This is signature Zombie, it’s not trying to reinvent the wheel by any means, but there’s a freshness to the material at the same time. The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser is Zombie’s sixth solo release and follows on from 2013’s Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor.
Reality is that of any artist of the last thirty years, be it solo or with White Zombie, it’s quite clear you either love it or you aren’t going to like it at all, there’s lots to love here, from the groove laden ‘Get Your Boots On! That’s The End Of Rock And Roll’, which has Clutch written all over it, but that’s fine in the way that Zombie attacks is as he drags it kicking and screaming into his own form, it just sounds great.
Sometimes the addition of a number of what are effectively intros into an album just come out as filler, but that’s not always the case and here ‘A Hearse That Overturns With The Coffin Bursting Open’ acts as a perfect lead into one of a number of highlights here ‘The Hideous Exhibitions Of A Dedicated Gore Whore’, a nice 60’s/70’s vibe from the introduction of an organ, but it’s just a rocking track. Add in the raucous ‘Medication For The Melancholy’ and the dirty gritty closer ‘Wurdalak’ and what’s not to like. There’s certainly some of his Alice Cooper influences raging free in ‘The Life And Times Of A Teenage Rock God’, but in a complimentary nod rather than copying one of his idols, and it just works.
Of course everything here is made work with the help of a some very trusty companions, bassist Piggy D and former Marylin Manson pair John 5 and Ginger Fish, this line-up certainly work very well together and they have that sound working perfectly, working in tandem with Zombie‘s almost spoken word delivery and very much out there lyrics to create that theatrical world that such a small number of artists have the ability to paint. Generally the added samples add to the whole effect and theatre, but it can also have an effect on how the album flows, which has always been maybe my only problem with Rob Zombie albums, with songs on an album like this being so varied as it is, adding effects and extra bits on top can sometimes just make it a collection of singles thrown together, thankfully that’s not the case here, and everything runs well together building as we go along.
This album may well be dragging you kicking and screaming, but it’s in such a way that you are actually enjoying the ride in the boot of a Cadillac, you may not know your final destination, but if it’s been fun getting there does it really matter. If you haven’t listened to any Zombie recently, or have always just said no without ever giving it a chance then do yourself a favour and give this a listen, it just might surprise you. For all those Zombie fans out there I can’t see you not liking the latest opus, it’s got his name written all over it.
4/5
The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser is available now on April 29th via Universal / T-Boy Records
Tracklisting :-
1. The Last Of The Demons Defeated
2. Satanic Cynaide ! The Killer Rocks On !
3. The Life And Times Of A Teenage Rock God
4. Well, Everybody’s Fucking In A U.F.O.
5. A Hearse That Overturns With The Coffin Bursting Open.
6. The Hideous Exhibitions Of A Dedicated Gore Whore.
7. Medication For The Melancholy.
8. In The Age Of The Consecrated Vampire We All Get High.
9. Super-Doom-Hex-Gloom Part One.
10. In The Bone Pile.
11. Get Your Boots On ! That’s The End Of Rock And Roll.
12. Wurdalak.
Stephen Brophy
© OVERDRIVE 2016
