CII. Eva O | Past Time

EVA O

Past Time 

©Cleopatra. US, 1993.

‟Goth chanteuse Eva O. is perhaps best known for her contributions to the Rozz Williams version of Christian Death, though she also worked with several other bands and managed a solo career as well. Born Eva Ortiz, she grew up in a strongly Catholic military family, spending the majority of her childhood in Las Vegas. She had a troubled childhood and found solace in playing the guitar, eventually moving to Los Angeles to pursue rock & roll. In 1980, she founded a punky, all-female hard rock group called the Speed Queens, who were inspired in part by the Runaways. Wanting to take music more seriously than some of her bandmates, she soon left to form the Superheroines with bassist Jill Emery. This group earned a following on L.A.'s so-called death rock scene of the early '80s, which also included goth-flavored bands like .45 Grave and Christian Death. In fact, the Super Heroines made their recorded debut alongside those bands on 1981's Hell Comes to Your House compilation, and O. supplied the female backing vocals on Christian Death's debut album, Only Theatre of Pain.

The Super Heroines recorded two albums of their own, Cry for Help and Souls That Save, for the small local label Bemis Brain over 1982-1983. A third album was begun but never completed, and O. officially disbanded the Superheroines in 1987, when she married original (and, by this time, former) Christian Death singer Rozz Williams. The couple moved to San Francisco and started the goth rock outfit Shadow Project, moving the group back to Los Angeles in 1990. In the meantime, Williams -- who'd founded Christian Death but left in 1985 -- revived the name to compete with the current version of Christian Death, and made O. the guitarist and female vocalist.

Thanks to those two projects, O.'s recorded legacy expanded substantially in the early '90s. Shadow Project issued two studio albums (1991's Shadow Project and 1992's Dreams for the Dying) plus a live set, In Tuned Out; the Williams-led Christian Death, meanwhile, released an album of re-recordings of early material, The Iron Mask, plus two albums of new material, 1993's Path of Sorrows and 1994's The Rage of Angels. Around this time, O. grew interested in a solo career, and to help grease the skids, Cleopatra issued the 1993 career retrospective Past Time, which featured material from her days with the Speed Queens, the Super Heroines, and Christian Death, as well as three new solo songs.

Released in 1994, O.'s proper solo debut was a shocking revelation for many longtime fans: she had converted to Christianity, and crafted a born-again concept album titled Demons Fall for an Angel's Kiss. Credited to the Eva O. Halo Experience, it featured prominent musical support from producer Johnny Indovina. O. eventually divorced Rozz Williams, who had been battling heroin addiction, but the two remained close, and reunited as Shadow Project for the mostly acoustic album From the Heart in 1998; sadly, Williams committed suicide that April. The following year, O. issued her second proper solo album, Damnation, on the small Massacre label; it continued her Christian spiritual preoccupation.‟

Fields Of Haze

VII. Christian Death | Only Theatre Of Pain

 

CHRISTIAN DEATH

Only Theatre Of Pain

©Frontier. US, 1982

‟El primer registro bajo el nombre Christian Death fue el tema "Dogs", publicado en 1981 en el compilado de temática oscurantista "Hell Comes To Your House". Un corte tenebrosamente ambientado, ideal para la ocasión, repleto de ritmos lentos que le otorgan un aire procesional con un bajo tétrico que parece sacado de la boca de Baphomet con lamentos emergentes de la garganta de Rozz Williams. Toda una delicia que anticipaba el primer y único álbum de la presente formación: "Only Theatre Of Pain".

Nadie pone en duda que esta placa sea una obra maestra dentro de la música oscura. Un recién estrenado Christian Death, no se sabe cómo ni por qué, pero logra de buenas a primeras alcanzar un altísimo nivel. la formación tenía en sus filas a Rozz Williams (voz), James McGearty (bajo), a Rikk Agnew (guitarra) y George Belanger (batería). También contaron en esta producción con la ayuda en los coros de Ron y Eva Ortiz.

La música que aquí aparece tiene muchas influencias del rock satánico, además de bandas como la inglesa Black Sabbath, primera en estas lides demoníacas. Son predominantes en el disco los componentes diabólicos tanto en las letras como en la música, logrando una extraordinaria expresividad. En cuanto a esto, a mi parecer la peculiaridad y genialidad de esta obra radica en la plasticidad con que son recreados los ambientes infernales, opresivos, llenos de dolor y angustia a través de todos los elementos sonoros, sin perder a su vez esa esencia rock presente a lo largo de todo el álbum.
Entre los instrumentos destacaría la expresiva guitarra, que en cada ocasión lacera, aúlla de dolor o zumba como las moscas. Sin embargo, no hay que restar méritos a un extraordinario bajo, genial conductor que va dotando de profundidad y oscuridad a las canciones, apoyado en una excelente batería, muy elaborada, con acertadísimas variaciones como es el caso de "Resurrection 3th Communion".

En cuanto a las letras, hay tal vez excesivas referencias a Satán; se ponen en práctica recursos típicos como escritura de frases al revés, a veces indescifrables, consiguiendo esa teatralidad demoníaca que persiguían de una manera absoluta, expresando su rebelión contra la idea del bien personificado en Dios, exaltando el mal, el dolor, como lo que realmente existe, en la figura de Lucifer. Como pilares en este trabajo hay que destacar "Cavity-First Communion", "Romeo's Distress", "Spiritual Cramp", "Mysterium Iniquitatis" y "Resurrection Sixth Communion".

Esa recreación de ambiente de sufrimiento, de dolor, espejo de la decadencia que nos rodea que tan espectacularmente logran, es el nexo que puede establecerse entre esta primera etapa de Christian Death y las posteriores. Otro elemento relevante es el que podríamos llamar "gótico" y que, de muy distintos modos, ha sido empleado por multitud de bandas en diferentes estilos.‟

Rolando Ramos