Psycho-Head Blowout

by Bradley Torreano Anyone packed into a sweaty New York City club in the summer of 1986 could never have guessed that the filthy sludge rockers opening for Pussy Galore would go on to become the heaviest, campiest band to ever headline the MTV Video Awards. But sure enough, White Zombie may be the sole group to crawl out of the underground noise scene to actually make a mainstream impact, even if it was after having morphed into an industrial metal band. On Psycho-Head Blowout, the young Rob Zombie (calling himself Rob Straker) sounded like Damaged-era Rollins, while the band crafted some of the gnarliest grunge on the East Coast. The songs are barely held together by their own momentum, while the lyrics are virtually impossible to understand, yet the band had a certain charm even then. The seeds of their eventual sound can be heard here; Zombie yelps the occasional "yeah" while a few of the riffs (especially "Eighty-Eight") are reminiscent of their La Sexorcisto period. This album is virtually impossible to find, but any fans of the New York noise scene would do themselves a favor by hearing this album. Spin magazine once quoted Kurt Cobain as saying he loved this EP, so obsessive Nirvana fans may want to give this a listen also.