POP MUSIC REVIEW : SANS STUNTS, W.A.S.P. LOSES ITS STING

W.A.S.P apparently came to a fork in its career path recently--and made the wrong turn. Certainly the Los Angeles-based band’s live act is moving in the wrong direction, judging by its concert Tuesday at Long Beach Arena.

In its early days, W.A.S.P. built its shows around stunts involving raw meat, torture racks, rats and meat grinders, skulls and scantily clad women. And let’s not forget leader Blackie Lawless’ codpieces: Years ago he had one with a buzz saw attached, and more recently he wore a flame-throwing model, which turned out to be an occupational hazard not worth the flash.

This kind of leering razzle-dazzle--along with an undercurrent of misogyny--quickly transformed W.A.S.P. into a notorious item, but at the same time the quartet seemed to be spoofing some of metal’s lamer elements, which allowed W.A.S.P. to be in on the joke.

Now the joke tends to be on them, as they’ve lost that freewheeling, nothing-succeeds-like-excess attitude. Tuesday’s show was stripped of stunts, exposing W.A.S.P. as a pedestrian and, worse, boring hard-rock band. They largely avoided supremely ugly and misogynistic tactics, but the shift put added emphasis on lead guitarist Chris Holmes and singer Lawless, neither of whom is up to carrying the extra load.

With this blander approach, W.A.S.P. might even be removed from the Parents Music Resource Center’s hit list--which should leave the band pretty worried.

Second-billed Saxon divided its time between grinding out dense, lumbering metal and trying to engage the crowd in various audience-participation activities. The British band achieved limited success on both counts.

--DUNCAN STRAUSS