The hyper cyberpunk horror metal of White Zombie shook the wooden rafters of Saltair Thursday. The final show of the tour was loud enough to wake the dead.
When the house lights dimmed, sound effects depicting the decent into the depths of a deserted mansion's haunted corridors snaked from the speakers. The crowd raised their fists and began the ritualistic slam-dancing.Red spotlights scanned the audience of about 4,000 as guitarist Jay Yuenger (known as J by the band), drummer Mark dePrume (sitting in for his brother, Ivan, who was in the hospital for unknown reasons) and bassist Sean Yseult emerged and threw out some grinding chords while vocalist Rob Zombie strolled on stage. With a blinding flash, the New York-based band stormed into "Psychoholic Slag."
"This seemed like a good night to wrap it up," Zombie roared as he flipped his natty dreadlocks from his face. "It's been a long two years." With that Yuenger finger picked out the mesmerizing intro to "I Am Legend." A green spot engulfed him as he and Yseult, probably the hardest-working female bassist in the business, played off each other in the green halo.
The show's theatrics enhanced the program and didn't take away from the raw, burning energy conjured by the band. Sound bytes from various radio, movie and TV programs spackled each song as strobes, laser-spots and black lights gyrated the spectacle's extravagant light show.
Exploding flash pots and Yseult's staccato bass lines kicked off the band's second single "Black Sunshine," as Zombie bellowed out the song's metallic rap. The doom-laden march of "Spiderbaby (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)" followed. Yuenger pounced across the stage and strummed the skipping rhythmic intro to "Thrust." Synchronized strobes captured the crowd in various stop-motion poses.
Zombie was cordial and his speech was salted with profanity as he talked with the crowd between songs. He took time to introduce a new song titled "Feed the Gods" that will be released in August. Members of the audience responded by slamming themselves together as the floor turned into a moving amoebic mass.
The band surprised many by spinning out tight dynamic pauses and melodic interludes that mixed eloquently with its trademark gothic-style chords depicted in "Grindhouse (A Go-Go)." Yuenger bent his strings to the limit and took the spotlight with another screaming solo. The band's first single, "Thunderkiss '65," finished the set to the explosions of fireworks.
White Zombie began the encore with the high strung syncopation of "Soul Crusher" and turned the pavilion into an ultraviolent array of flashing strobes and flaying spots as the crowd spun itself into a fury. Zombie called two kids on stage and dedicated the last song of the night to them - a distorted White Zombie remake of Black Sabbath's "Children Of The Grave."
The audience was gunned down by opening band Drown's style of lethal, alternative technometal and rose again to the primal thunder of White Zombie. Each band let out all the stops and left the crowd screaming for more.