Blackie still sounds fine, although the voice that was once a flamethrower now knows its limits, and maybe that's a good thing. "Golgotha" isn't restricted by age, but style. It is a pacified version of this band without the bite; this is something evident in the songwriting. The tracks are lighthearted and feathery for a heavy metal group: the crisp in the guitar tone is gone, the texture is driven by a passive rock ideology, and there really isn't any adventure left in the W.A.S.P. machine. Most of the album's tunes strike like pillows more than mallets, leaving the atmosphere and drive sedated. W.A.S.P. is no longer in the business of writing steely-eyed dropkicks like "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)," and that's fine. The deficit in quality, however, is not.

W.A.S.P. is at the point where the music has a hard time avoiding retracing itself, and at times justifying its existence. "Scream" might as well be a sequel to "Crazy" given its structure, and the plodding "Miss You" ballad finds its melodies and themes loaned from the much-better "Heaven's Hung in Black." Then again, the W.A.S.P. style wasn't breaking new ground on "Dominator" or "Babylon," but it had a now-defunct sense of passion, although the songs that do make an impact are explosive and bring back some vitality. "Slaves of the New World Order" detonates with the tempo and urgency of modern W.A.S.P. finding a spark to light that wonderfully familiar fuse. "Shotgun" is another excellent one-a brazen rocker finding a nice crevice between The Who and heavy metal that allows it to gestate comfortably for six minutes. While not horrible, the rest is just inoffensive and passive.