Spooky Sextravaganza Spectacular (1995)

Tracklist:

1. SCG Minus 1: The Ruiz Ranch Massacre
2. Demon Supreme
3. Re-Animate
4. Lizzard of Oz
5. Killusion
6. Skull and Bones (The Danger Zone)
7. Goliath
8. Drekavac
9. Terror Extra-Terrestrial
10. Shake the Baby Silent
11. If It Ain’t Broken (Must Break It)
12. Anticlimax

‘Spooky Sextravaganza Spectacular‘ is probably the one release in the box that is the closest to the Lordi we all know and love, and thus probably the most accessible one. Which makes sense since this album was supposedly released in the period when the band really started making music and released their first demos. With its industrial style of rock/metal you can hear the heydays of the genre back in the nineties, reminiscent of bands like White Zombie, Rob Zombie, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and the lot. ‘Demon Supreme‘ immediately shows off the highly contagious and catchy realms Lordi has entered with this album and ‘Re-Animate‘ and ‘Lizzard of Oz‘ has that sleazy, stomping industrial sound similar to the earlier mentioned White Zombie/Rob Zombie. ‘Killusion‘ goes more purely electronic or synth based without much heavy guitars to speak off while ‘Skull and Bones (The Danger Zone)’ ramps things back up again with a headbanging inducing pace.

Like mentioned before, a lot of the songs on this release remind me of other popular industrial acts of the nineties, while still maintaining that signature Lordi sound. Rob Zombie comes to mind more than once, which is the case again with the spooky and swampy ‘Golliath‘, while ‘Drekavac‘ adds a touch of Ministry harshness and coldness. Of course we can’t forget about the one track that we were familiar with already from the ‘Killection‘ release that is so “wrong” that it becomes amazingly good. ‘Shake The Baby Silent’ is not a good advice for handling your infant, but it’s a prime example of Lordi getting to their signature sound, mixing satirical lyrics with hooks for days. Try to get the lines “Shake the baby, shake the baby, shake the baby silent!” out of your head, you’ll find it to be extremely hard. This is the album I found myself turning back to more than once because of its slab of killer industrial infused tracks of a Lordi that was somewhat heavier than they usually are nowadays.