Blog Archives
ROB ZOMBIE – Hellbilly Deluxe
Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe (1998, Geffen Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Call of the Zombie” … 0:30
2. “Superbeast” … 3:40
3. “Dragula” … 3:42
4. “Living Dead Girl” … 3:21
5. “Perversion 99″ … 1:43
6. “Demonoid Phenomenon” … 4:11
7. “Spookshow Baby” … 3:38
8. “How to Make a Monster” … 1:38
9. “Meet the Creeper” … 3:13
10. “The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore” … 3:55
11. “What Lurks on Channel X?” … 2:29
12. “Return of the Phantom Stranger” … 4:31
13. “The Beginning of the End” … 1:52
Band:
Rob Zombie – Vocals
Riggs – Guitar
Mark Matcho – Guitar, Bass
Blasko -Bass
Tempesta -Drums
Additional Musicians:
Tommy Lee – Drums (“The Ballad of Resurrection Joe and Rosa Whore” and “Meet the Creeper”)
Danny Lohner – Guitar (“Meet the Creeper”)
Produced by: Rob Zombie & Scott Humphrey
I wasn’t a fan of White Zombie. In fact, I barely knew who they were. But I had a friend who had a few of their CDs and he picked this one up as soon as it came out. I took me a few months, but I finally picked it up myself because it’s darn good industrial metal filled with tons of grooves. “Industrial dance metal”?
I initially was put off to Rob thanks to the pentagram on the cover, but now I see Rob for what he truly is… Alice Cooper for a younger generation. The songs are just really fun and infectious and the album’s tongue-in-cheek B-horror movie artwork really shows this.
Highlights: “Superbeast”, “Dragula”, “Living Dead Girl”, “Demonoid Phenomenon”, “Meet the Creeper”
www.robzombie.com
www.myspace.com/robzombie
NINE INCH NAILS – Pretty Hate Machine
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine (1989, TVT Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Head Like a Hole” … 4:59
2. “Terrible Lie” … 4:38
3. “Down in It” … 3:46
4. “Sanctified” … 5:48
5. “Something I Can Never Have” … 5:54
6. “Kinda I Want To” … 4:33
7. “Sin” … 4:06
8. “That’s What I Get” … 4:30
9. “The Only Time” … 4:47
10. “Ringfinger” … 5:40
Band:
Trent Reznor – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard, Sampler, Drum Machine
Additional Musicians:
Richard Patrick – Guitar (“Sanctified”)
Produced by: Trent Reznor, Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer
Highlights: “Head Like a Hole”, “Down in It”, “Sanctified”, “Something I Can Never Have”, “Kinda I Want To”, “Sin”, “That’s What I Get”
While I think the “industrial metal” tag is deserved for NIN (though Reznor disagrees) we both agree on this one thing– Pretty Hate Machine is NOT industrial metal, though you *can* hear the influence. In Reznor’s own words, PHM is “synth-pop” and I agree whole heartedly with that description. Very dark synth-pop.
So how the heck did it end up in MY collection? Well, I had a friend who was big into the band at the time and convinced me to pick up one of their albums. I think I may have gone with PHM only because it was cheaper than Downward Spiral ( 
).
In my opinion, PHM is Reznor’s best. The rest of his output is just too much of the same, angry or shock for the sake of shock. This was real angst here and the overall feel of the album is something that ties very closely to how my pathetic little teenage mind was feeling at the time I picked this up. But I’m a much happier person now and I can just kick back and enjoy this for the great work that it is.
Apparently, this TVT version went out of print in 1997 thanks to a dispute with Reznor. Guess I got lucky in ’98 when I found it at a Wal-Mart, of all places. It has since been re-released by Rykodisc.
www.nin.com
www.myspace.com/nin
MOTLEY CRUE – Generation Swine
Motley Crue – Generation Swine (1997, Elektra Records; 1999, Motley Records/Beyond Music)
Track Listing:
1. “Find Myself” … 2:51
2. “Afraid” … 4:07
3. “Flush” … 5:02
4. “Generation Swine” … 4:39
5. “Confessions” … 4:20
6. “Beauty” … 3:47
7. “Glitter” … 5:00
8. “Anybody Out There” … 1:50
9. “Let Us Prey” … 4:22
10. “Rocketship” … 2:04
11. “A Rat Like Me” … 4:13
12. “Shout at the Devil ’97″ … 3:42
13. “Brandon” … 3:25
BONUS TRACKS:
14. “Afraid” [Swine Mix/Jimbo Mix] … 3:57
15. “Wreck Me” [Previously Unreleased] … 4:19
16. “Kiss the Sky” [Previously Unreleased] … 4:46
17. “Rocketship” [Early Demo] … 1:35
Band:
Vince Neil – Vocals
Mick Mars – Guitar
Nikki Sixx – Bass, Vocals (“Rocketship”), Co-Vocals (“Find Myself” and “Beauty”)
Tommy Lee – Drums, Piano
Produced by: Scott Humphrey
So Corabi is out, Vince is in again. And once again, Motley delivers something different. Different can be good (like Corabi’s one-time outing with the band), but in this case, not so much. It’s just a weird mix of alternative metal, industrial metal and trippy pop that isn’t suited for Vince’s voice. But I guess in the alternative rock-infested 1997, Dr. Feelgood II would’ve failed as well, so it was pretty much lose-lose for Crue at this point.
Sometimes, the songs work though. “Beauty” and “Glitter” (though I prefer the remix version found on Greatest Hits) are weird, beautiful songs and “Find Myself” is, lyrically, pretty close to the roots of Crue. “Shout at the Devil ’97″ is kind of a pointless re-recording, but there’s nothing wrong with it, so I give it a pass. “Brandon” is hands down the worst Motley Crue song ever. Sorry, Tommy, I know you meant well.
I picked this ’99 reissue up pretty cheap, brand new for around $6.99 at FYE, and this was shortly after the reissues were released! So that tells you how badly the album sold. Definitely not an album I ever have the urge to listen to.
Highlights: “Find Myself”, “Afraid”, “Beauty”, “Glitter”, “A Rat Like Me”, “Shout at the Devil ’97″
www.motley.com
www.myspace.com/motleycrue
MARILYN MANSON – Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Marilyn Manson – Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000, Nothing/Interscope Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Godeatgod” – 2:34
2. “The Love Song” – 3:16
3. “The Fight Song” – 2:55
4. “Disposable Teens” 3:01
5. “Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)” – 4:18
6. “President Dead” – 3:13
7. “In the Shadow of the Valley of Death” – 4:09
8. “Cruci-Fiction in Space” – 4:56
9. “A Place in the Dirt” – 3:37
10. “The Nobodies” – 3:35
11. “The Death Song” – 3:29
12. “Lamb of God” – 4:39
13. “Born Again” – 3:20
14. “Burning Flag” – 3:21
15. “Coma Black: Eden Eye/The Apple of Discord” – 5:58
16. “Valentine’s Day” – 3:31
17. “The Fall of Adam” – 2:34
18. “King Kill” – 2:18
19. “Count to 6 and Die” – 5:55
Band:
Marilyn Manson – Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
Twiggy Ramirez – Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
John 5 – Guitar
Madonna Wayne Gacy – Drums, Keyboards, Synths, Mellotron
Ginger Fish – Drums, Keyboards
Additional Musicians:
Bon Harris – Synths, Bass, Keyboards
Dave Sardy – Synths, Drums, Guitar
Andy Suttle – Backing Vocals
Produced by: Marilyn Manson & Dave Sardy
At a whopping 19-tracks, this was quite a lot for myself (a non-Marilyn Manson fan) to take in back in 2000. Back in the glory days of Napster, I had “Disposable Teens” and “The Fight Song” on my computer and played’em constantly, so I gave this album a shot, even though I never had any interest in Marilyn Manson before. As a whole, it’s not really my cup of tea. Music like this never was and I don’t care for the imagery that the man himself projects (“Look at me, look at me! Condemn me so I can condemn you!”), but hey, I was young and I actually experimented with different types of music at this time in my life.
“The Fight Song” and “Disposable Teens” are still classics that define a certain time of my life and I remember seeing the videos on that trash show, MTV’s TRL back in the day.
Highlights: “The Love Song”, “The Fight Song”, “Disposable Teens”, “Target Audience (Narcissus Narcosis)”, “In the Shadow of the Valley of Death”
STEPHEN PEARCY – Fueler
Stephen Pearcy – Fueler (2005, Top Fuel Records/Cleopatra Records)
Track Listing:
1. “Overdrive” – 2:32
2. “Kill Kitty” – 2:43
3. “That Sick Thing” – 2:04
4. “Godsmack” – 2:58
5. “Drive with Me” – 2:46
6. “Spy vs. Spy” – 3:01
7. “Young and the Damned” – 3:02
8. “Dream Machine” – 2:13
9. “Gamblers & Thieves” – 3:20
10. “Sinomatic” – 3:30
11. “Round & Round XXX” – 4:34
Band:
Stephen Pearcy – Vocals (D’uh!)
Mark Zavon – Guitar
Erik Ferentinos – Guitar
Troy Johnson – Bass
Rich Contadino – Drums
Produced by: Stephen Pearcy
I bought this album probably waaaaaaaaaaay back in 2006 (alongside Pearcy’s 1st solo CD Social Intercourse) because I love Ratt. I think they’re one of the most underrated bands of their era. So, I wanted to see what “The Voice of Ratt” could do on his own… Not much.
I was looking online to see what others think and there seems to be two camps of opinion for this album. The first camp says, “it sucks”. The second camp says, “it’s great”. Count me as a member of Camp #1.
I just CANNOT get into this album. The production is very poor and it’s just heavy noise to me. Pearcy makes no attempt whatsoever to continue with the Ratt sound or any type of melodic hard rock at all. It’s just a bunch of industrial/alternative/nu-metal sludge. I’ve seen lots of comments saying “if you’re a Ratt fan, check this out!”
Well, I say, if you’re a Ratt fan, please ignore this release. There’s only one redeeming song here: “Gamblers & Thieves”. Pearcy covers himself with “Round and Round XXX”. I don’t know why the “XXX” is there, but whatever. The original “Round and Round” is a great song, and it is played pretty straight here, but the production on the song is so horrible (it totally muffles the guitars) that I can’t even give THAT a pass.
Highlights: “Gamblers & Thieves”
Lowlights: The rest of the album
