VOODOOCULT — Jesus Killing Machine (review)

VOODOOCULT — Jesus Killing Machine album cover

Album · 1994 · Thrash Metal

3/5 · 2017-04-29
UMUR

"Jesus Killing Machine" is the debut full-length studio album by German industrial/thrash metal project Voodoocult. The album was released through Motor Music in February 1994. The Voodoocult project was founded by Phillip Boa, lead vocalist in Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub. A German alternative rock band, who was relatively successful in the late 80s/early 90s. After releasing their 7th full-length studio album "Boaphenia" in 1993, Phillip Boa opted to pursue a more metal oriented style and created the Voodoocult project as a vehicle for that ambition. He teamed up with prolific musician/producer Waldemar Sorychta (Despair, Tiamat, Grip Inc.), who plays guitars on the album, and also enlisted drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Grip Inc., Philm), and bassist Dave Ball. In addition to that Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied) and Mille Petrozza (Kreator) also make guest appearances on the album.

Stylistically the music is industrial oriented thrash/heavy metal with quite a few nods towards punk. The latter is especially heard in Phillip Boa´s vocal delivery, which is raw and at times sounds like Snake "lite" (Voivod), but there are also riffs and even whole tracks to back up that description. Ministry is another obvious influence, but the music on "Jesus Killing Machine" is a bit more easily accessible and for the most part vers/chorus structured. Repetition is a major part of the sound too though, and typically lyric lines are repeated a lot during a track. Regarding the lyrics they are for the most part pretty silly which song titles like "Metallized Kids", "Albert Is a Headbanger" and "Blood Surfer City" are also a testimony to. It could have been kitchy and funny, but it comes off awkward and slightly ridiculous instead.

The input by the above mentioned guests is mostly heard in the drumming (although Chuck Schuldiner´s solo is clearly recognisable too), which is in classic Dave Lombardo style. The sound on the drums is a bit less organic than his usual sound, but his playing is as organic and busy as ever. When the tracks are less interesting, I focus on the drums and get something out of the listening experience anyway. And there are several tracks that aren´t that interesting and a few that are. So the material are overall of a varied quality. The album is consistent enough when it comes to style and sound, but there are simply tracks on the album that don´t stick or become tedious while listening to them, either because simple ideas are drawn out and repeated too much, or because the basic songwriting isn´t that exciting.

The sound production is genre- and time typical with a lot of industrial tinged effects, distortion, and relatively thin sounding drums and guitars. It suits the music well, and while the production sounds a bit old fashioned these days, it should be evaluated from a contemporary point of view.

Most people are probably familiar with Voodoocult because of the many prolific guests on the album, and while it may be a bit unfair to say it, that´s also the most interesting feature on "Jesus Killing Machine" (particularly the drumming by Dave Lombardo). It´s not a terrible album by any means, but it´s not a great one either and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.