Classic zombie
The album that introduced mainstream America to one of metal's most beloved bands, White Zombie's "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. 1" is a tour de force of heandbanging ghoul rock. Songs like "Thunderkiss '65", "Black Sunshine", "Soul Crusher", "Thrust!", and "Grindhouse (A Go Go)" fully display the growl and campy lyrics of Rob Zombie, the grinding guitars of J., and the pumping bass and drums of Sean Yseult and Ivan Deprume respectively. I still remember thinking how mind boggingly cool White Zombie was when I had first heard them when I was a kid, and as much as I loved their follow up (and what proved to be their last studio album) "Astro Creep 2000", "La Sexorcisto" remains my favorite album from this much missed band. Forget most of Rob's newer material, this is the real deal.
It grows on you (kinda like a fungus).
I realize that I haven't given this album any more stars than when I first reviewed it, but my appreciation for it has certainly grown. The lyrics may be really weird, but there's just no denying that these guys (and girl) were great musicians, and Rob's growl is undescribable. The music seems to be influenced mainly by Black Sabbath circa "Paranoid" and "Master of Reality", Slayer circa "South of Heaven" and "Seasons in the Abyss" (anyone else think Tom Araya inspired Rob's vocals?), and of course the Misfits. The result is something quite interesting, and quite cool. Now, back to the lyrics. To understand them, here's what you do: Go out, rent a stack of porno and b-horror movies, smoke a big bag of weed, and then watch the movies. Whatever goes through your mind is pretty much the average White Zombie song. There are truly some great tracks here, such as "ThunderKiss", "Black Sunshine", "Soul Crusher", and "Thrust". And, check out that melodic intro to "I Am Legend". Didn't know they could do that, did ya? All in all, this is indeed great metal, but it's just a bit too weird for me to give five stars. With some bands, like Primus or Faith No More, I can look past the weirdness because of the brilliant musicianship, but this guys (and girl) are really just good musicians, not brilliant ones. "Astro Creep" is really kinda more indusrial, and I don't much care for it. If you're like me, and you lean more toward Sabbath and Slayer than Korn and Deftones, this is the album you should go with. It's too bad Rob had to sell out and start making commercial garbage with his solo band, I would like to have heard more stuff like this. I certainly wouldn't call this album a classic, it can't compare to the likes of "Reign in Blood", "Master of Puppets", or "Powerslave", but if you like good old fashioned heavy metal, you can't go wrong.
Trash Metal At Its Best
At first, I was not a big fan of this CD, but after a few more listens, I found that this CD was a great masterpiece of metal. All of the songs but are great and I think that any rock fan should definately pick this one up...WELCOME TO PLANET MF/PSYCHOHOLIC SLAG are great songs, "Welcome" was a single and it has been played on MTV2 even today, great...
KNUCKLE DUSTER is a interlude type thing with the sound of a radio tuner
THUNDER KISS '65 is the grammy-nominated hit single from the album, I love this one
BLACK SUNSHINE (FEAT. IGGY POP) is an O.K. song, it gets kinda irritable after awhile
SOUL-CRUSHER is actually Never Gonna Stop's inspiration song, you can hear the same lines in both songs, once again this is a great song
COSMIC MONSTER INC. is ny 2nd least favorite track, it's just too annoying
SPIDERBABY (YEAH YEAH YEAH) is interesting, it really depends if you're in the mood for it I guess
I AM LEGEND is an awesome (!!!) song...Anyone who does not like the slow acoustic going to the "YYYYEEEAAAAHHHH" is insane
KNUCKLE DUSTER 2 is the same as the first, and an intro to Thrust
THRUST is a great rock song, I like this one
ONE BIG CRUNCH is very wierd, interlude type again
GRINDHOUSE (A GO-GO) is a great song, gets you really into the song
STARFACE is also a very good get-you-into-it track
WARP ASYLUM is very dull dont like it at all
Average cd yet listenable
This cd has it's up moments more than it's down moments yet it just gets boring after listening to the same repetitive bass lines and guitar riffs. I'm a big fan of White Zombie and I know they can do better than this and they showed that by producing Astro-Creep 2000 and Hellbilly Deluxe. And also their newest release is pretty darn good! Plus the production of the cd is just God awful!!! Well this cd has potential yet it just goes flat after awhile of listening to it.
Devil Music
If you love Rob Zombie's music and don't have this one yet, I think you should get it. It's more then the songs they play(ed) on the radio. Songs like "Cosmic Monsters Inc." or "I Am Legend" are great songs to hear loud. Others say that it gets soft the deeper you get in the cd but I guess they never hear what I feel is the best La Sexorcisto track "Warp Asylum" well thats what I think, for what it's worth.
The title of White Zombie's first mainstream success promises some good, trashy fun, and boy does this album deliver. White Zombie is not a nihilistic, the-world-is-rotten heavy metal band; on the contrary, one doubts that they're in danger of taking anything too seriously, and the humor is audible in every riff. La Sexorcisto is rife with distorted guitars, snippets of dialogue from horror movies, and songs about fast cars ("Black Sunshine"), loose women ("Grindhouse (A-Go-Go)"), and the generally weird. Don't think about it too hard; sit back, relax, pop a cool one and crank up the stereo until it shakes your ceiling. -- Genevieve Williams
