It’s been a long time since White Zombie graced the pages of
“The Daily Vault”… something that came to mind as I was going
through portions of the Pierce Archives (where even the dust knows
your name) in my regular search for “random pulls”. There it was,
La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume 1, White Zombie’s 1992
debut effort.
You can argue for hours about whether this is truly evil music
or not, but there’s no denying two things about this album: First,
the enclosed lyrics are as valuable as gold. Second, this is a
powerful, enjoyable album.
Rob Zombie knew what he was doing when he put together this
band. Guitarist J knows how to twist some juicy riffs out of his
six-string, making him possibly one of the most underrated
guitarists in hard rock/heavy metal of the ’90s. Bassist Sean
Yseult often is hidden in the mix, but when her work is brought to
the forefront, she demonstrates her technical knowledge of the
bass. Drummer Ivan De Prume can lay down a solid shuffle and
provides a solid backbone to the album.
And then, there is Zombie himself. His combination of
rap/singing adds a touch of macabre power to White Zombie’s
music… but nine times out of ten I don’t have any idea what it is
he’s saying. This is where the lyric sheet comes in handy,
providing enough material to make Tipper Gore run for the
exits.
But if the truth is to be told, the content of
La Sexorcisto is about as evil as an underground comic book.
I highly doubt that Zombie wrote these songs to be taken seriously,
and they should be just experienced and enjoyed. The thundering
riffs of the Grammy-nominated cut “Thunder Kiss ’65” (note to
Barbra Streisand: A wonderful piece to have selected to keep the
media at bay… though I think my invite was lost in the mail) is a
tribute to heavy metal in 1992. Commercially, metal was in its
death throes; “Thunder Kiss ’65” reminded people that it was still
around.
The underdog track on
La Sexorcisto has to be “Black Sunshine,” a track which, if
memory serves me right, did make it as a video on MTV. Solid,
catchy riffs, well-placed samples and a powerful vocal delivery
make this track the hidden treasure – and it also makes me wonder
why this song didn’t break the band into the mainstream.
The second half of
La Sexorcisto is a little duller than the first, if only
because the novelty might have been wearing off a bit. Still, cuts
like “I Am Legend” and “Thrust!” are more than worthy of your time
and eardrums.
With a solo album from Zombie just on the horizon, one has to
wonder what the future holds for White Zombie.
La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume 1 did show a band that
needed a little more work on their songwriting to keep things
fresh, but it also showed these musicians were apt to be quick
learners. Evil? No. Heavy? As an anvil. Worth your time? Of
course.
