Rob Zombie – The Great Satan (Nuclear Blast) (13th Floor Album Review)
Rob Zombie is theee Goreman!!! Way back when, his past band White Zombie (with Sean Cummings) exploded with two awesome albums; 1992’s La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, and 1995’s Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head, Zombie was creating a magnificent melding of no wave, goth and metal that saw them explore industrial rock and flirt heavily with the imagery of b-grade horror movies. Then they split up.
Meanwhile, in the intervening decades, Zombie has achieved ongoing commercial success with a slew of charting solo albums, and embarked on a career in the movie industry, directing no less than 11 films. While rumours of a White Zombie reformation continue to tempt and vex die-hard fans, five years on since 2021’s The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, which while charting at no1 in the USA, gained mixed review from critics. Zombie has released his eighth solo album – The Great Satan, bringing back onboard past collaborators, guitarist Mike Riggs and bassist aka Rob ‘Blasko” Nicholson.
With three songs preceding the album’s release it was possible to insightfully predict a slide back to past glories. As a complete album, The Great Satan is a wondrous mismatch of elements. Shafts of electronica are scattered throughout which delights on songs like Black Rat Coffin & Sir Lord Acid Wolfman. Whilst Riggs guitar & Blasko’s bass create a gothic hardcore sound, most welcoming to the ear, on Punks and Demons & Revolution Motherfuckers. The multiplicity of dialogue samples create fluidity that fragments nefarious repetition: Who Am I & Welcome To The Electric Age, reminiscent of past punk rock efforts.
If there’s one criticism of The Great Satan, it’s the tracklisting. Songs F.T.W. 84 and Tarantula, the leads in songs are possibly the two weakest efforts on Rob Zombie’s latest, but once past them, the album is simply… Great.
Simon Coffey
The Great Satan is out now via Nuclear Blast
