lambchops's Full Review: Astro-Creep: 2000 by White Zombie
White Zombie is an interesting band. Combining sampling, heavy metal, and a good sense of humor, the band catapulted to stardom in the mid-1990’s. Some people think that it’s all about gloom and doom. Sure, the sound is a bit abrasive for some tender ears, but the content is great.
Named after an old Bela Lugosi horror flick, White Zombie was formed in New York City by Rob Cummings (more commonly known as Rob Zombie) and his girlfriend neo-bassist Shauna Reynolds (today known as Sean Yseult). The two, in conjunction with a revolving door of guitarists and drummers released three albums. They were well received by a certain sect of cult followers. 1986’s Psycho-Head Blowout, 1987’s Soul Crusher and 1989’s Make Them Die Slowly helped to begin the process of putting the odd band of characters on the map.
1992 saw White Zombie make their major label debut on the sometimes-edgy Geffen label. La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 spawned the radio hit ”Thunder Kiss ‘65”, a song that happens to be one of my favorites of the genre. Their image tossed up religious activists who thought they were devil worshipers. Alas, this was not the case. They were theatrical musicians with an air of mystery and darkness. Other arenas saw the merit in their work and they were rewarded with their first Grammy nomination in 1993.
But, it wasn’t until 1995’s Astro-Creep 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head that they were finally awarded with a larger audience of voracious rock fans. Singles found their way onto radio, onto MTV, and into clubs with extended mixes and mainstream audiences. White Zombie was suddenly a huge success, in fact they were again nominated for a Grammy for their work on ”More Human than Human”.
Before I get into the songs, I want to say that I like White Zombie. Some people think that they are too dark, but what the quartet focuses on is rock music in a popular culture and horror movie arena. I appreciate the sense of humor, the creativity, and the new sound that White Zombie helped to pioneer. Nobody has been able to duplicate their music (or for that matter outward appearance) successfully since Rob Zombie went solo. White Zombie’s music is meant to entertain, not necessarily to educate or to expose society’s great injustices.
‘Perhaps you’d better start from the beginning…’ Sure, okay. I guess I will! The CD and for that matter the first track begins with who I can only assume is either Vincent Price (it sounds like him) or Bela Lugosi uttering that line repeatedly followed by old horror soundtrack music. ”Electric Head Pt.1 (The Agony)” then breaks into hard and heavy guitars. Zombie then breaks out into the band’s typical hard-to-understand lyrics. In most cases (as with this one), the words don’t really matter. This is a good, heavy, hard-hitting track and for that matter an excellent beginning to this album.
Radio noise and more words….’I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but does’ mark the beginning of the superb ”Super-Charger Heaven”. The band then breaks into more of those great heavy electric guitars and drums. It then gets crazy. I love the rhythm to this song and the diverse noise throughout the song. It’s not repetitive…something that proves infinitely interesting. This, in fact, could very likely be my favorite song from the album…and that’s saying quite a bit. The chorus is as follows (not that it’s at all sensical…just entertaining). ”DEVILMAN - DEVILMAN, calling DEVILMAN running my head, YEAH!”. Let me just say this one more time…I love this track. There are also a lot of instances of sampling from old movies throughout the entire track. You could even call this genius if you so chose.
‘Yeah, I remember her saying I’m already dead,’ a line from what I believe to be the documentary Helter Skelter that detailed the Manson Family trials. ”Real Solution #9” is an apparent homage to cult horror classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre with lyrics pulled directly from the films promo posters. The song then breaks into guitars and a crowd chanting. It’s a good track with Zombie’s muffled lyrics and voice. Quite obviously, this song isn’t meant to be sung along to…in fact, I would even know what he was saying if the words weren’t published on the liner notes. It’s a good track. One of the better on the album.
”Creature of the Wheel” begins immediately with the band’s heavy sound and Zombie’s loud and difficult to understand lyrics. This is a good song, but it doesn’t connect with me in the same way that many of the other outstanding tracks on this album do. Although, it’s easily one of the most rocking songs on the album. There are, as usual, references and samples from horror films of long ago.
”Electric Head Pt.2 (The Ecstasy)” begins with the line…’I just said up yours, baby.’ The song doesn’t really sound at all like the first one from the album. Although, on most levels I like it better than the first part. It’s loud and ruckus and obnoxious…each a quality inherent to White Zombie as a whole. The guitars are repetitive, loud, and just great. I can always listen to a song by a band known for guitars like these. I think many of the samples are from blaxpoitation films of the 1970’s although I’m not too familiar with the genre.
The listener is caught a bit off guard immediately by ”Grease Paint and Monkey Brains”. The beginning to this track is arguably the most twisted of the album. The song begins with get this—out-of-tune carousel music—but then quickly dissolves and breaks into White Zombie’s great guitars and heavier and more pronounced drums than in most other tracks by the band. Zombie enunciates more than in most other tracks…in fact, the guitars are a bit sparser so we can hear him better than in many other tracks. It’s also slower than a few of the other tracks. Some people likely love this song, I only can say I like it.
”I, Zombie” is quite obviously references horror movies about the topic. Alas, this song isn’t quite as friendly as the actual topic. The guitars are exceptionally loud and heavy. They completely drown out Zombie and everything else for that matter. I feel almost dirty listening to a song as loud as this…and I like it. There are sounds of rewinding reel-to-reel tape interspersed throughout the track. It’s a good one, especially for hardcore fans of metal.
Then, there’s ”More Human than Human.” Of course, the title is pulled directly from the epic sci-fi film Blade Runner, but in this song Harrison Ford has been replaced by the devilish Rob Zombie and company. This track found it’s way all over radio and MTV partially as a result of the softer guitars and only occasionally really heavy noise. This is a good, loud, upbeat song perfect for any party with a certain crowd of people. You can actually understand Zombie as with this section from the end of the song (which, may I note is one of my personal favorites).
I am the ripper man
a locomotion mind
love american style
yeah I am the nexus one
I want more life
f*cker i ain't done - yeah
more human than human
Where could the inspiration for a song titled ”El Phantasmo And The Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama”. I can only assume that it’s a direct reference to a film, but to be quite honest I don’t know which one. I don’t really like this track as much as some of the others. It actually proves to be moderately boring. Go figure.
”Blur The Technicolor” starts out with tribal beats. But as we all know, that section than quickly becomes intertwined with White Zombie. The band joins the beat and the song begins. This is a good one. The guitar is actually used more as a percussion instrument than a stringed one. The band’s creativity is apparent in this track…not many music makers could use their instruments in this fashion even if they knew how.
More horror movie and for that matter Moroccan beats introduce ”Blood, Milk and Sky”. The song is a bit difficult to listen to as a result of an inordinate amount of feedback (purposefully created as part of the song). The guitars are loud and rich. It’s technically a good song, just not my favorite. I wish the band could have wrapped the album up a bit better than this.
So now I’ve blown my cover. I like really loud music on occasion. This is a great album that was properly recognized by all the right people for being created by some really great musical innovators. I can’t say that everybody will like this album. Sure, it’s abrasive, loud, and dark, but there is certainly a large audience of music lovers who can and do embrace this album.
I give Astro Creep 2000 4.5/5.0 stars. On Epinions, I’ll round that to 4/5 stars. If it weren’t for the two songs that are just okay, this would be a ridiculously perfect album. I wish they still were around as a whole, but alas all good things must come to an end. This was the last album released by the band as a whole.
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