Classic Review: White Zombie - La Sexorcisto
While Rob Zombie may now mostly known for his solo music and his box office hit movies, he got his start with the too often overlooked, White Zombie. The group began as an experimental noise rock band in the mid 1980's but after heavy influence from Pantera and Slayer, White Zombie morphed into a Groove and Industrial metal focused act. Boosted by the excellent creative mind of lead singer Rob Zombie, White Zombie was catapulted into mainstream success and huge record sales in the early to mid 90's. Today we're going to give a listen to the album that made White Zombie a nationally known act, La Sexorcisto. The following will be a track-by-track review and rating followed by an overall grade in conclusion .
1) Welcome To Planet Motherf**ker / Psycholic Slag - The album begins with a series of movie samples, which is a signature of any Zombie project, otherwise this just serves as an intro.
Grade: NA
2) Knuckle Duster - This track is significant because it serves as the bands first full on foray into groove metal with good results, Zombies unique vocals really shine hear, there isn't any other vocalist you'd mistake him for.
Grade: B+
3) Thunder Kiss '65 - No introduction is necessary for this track, this is one of the defining metal songs of the early 90's, an infectious groove, an unforgettable chorus, and a simple but effective lead riff, a nearly perfect song.
Grade: A+
4) Black Sunshine - Some really tight nice drumming and a groovy bass-line, the vocal patterning is great and cuts between the main riff perfectly, a cool little feature from the legendary Iggy Pop, a little bit of Slayer influence here too.
Grade: B+
5) Soul-Crusher - A really well-done interesting riff leads off the track, the opening is oddly comparable to death metal icons Death in their progressive era, then a heavy and slow groove kicks in with slight hits of shredding layered behind, the most metal track on the record thus far.
Grade: A
6) Cosmic Monster Inc. - Another sample, this time intertwined with a riff reminiscent of the heavier side on Faith No More, the drums were fantastically produced on this record thus far, a theme of head-bobbing grooves has clearly developed at this point on the LP, the first solo of the record also comes in here.
Grade: B+
7) Spiderbaby - The group gets an opportunity to highlight their playing ability here with nice moments of slowed down thrash and soloing, a crunchy headbanging groove yet again kicks in and still manages to feel fresh.
Grade: A-
8) I Am Legend - A sinister slow clean guitar starts the track before Zombies vocals take over and become the shining feature of the song, you really can take notice of how unlike anyone else Rob sounds here, the solo is a great touch as well
Grade: B+
9) Knuckle Duster - One of the more over-the-top cuts on the record, filled with plenty of samples, a very catchy track with more shining guitar work which may come as a surprise to some
Grade: B
10) Thrust! -The main riff is utterly addicting, you see the bands knack for making dance-able metal, something they are truly the innovators of, this is one you'll find yourself wanting to go back and listen to.
Grade: A+
11) One Big Crunch - A bit of a faster groove here, I have to say at this point I'm very surprised with the amount of guitar solos on this album, it is not something I've ever associated with Rob Zombie and it's a pleasant surprise.
Grade: B
12) Grindhouse - This track has a heavy doom vibe to it and it's done very well, Zombies odd vocals lend itself quite well to this style, fantastic guitar work shines here also, the album has developed an excellent flow, the groove is pummeling
Grade: A-
I had mildly high expectations for this album and they were greatly exceeded. Rob Zombie was a truly genius creator with a plethora of fantastic ideas that worked better than anyone could have expected on this record. With memorable songs, great groove, and strong production this album still holds up and has not lost it's luster as many records from the early 90's have. This is a special release that kick-started the career of a rock/metal legend. It gets 4.5/5 stars from us.
