EEEVVVVIIIIILLLLLLLL!! !!!! (Astro Creep - 2000: Songs Of Love,... - White Zombie)

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Product:	Astro Creep - 2000: Songs Of Love,... - White Zombie
Date:	19/02/01 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: SOUNDS GREAT

Disadvantages: ITS EVIL

When White Zombie hit the scene at the beginning of the '90s, their following was still mostly underground. "La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume I" was a moderate success, and "Thunder Kiss '65" was its biggest hit. Earlier album attempts have been described as "unmemorable", but thankfully the band kept plugging away.

This album broke White Zombie through into the mainstream. To be honest, they deserved every ounce of success they got with this album, too; nowhere else could you hear danceable metal with a heavy instrumental line, yet samples and a hell of a beat. White Zombie frontman Rob Zombie (who later disbanded the group and went solo) is a long-time fan of Alice Cooper's style of stageshow shock-rock. He also loves B-Movie horror films, so the "Satanic" or "Eeeeevillll" overtones in this album should be taken as campy and not some terrible plot to corrupt the nation's youth. The bizarre samples White Zombie manage to come up with are always a wonderful treat; the icing on the cake.

I'll give you a rundown of the sound, but first I'll tell you that you've already heard White Zombie, whether you know it or not. The smash-hit "More Human Than Human" has been played on everything, from commercials for every action movie that year ("Broken Arrow" and "Soldier", for example) to car ads. You just don't forget the sound of a metal guitar part played with a slide...it's like Blues went to hell.

My favorite track on here is "Super-Charger Heaven", and "More Human Than Human" is a close second. Both have a fast intensity, even when the latter slows down its beat. Every song on this album is like that; heavy and intense. Slow tunes like "Real Solution #9" (about post-apocalyptic survival) and "Creature of the Wheel" are still raw and unmellowed. "Blood, Milk and Sky" the closer, is
a great pseudo-psychedelic fantasy that has Zombie's rough voice as an undercurrent reminding you that this is still a metal album. The opening to "Blur the Technicolor" is great; conga drums cut off by the main Zombie sound.

On a side note, if you like the danceable sound but are a bit put off by heavy metal, you might consider the follow-up to this album, "Supersexy Swingin' Sounds". It's a collection of remixes of all the tracks on this album, with a cover of K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "I'm Your Boogie Man" thrown in for good measure. The remixes are done by names like The Dust Brothers, P.M. Dawn, Charlie Clouser (I forget which band he's from), and Aphex Twin (the Lords of Acid), among others.

As for the other tracks? You'll just have to find out for yourself...and if you have to buy one White Zombie album, I'd say this is the one. I have listened to it so many times I'm surprised it hasn't melted in my CD player.

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