I'm being too hard, it is the fact that if the basic tracks had been put down differently it could have been even better. With Metal Priestess, as a great and pioneering first step towards the later more complex metal records of the group, there was a new drummer and a new bass player which were a huge improvement, and no producer problems. In this one Swenson worked with wunderkind Dan Hartman (originally from the Edgar Winter group and who later went on to produce James Brown) who got some great sounds. The political "12 Noon" is a unique song and Wendy really rocks out vocally on the Doom Song and Black Leather Monster which foreshadow the incredible vocsals she'd put out later in her career. Words aside this package rocks and is a great value. A must for any collector."
