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Class 6(66)

White Zombie: Astro-creep 2000 (songs of love, destruction and other synthetic delusions of the electric head)

19/05/09  ||  Daemonomania

Released: 1995

Introduction

Is White Zombie a metal band, or were they more industrial? A good question, and I’ve got a good answer. Take your whiny genre nitpicking and shove it up your chicken run blast-o-rama. Among the samey grunge acts and soul-crushing Dave Matthews fratrock, shit like “More human than human” seemed a revelation on ‘90’s alternative radio. Surely this disc sent many down the rocky road to Dubl…I mean to the infernal realms of metal. And not only are White Zombie a good gateway band to the harder shit, but there’s plenty of tunes on “Astro-Creep” that stand the test of time 14 years later.

Songwriting

8. A lot of variation, a lot of different ideas, but at the same time mostly sticking within the confines of the typical verse-chorus-verse structure. There’s so many funny samples, catchy riffs, and outlandish lyrics that almost everyone can have a different favorite song.

Well, not almost everyone. I mean, the estimate of the world’s current population is 6,776,575,069. A large percentage of these people are too young to be listening to any music, let alone White Zombie. And there’s the folks too old to be listening to anything but smooth jazz and big band hits. Then you’ve got the people too poor to own a music playing device. So now we’ve got only people within a medium age range who have enough money to own/pirate music. Remove the people who don’t like anything resembling “metal” from this group, then take out the elitists who find Zombie not kvlt enough. Out of 6,776,575,069, that doesn’t leave many. But still more than 11 individuals, which would be the number you’d need for everyone to have their own particular unique favorite song on this album.

Production

10. For an industrial-metal hybrid band from the mid-90’s, what more could you possibly want? Bright, clear, with the bottom end emphasized when it needs to be and every horror movie quote integrated into the mix seamlessly. I’ll say more about the relative placement of the instruments in mere moments. I certainly prefer the production on this one to “La sexorcisto”, which was much too quiet and dry.

Guitars

7. There are a lot of great riffs on this album. Nothing flashy, nothing life-changing, but still instantly memorable. However, I feel the guitars exist more as a tool to create guitar sounds where they should be. Does that make sense? Basically axe heroics are not the mission here. Instead, churning out background noise and rising to prominence in the chorus (if at all) is their duty.

Vocals

8. Roberto Zomberino never got any better than this. His artificially raspy schizophrenic rapping has always taken center stage, with the instruments as a canvas on which to paint grisly pictures. On prior albums his voice always sounded too weak, and on later solo efforts WAAAAAY too studio-enhanced. Here he delivers his copious oddball lyrics with just the right degree of throaty malevolence. And yes, that is your sister’s new nickname. “Throaty T. Malevolence”.

Bass

5. The bass does get its time to shine here and there, and when the guitars drop out to leave only vocals, drums, and Yseult the groove overfloweth. Still, unlike their previous albums I really don’t have the feeling there’s a band here, just bass for the sake of having bass. Sorry about that Sean, you’re still cute. Call me?

Drums

7. Again, they’re just an instrument there to serve the need for drums. I was going to rate them lower, but a re-listen proves that Mr. Tempesta can get into a semi-tribal mode with the best of ‘em. No, there’s no double bass. Stop asking. Again, to compare, he certainly sounds much more like a real drummer than he would on “Hellbilly deluxe”. The cool percussion at the beginning of “Blur the technicolor” and the jinglebells in “Blood milk and sky” sound sampled to me, so no points for that.

Lyrics

9. The usual potent blend of the macabre, cheap sideshow thrills, sex, machines, and plain old nonsense. I love it. And of course the samples add a tremendous amount to every track, and are utilized almost to the point of becoming another band member. Rob Zombie may love the word “yeah” more than any other singer in history. The most memorable lines are about Jesus living in a cheap motel on the edge of Route 666, or the creepingly mysterious rant in “Blood milk and sky”.

Cover art

4. Don’t put yourselves on the cover, you egotistical bastards! And stop ripping off Al Jorgensen’s fashion sense, Zomburrito! The inner pages of the booklet are so much better it is ridiculous. However, there are some nifty little doodads tucked up in the corners.

Logo

2. It says White Zombie in a white font. Yee haw.

Booklet

10. Now this is an example of a good booklet. Different, disturbing Zombie-drawn images for every song. Sexy decaying nurses, dudes with X’s in their foreheads, and more perverted wackiness than you can shake a stick at. It shames the cover. Shame, shame I say!

Overall and ending rant

8. While it isn’t as brutal as a floating nunnery being torpedoed off the coast of Argentina by a brigade of Satanic sea serpents, White Zombie’s last stand is a ton of fun and easily one of the most accessible industrial/metal albums ever released. Something about it just fits right in there, and abides (like the Dude) perfectly in the 90’s. I can pop “Astro-Creep” on and immediately think back to being a dumbass teenager. So unfurrow your grimly set brow, unclench your meaty jaw, and lighten up a bit. The supernatural isn’t something that is supposed to happen, but it does happen.

  • Information
  • Released: 1995
  • Label: Universal/Geffen
  • Website: www.whitezombiefanpage.com
  • Band
  • Rob Zombie: vocals
  • Jay Noel Yuenger: guitars
  • Sean Yseult: bass
  • John Tempesta: drums
  • Tracklist
  • 01. Electric Head Pt. 1 (The Agony)
  • 02. Super-Charger Heaven
  • 03. Real Solution #9
  • 04. Creature Of The Wheel
  • 05. Electric Head Pt. 2 (The Ecstasy)
  • 06. Grease Paint And Monkey Brains
  • 07. I Zombie
  • 08. More Human Than Human
  • 09. El Phantasmo & The Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama
  • 10. Blur The Technicolor
  • 11. Blood Milk And Sky

Class 6(66) -reviews

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