NATIVITY IN BLACK: A Tribute To Black Sabbath
White Zombie, "Children of The Grave"
(Columbia)

This seems to be a year of looking back and paying tribute to those artists who were the founders of the hard rock music of today. Hailing form the Midlands area of england, Black Sabbath were the heaviest of all, seemingly able to capture the soot and dirge of their industrial upbringing onto every piece of vinyl that they released. At the time, there were very few bands that specialized in this bludgeoning form of music and Sabbath reshaped the way that music was presented. Now, twenty five years later, a collection of bands who were inspired, influenced, or affected by Black Sabbath have all contributed their reworked versions of their favorite classic tracks for Nativity In Black: A Tribute To Black Sabbath, the entire project being overseen by Bob Chiappardi of Concrete Marketing for Columbia Records. The first track for metal radio is from White Zombie, with their horrifyingly brutal version of "Children of the Grave". White Zombie have become the darlings of metal radio over the past couple of years with their throbbing rhythms and off beat samples, all of which can be found in "Children of the Grave". while this may not have seemed possible, the Zombies- with the production assistance of Terry Date - have beefed up the chords, and this monstrous sound along with Rob Zombie's growling vocals combine to create a song that sounds like it could come out of the speakers and grab you by the throat. With "Feed The Gods" and "Children of the Grave" finding their way onto the airwaves, it won't seem like the band even took a break before the release of their next album. In fact they have been so visible lately, it makes us wonder where they find the time. The legacy of Black Sabbath has been so strong that even without this stellar tribute record, all you have to do is turn on the radio to find a tribute to Sabbath in artists like Soundgarden, Cathedral, Trouble, The Obsessed, Sugartooth, or any other band for that matter who has plugged into the sludge/grunge sound so popular today. Most of us know where that sound came from and we can sit back with our horned fists in the air and enjoy the Sabbath, but for any hard music newcomers who think that doomy, somber music was created in Seattle, this is your education. It's too bad that the rest of our schooling wasn't this amazing!

Hard Report (September 16, 1994)