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Rob Zombie: Educated horses

05/04/06 || Statik Majik

Wow, stop the press! It’s a new Rob Zombie album!

It’s been a minor break, to say the least, since “Sinister urge” and I actually thought that he’d concentrate entirely on directing and producing horror-movies from now on. Well, I’m extatic to see that there’s still a little bit of musician inside this multitalented geezer that needs to get music out every once in a while. You see, I happen to be a major fan of his work. Have been since “La Sexorcisto” was released.

But let’s start with some bitching, shall we? “Educated horses”? What the fuck? Really, who in their sane mind would call that a good title for an album? I’m too tired to look thru the booklet and see if there’s lyrics, explanations or something that would enlighten us about the origin of the name. I’m not even sure if I want to. Educated fucken horses, for fucks sakes… Couldn’t Rob Zombie have used some song-title instead? Each and every one of them sounds much better than the actual album title, you know? Well, obviously he doesn’t. ( Note by The Lord: Rob himself’s stated that the title comes from his childhood when he used to go on the road with his family, who worked in carnivals that often featured trained animals. )

Overall, this sounds exactly like you would expect Rob Zombie to sound like… It’s filled with nice catchy songs, some heavy riffs sprinkled here and there, lot of sing-a-long stuff and the mandatory “Yeah, yeah” -fillers. The basic elements we’re all used to when it comes to Rob Zombie.

So, this time it’s supposed to be less programming and samples, and more focus on the performance of live musicians, compared to their earlier material. At least that’s what I read from a few news/music-sites prior to the release of “Educated horses”. What-the-fucken-ever. I’m not sure if I notice much difference compared to earlier Rob Zombie releases. They rock. And so does this, less programming or not.

And I’m not complaining.

The few exceptions to the general Zombie-flow are “The scorpion sleeps” and “100 ways”. Especially the first one sounds like it could be taken directly from “Antichrist Superstar” by Marilyn Manson. I swear to Satan, even Rob’s voice is close to Marilyn Manson’s on this one. Should I pick upthe booklet now and check if there’s a possible explanation? Nah, why bother. I dig Marilyn Manson so I allow Rob Zombie to pay a tribute to the fucker if he feels like it. Or maybe it’s the participation of guitarist John 5 that has something to do with this, because there’s actually a couple of obvious Manson -influences here and there on this disc. And I might be tripping, but a few times I even get some minor Alice Cooper -vibes from Rob’s vocals.

And could someone tell Rob Zombie to stop using old pictures of Lord K for his album covers? It’s more than confusing. If you didn’t know, those two fuckers looked like fucken twins from hell when Lord K still had long hair. Ok, he’s a “bit” taller than his American twin, but the resemblance used to be there. Maybe they just got too tired of looking like each other, so Lord K got rid of the long hair and Rob of the long beard. I know, this was probably a joke only a few got so I might as well end this review here because I sure as hell have nothing else to say about this kickass-release ( Note by The Lord: That Rob-guy is sure one great looking fella ).

Groovy rock ‘n roll to the core with massive guitars. I dig.

8 /10

Information
Released: 2006
Label: Geffen
Website: www.robzombie.com
Band
Rob Zombie: vocals
John 5: guitar
Blasko: bass
Tommy Clufetos and Tommy Lee: drums

Tracklist
01. Sawdust in the blood
02. American witch
03. Foxy, Foxy
04. 17 year locust
05. The scorpion sleeps
06. 100 ways
07. Let it all bleed out
08. Death of it all
09. Ride
10. The devil’s rejects
11. Lords of Salem

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