La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1

La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One
Studio album by White Zombie
Released March 17, 1992
Recorded May 1991 at 321 Studios, New York
Genre Heavy metal, groove metal, alternative metal
Length 57:30
Label Geffen
Producer Andy Wallace
White Zombie chronology

God of Thunder
(1989)
La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One
(1992)
Astro-Creep: 2000
(1995)
Singles from La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One
  1. "Thunder Kiss '65"
    Released: 1992
  2. "Black Sunshine"
    Released: 1992

La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One is the third album by metal band White Zombie, released on March 17, 1992 through Geffen Records. It was the band's last album to feature drummer Ivan de Prume.

Album information

The album's sound is a mix of groove metal and heavy metal with multiple B-movie samples. Rob Zombie explained he "wanted to keep a groovable dance element in the music", a trait which is often absent in metal music. Contrary to rumors, a "Devil Music Volume Two" was never planned for recording or release. Almost every song on the album made an appearance on the 1994 video game Way of the Warrior.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Rolling Stone [2]
Rock Hard (de) 9/10[3]

La Sexorcisto was both a critical and commercial success for White Zombie, climbing up the charts in the US and gaining massive MTV video airplay and mainstream rock radio airplay with "Thunder Kiss '65" and "Black Sunshine". Although released in early 1992, La Sexorcisto did not enter the Billboard 200 until 1993,[4] after the success of "Thunder Kiss '65", which reached number 26 on the Mainstream Rock chart.[5] It was certified Double Platinum by the RIAA, and gold by the CRIA.

Jacob N. Lunders of Allmusic praised the album with 4.5 out of 5 stars and claimed "Perhaps co-defining the future of heavy metal, White Zombie's major-label debut nearly equals fellow classics Guns N' Roses's Appetite for Destruction, The Cult's Electric, and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger in significance".[1]

Touring and promotion

White Zombie toured for two years to promote La Sexorcisto. The tour was a critical success and some archived footage of the shows can be seen on the Let Sleeping Corpses Lie DVD. White Zombie began a five-month U.S. tour in April 1992, supporting such bands as My Sister's Machine, Paw, Testament, Pantera, Trouble and Crowbar.[6] In the fall of 1992, the band opened for Danzig on their How the Gods Kill tour in Europe and the United States, and wrapped up the year doing a brief U.S. tour, again supporting Pantera.[6] White Zombie spent most of 1993 and 1994 touring non-stop in support of La Sexorcisto. They toured with Monster Magnet in February and March 1993, and with Anthrax and Quicksand that summer.[6] White Zombie embarked on two more U.S. tours: one with Chemlab and Nudeswirl in the fall of 1993, and another with Prong and The Obsessed in early 1994.[6] The La Sexorcisto tour concluded in May 1994 with four Japanese shows, which were supported by Pantera.[6]

Accolades

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1996 Visions Germany "The Eternal Readers Charts" 36 [7]
2006 Rock Sound United Kingdom "Les 150 Albums De La Génération" 95 [8]
2005 Rock Hard Germany "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time" 282 [9]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Rob Zombie, all music composed by White Zombie.

No. Title Length
1. "Welcome to Planet Motherfucker/Psychoholic Slag"   6:21
2. "Knuckle Duster (Radio 1-A)"   0:21
3. "Thunder Kiss '65"   3:53
4. "Black Sunshine"   4:49
5. "Soul-Crusher"   5:07
6. "Cosmic Monsters Inc."   5:13
7. "Spiderbaby (Yeah-Yeah-Yeah)"   5:01
8. "I Am Legend"   5:08
9. "Knuckle Duster (Radio 2-B)"   0:25
10. "Thrust!"   5:04
11. "One Big Crunch"   0:21
12. "Grindhouse (A Go-Go)"   4:05
13. "Starface"   5:02
14. "Warp Asylum"   6:44
Total length:
57:30

Some pressings of the CD incorrectly divide tracks 12 and 13, beginning track 13 at 3:31 of "Grindhouse (A Go-Go)."

Song overview

"Welcome to Planet Motherfucker/Psychoholic Slag"

"Welcome to Planet Motherfucker/Psychoholic Slag" is the first track on the album. It is a two-part song, the first part having its own music video.

Audio Samples

"Knuckle Duster (Radio 1-A)"

"Knuckle Duster (Radio 1-A)" is the second track and the first of two radio channel imitations on the album. It takes its name from a metal weapon worn over the knuckles used in hand-to-hand combat, otherwise known as brass knuckles. The track contains numerous short audio samples from movies and songs which play in a fashion similar to that of someone changing radio channels every few seconds.

Audio Samples

"Thunder Kiss '65"

"Thunder Kiss '65" is the third track on the album. It helped the band gain some notoriety through its music video and chart success (and again through its inclusion in the first Guitar Hero game, thirteen years later) and was nominated the Grammy for Best Metal Performance of 1993.

Audio Sample

"Black Sunshine"

"Black Sunshine" is the fourth track on the album. Though minimally successful as a single, the song has gone on to become a fan favorite and is still played live with Zombie's solo act as well as appearing on his greatest hits albums. The spoken intro and end were provided by Iggy Pop. It also appears in the video game Guitar Hero III and as downloadable content for the Rock Band series.

Audio Sample

"Soul-Crusher"

"Soul-Crusher" is the fifth track on the album. The lyrics "Speed kills, I'm alive yeah, in my ... Durango '95, yeah!" and "Motherfucker scream horrorshow!" are both references to Stanley Kubrick's classic 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Also, the lyrics "Time a Diamond Ass right on my line" is a reference to their song "Diamond Ass" off the Soul-Crusher album. Iggy Pop speaks the words "Burning like fat in the fire the smell of red, red kroovy(krovvy) screamed mega-flow; a stalking ground without prey. A flash of superstition whimpering like a crippled animal. Dogs of the Soul-Crusher pulling closer like the blue steel jaws of hell" in the middle of the song. According to Rob, it was this song that inspired Geffen Records to sign the band to its label.[10]

"Cosmic Monsters Inc."

"Cosmic Monsters Inc." is the sixth track on the album.

Audio Samples

"Spiderbaby (Yeah-Yeah-Yeah)"

"Spiderbaby (Yeah-Yeah-Yeah)" is the seventh track on the album. It takes its name from the 1968 cult film Spider Baby.

Audio Samples

"I Am Legend"

"I Am Legend" is the eighth track on the album. The song is closely based on the 1954 horror novel I Am Legend, written by Richard Matheson.

"Knuckle Duster (Radio 2-B)"

"Knuckle Duster (Radio 2-B)" is the ninth track and the second of two radio channel imitations on the album.

Audio Samples

"Thrust!"

Audio Samples

"One Big Crunch"

Audio Samples

"Grindhouse (A Go-Go)"

"Grindhouse (A Go-Go)" is the twelfth cut on the album. It was featured in Woody Allen's 2002 film Hollywood Ending. In 2000, the song was covered by Habeas Corpus for the White Zombie tribute album Super-Charger Hell.

"Starface"

"Starface" is the thirteenth track on the album. The audio sample at the beginning of the track, "One. We are one. One is the beginning ...", is from the episode "The Way to Eden" from Star Trek: The Original Series. "X minus 5 seconds...4...3...2...1" is from the 1950 sci-fi film Rocketship X-M.

Audio Samples

"Warp Asylum"

"Warp Asylum" is the fourteenth and last track on the album.

Audio Sample

Personnel

Band members

Technical crew

Chart positions

Album
Chart (1992) Position
US Billboard 200[11] 26
Heatseekers[11] 2

Singles
Single Chart (1993) Position
"Thunder Kiss '65" US Mainstream Rock Tracks[12] 14
New Zealand Albums Chart[13] 47
Single Chart (1994) Position
"Black Sunshine" US Mainstream Rock Tracks[12] 39

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lunders, Jacob N. "((( La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 > Review )))". Allmusic. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
  2. Brackett, Nathan. "White Zombie". November 2004. pg. 870, cited March 17, 2010.
  3. Deese, Uwe. "Rock Hard review". issue 60. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  4. "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 - White Zombie : Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  5. "White Zombie - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "White Zombie Tour Dates". metallipromo.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  7. "Visions - The Eternal Readers Charts". Visions. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  8. "Rock Sound - Les 150 Albums De La Génération". Rock Sound. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  9. [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 99. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  10. "Rob Zombie: I Find It Distracting To Hear My Own Music". ultimate-guitar.com interview. Cited December 2008.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "White Zombie – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  12. 12.0 12.1 "White Zombie – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  13. White Zombie in New Zealand Charts. Charts.Org.NZ. Retrieved on June 3, 2009.