After appearing on the stunning Hell Comes to Your House compilation from 1981, Super Heroines, like fellow L.A. deathrockers’ Christian Death, were quick to put out their debut full-length LP and what a way to open the infernal gates it is. Led by vocalist / guitarist Eva O the band produced an album that was every bit as important and influential to the deathrock scene, and yet sadly, is relegated as an afterthought. What makes the Super Heroines stand out for me are two things. One and perhaps most notably, was their willingness to flirt with heavy metal. By 1982 standards that's a bit ahead-of-the-game I think. And two is Eva O's vocals: the woman who, according to her, had a brief relationship / encounter with infamous serial killer / Satanist Richard Ramirez (!), sounds positively possessed on these songs, like she'd been playing with a Ouija board before the recording sessions invoking something not quite human. She actually sounds pretty damn scary and it elevates the dark punky metal songs into a far more menacing beast if not for her killer vocals. One song in particular I'd like to point out is the "Super Heroines Theme," which is an instrumental; now, I think most folks familiar with punk music know that the genre isn't exactly renown for instrumentals but damn, do the band completely nail it. In fact, it's one of my favourites here.
Friday, 21 November 2025
Super Heroines – L.A. Riot Grrrls (The Best Of 1982-1985)
Along with bands like Christian Death, .45 Grave, and Pompeii 99, the Super Heroines helped spawn the so-called death rock scene in Los Angeles during the early '80s. Like their peers, the all-female band's music had a Goth edge, but was inspired chiefly by punky, Runaways-style metal. Guitarist/singer Eva O. (born Eva Oritz) had previously played in the Speed Queens, and joined up with bassist Jill Emery and drummer China to form the Superheroines in 1981. They made their recorded debut that year with two tracks on the seminal death rock compilation Hell Comes to Your House, which also featured the first recordings by Christian Death; the following year, Eva O. sang backup vocals on Christian Death's first album, Only Theatre of Pain. Meanwhile, the Superheroines joined the small local label Bemis Brain and issued their own debut LP, Cry for Help, in 1982 as well. It was followed a year later by Souls That Save. The band did work on another album, but although it was never released, Eva O. continued to lead them until 1987, when she married ex-Christian Death singer Rozz Williams, moved to San Francisco, and formed the goth-oriented Shadow Project with him. Jill Emery played with Shadow Project during the early '90s, and worked with Hole and Mazzy Star as well. In 1993, Cleopatra issued the Superheroines compilation Love and Pain, which featured rare, live, and unreleased material (some of it from the band's never-finished album).