Rob Zombie- The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispense (2016)

Rob Zombie- The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispense (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

White Zombie was really fun in the old days, they were gloriously heavy and ridiculous, they were spectacular, a rarity among the glam metal scene and the 80s American underground, a mix of Kiss hard rock histrionics and The Cramps subterranean alien blues, White Zombie was a portal to another dimension, it was kitsch and it was scary fun, even when they reached the mainstream, with La Sexorcisto…, they were able to become famous, and still make a very good record, but after that things went a little out of control, Rob Zombie wanted more control, and I guess industrial music gave him that edge, but it was a definite depart from the old down and dirty rock n roll days, it was successful, yes, but it was Zombie jumping into a trend, and that trend, like most of them, quickly became a thing of the past, leaving White Zombie exhausted and Rob Zombie in a limbo, a solo career followed, but despite some strong showings, Rob Zombie hasn´t done much to escape from that limbo, I guess he likes living there, but his music is starting to feel nonsense and redundant, Rob Zombie´s music was starting to lose his soul, in case Zombies have soul, I don´t know.

I'm not particularly enthusiastic about The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispense, Rob Zombie's new record, as a fact I haven’t been enthusiastic about a Rob Zombie record in years, with a title as pretentious as Rob himself, the once art student has been run over by his full-fledged rock star aura, and from the name of the record, you bet this is the sort of stuff rock starts do when they lose ground and start getting in danger of becoming a boring cliché, in lesser words, Zombie has become a joke that has been told too many times, if he had once the powers to shock and amuse, he is certainly losing them big time here.

As much as one of his inspirations, Ministry's Al Jourgensen, Zombie creates here a twisted universe taking cues from beat writer William S. Burroughs cut and paste vision of the world, adding just some extra elements from comics, terror B movies, kitsch culture mixing them in a kaleidoscopic way, the problem is that Zombie sometimes fall short in the way to glue correctly all of his ideas, in the end, his records try to reach far in too many fronts, subtracting power and focus to the whole, add to that the monotonous and limited vocal approach of, Zombie, and you got a very big mess coming at you, looking more like those exuberant Flaming Lips records, but with nothing to really hold on inside.

Opener The Last of the Demons Defeated is a simple mantra repeated too many times, if Zombie, a seasoned veteran thinks he can get away with that, he´s wrong, yes, there are big roaring guitars, but in the case of Zombie records they are becoming such a boring, artificial thing lacking identity like on Satanic Cyanide! The Killer Rocks On! Lacking Jourgensen industrial bite, Mason's arty charisma or Reznor digital wizardry, leaving Zombie with a bunch of shameful song titles like The Life and Times of a Teenage Rock God, and music that openly bounds nowhere, and consider that for this record Zombie is getting help form some of Manson´s ex collaborators.

And when you think that things couldn't get worst, Zombie gets really ridiculous on a song like Well, Everybody's Fucking in a U.F.O., where we get the chance to appreciate how little talent is left on Rob, using the classic hip hop pioneering song Rapper's Delight as the base for a really atrocious "Song"?, if you can call like that such a big unfunny mess.

For The Hideous Exhibitions of a Dedicated Gore Whore, it results curious that for such an apparently colorful character like Rob, (here, trying even to be more) looks encapsulated in a real monotonous routine, singing unsympathetic grey songs like this, which bands like the Murderdolls (obvious descendents form Rob) have done many times better, or re doing his old White Zombie hooks, like on Medication for the Melancholy or In the Age of the Consegrated Vampire We All Get High, or getting into really outdated and full of clichés on stuff like Get Your Boots On! That's the End of Rock n Roll, that nearly closes this recording, an unfortunate and forgettable adventure that Rob should have thought twice before getting into, either rock star lifestyle or devoted filmmaking must be devouring Zombie´s energy, as he is slowly becoming an involuntary shadow of his former self.