Grandize and Screaming

Rob Zombie - Educated Horses

Geffen, 2006

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I love tearing the shirnk-wrap off new albums. I love the smell of the CD factory. It's sexy somehow. And yet I buy the vast majority of my music used and online. So when I heard that Rob Zombie had a new album out there, I just couldn't wait. I got the pleasure of tearing the plastic off this beast all brand new.

The cover has two surprises: One, Rob Zombie looks like a normal person. A hairy normal person with a big nose, but still a normal person. Two, there's no big Parental Advisory label down there in the corner. The CD booklet itself is full of artwork of hot topless chicks but no really profane words. Huh. Is he growing up? Is he making sure all the parents of today's little kids don't take this album away like their parents took away La Sexorcisto?

Another surprise is Zombie's backing band. Tempesta is NOT on the drums, which is a shocker. Riggs is NOT on guitar, which is less of a shocker, but still. Both of them must have gotten tired of living in Rob Zombie's shadow, especially after coming out with this disappointing piece of crap:

Replacing Riggs in the lineup is John 5, who seems to be really proving himself lately. He's proved that he can be artsy, as shown in the oddball Desert Sessions with Homme. He's proved that he can rock balls with Marilyn Manson's later albums. And on his solo album, he's proved that while he can play a million notes a second and has practiced his solo chops, he doesn't actually have a soul (and not in a good way).

I've always thought Zombie and Manson were pretty closely related without having direct connections. Well, Educated Horses pulls them just a little bit closer together. John5's songwriting influence shows through on a few tracks, adding more ambience from guitar instead of sampling. And the flow of the album is more like a Marilyn Manson album than a Zombie album, with softer tracks building energy for the loud tracks instead of rocking all out with a few pauses. And the tracklisting on the back of the CD case is broken into two movements or sides, more or less, with one more song at the end to finish up (The Lords of Salem is good, but it's no Blood, Milk and Sky).

It's all got more of the Zombie swagger that he's been working on through his last few albums - several songs on Horses recall Sinister Urge songs House of 1000 Corpses and Go to California. That softer raspy singing instead of the all-out nasal snarl. But there's plenty of good old Zombie tricks, too. Lots of YEAHs and Chunk Chunk Chunk-a guiatar work. It is what it is: a cross section of Rob Zombie's history and evolution and the next logical step.

By the way, the mix is pretty much incredible. Played on my roommate's excessively bass-heavy setup, it will damn well make your stomach churn.

There's a new dynamic of style seeping into Zombie's usually carnival psych-out freak show motif; he's gaining something of a Southern-Rock style. I guess this is sort of predicted in the soundtrack of the film The Devil's Rejects. His music is softening while still rocking hard.

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EDIT: Oops. That was Twiggy Ramirez with Homme in the Desert Sessions. Sorry, folks.