jakob_187's Full Review: Astro-Creep: 2000 by White Zombie
*This album is a part of jakob_187’s Classic Albums of All-Time collection.
And I swear, if you take twelve hits of acid on a Tuesday in the rain, and this album is playing in the background, you’ll………
I’ve heard that sentence from so many people over the years, only in hopes of trying to describe how White Zombie sounds. One of the greatest collaborations of music in my time, White Zombie helped to dominate the underground world of metal through the majority of the 90’s, alongside metal greats like Pantera and Machine Head. The problem was that the group disbanded shortly before (or after, can’t really remember) the release of their Astro Creep remix album, Supersexy Swingin Sounds. Even so, the superpower of these beasts has been etched into the stone of American movie history as one of the defining bands of my decade.
With the release of Astro Creep 2000, fans and critics alike were unaware of what to expect from the album. With the raw, unadulterated release of La Sexorcisto, everyone was left questioning what to expect. When White Zombie resurfaced with their single, “More Human Than Human”, it was reaffirmed that the band was a predominant force in music. However, a couple of things had changed. Did Ivan DePrune cut his hair, or is that a new drummer? Yes, with the introduction of new drummer (and Rob Zombie’s current solo career drummer) John Tempesta, White Zombie had tightened it’s sound into an anticipated wrecking ball. Once the album dropped, the fury was slung around like a demon with broken arms running through Central Park: hungry and ready for anything.
“We all go down for the sacrificial moment. Crucifixion nails stain the beds of the holy. Space-aged blues, diamond-studded, sugar-coated. Well, I am Hell; a miracle overloading. Turn me on, yeah, I am electric-head all over.”
Of course, in it all, you realize that Rob Zombie’s poetic lyrics mean nothing. They really don’t have much of a purpose. They are just great chants to kinda creep people out. Back before Marilyn Manson was known, White Zombie was all we had. Plus, with this album, they really introduced adding samples of old horror movie quotes intermittently throughout the songs. They also presented a little more of a lightly, toned-down big beat/techno sound, which gave the music a bigger-than-life. This is not to say that all these songs are like that. When you take songs like “Super-Charger Heaven” and “Creature Of The Wheel”, mix them with songs like “El Phantasmo…” and “Blur The Technicolor”, then add in the epic Electric Head songs, you are given exactly what the band meant to give you, which was just enough to tide you for the rest of your lives.
“I penetrate the demons. The teardrops burn away my eyes. I love the paper-thin cry of the locust. Is there any other way to die?”
When you first pop this album in to experience it (that’s what it is, an experience, not just music), you are taken on a virtual rollercoaster of mayhem in progress. Every note on this album is brought to outstanding life by J. and Sean. The collaboration that these two had made them one of the best guitarist/bassist duos in history. The creepy, nasally interpolations of words spewed by Rob Zombie were just the right mixture for the music. With John Tempesta killing the drums in the background, you couldn’t help but bang your head, hurt your neck, and get a cramp. The slide guitar on a song like “More Human Than Human” was something rarely heard in metal at the time. The tribal drums at the beginning of “Blur The Technicolor” was something that was rarely heard in metal at the time. The heaviness of “Creature Of The Wheel” made it one of the premiere aggro songs at the time.
“Jesus lived His life in a cheap hotel on the edge of Route 66, yeah. He lived a dark and twisted life, and He came right back just to do it again.”
As for standout tracks, this album is loaded with them. “Creature Of The Wheel” is a fantastic gorilla-stomp song that’ll have you pounding your feet hard to the ground, causing a earthquake that’ll rattle California like never before. “El Phantasmo And The Chicken Run Blast-O-Rama” will have you moving and grooving the night away. “More Human Than Human” will make you want to die of excellence. The two part epic “Electric Head (Pt. 1-The Agony) and (Pt. 2-The Ecstasy) is the “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” of my generation. My personal favorite on this album though is “Super-Charger Heaven”. It’s bold, it’s massive, and barely anyone is ever willing enough to speak about Jesus that way: with respect and dumbfoundedness.
This album has everything you could ever want from a metal band. This is why it’s a classic. Nu-metal, old metal, real metal, whatever metal: if you do not own this album in your collection, then it is almost mandatory for you to be dragged out in the town square and shot on sight. Why? Because this is where your future was born from. I just hope that I’ll get my White Zombie reunion one day, because this is one band that knew the meaning of quitting while they were on top. If so…
Then perhaps you had better start from the beginning.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.