ZARAZA:

• Slavic Blasphemy (1997) Remember a time when musicians tried new things because they didn't want to be just like everyone else? Well, these guys sure do. This CD is called "Brutal Experimental Symphonic Industrial Doom/Death Metal", just to give you some idea of the musical styles that influence this band. And it's a pretty successful mix of styles, lots of melody, lots of brutality, dark, depressing, haunting, great stuff to listen to at 3:00am when your girlfriend has just left you, and your car was repossessed by the bank and the mafia is coming for a 'visit' in the morning. Just try to remember after the album is finished that life is still worth living, even if only so you can hear the album again.
• No Paradise To Lose (2003) It has been many, many years since we had a new Zaraza cd to enjoy, apparently due to the busy schedule of lead man Jacek, who among other things ran a great metal review and news site. Finally, the choice was made, and his site was closed so he could devote more time to other more pressing projects (such as this cd). I believe strongly there is a time to enjoy and be inspired by other people's work, but then that time must come where the observer must become the creator, and I'm glad Jacek and his accomplice Grzegorz have gotten back to creating. The result is 8 songs of polish-canadian doom, 7 original compositions and 1 Laibach cover. This cd is somewhat slower than their last cd, plenty of held distorted chords, super low computer processed vocals, samples, and the usual accouterments of any good doom band such as the lamenting vocals, church bells tolling, etc. Slow symphonic bits slowly build into these densely distorted synth-guitar climaxes, all the while the drum machine ticking away at it's preprogrammed pattern. The last track includes a goat poem from Grzegorz Haus Ov Doom which is both silly and spooky at the same time. If I had to make a critique it would be that one day it would be cool if the band used a few more live instruments instead of it all being synth, and a slightly faster song may have also broken things up a bit. But as it stands, this is a fantastic album, and I highly recommend it to doom fans (and to those who may just not know they're fans of doom, yet).

• Cosmic Dissonance (2013, EP) 5 song EP, this band sounds a lot like a cross between Aeon and The Faceless. So technical death metal with just a few touches of spacy keyboards and such. The band is really fast and precise, but the riffs are just so memorable, they've really achieved that perfect balance of technicality and great song writing. They also have a few black metal elements too with strummed guitars and unrelenting blasting. Drums are fast and insane, the sound is possibly a little too robotic, but that's their style. And the production quality and mix is really powerful. Again, the songs are just great, this is a fantastic EP and I can't wait for their debut. Favorite find of the month.
• Solipsist (2016) So the band's EP had some similarities to The Faceless, but this album they just go full force. At first I was considering adding to this review a blow by blow, like "TZP song A at 0:20 is taken from Faceless song B at 0:45", but I decided that would probably bore the readers, so never mind, lets just say that while listening to this album, I totally forget that its another band and I feel like I'm listening to The Faceless' fourth album. It doesn't help that the sound was engineered by Michael Keene (founder of The Faceless). Anyways, I'll stop there on the subject. But accepting the fact that this album sounds just like the Faceless, may I say this album is spectacular. Way better than their last al...err, I mean, way better than the Faceless' last album. Crazy, crazy musicianship, super tight sound, very memorable songs, every tune has something unique that makes you take notice. My favorite song is probably 'Deus Deceptor' which starts with this awesome tight riff with fast double bass underneath reminiscent of Soreption. They split the album into 2 parts with a nice spacy jazzy tune called 'Dreamsphere' before returning to the mayhem with another fantastic song 'The Tenebrous Veil', a song that sounds a lot more like the material from their first EP. In short, this album is spectacular, an instant classic. I feel the band really needs to work on separating themselves from the Faceless, but otherwise, this is a must buy, and will likely be on my top 10 of the year.
• Datalysium (2023) It's funny, last week I did a review of the new Voyager album, and noted that the majority of the songs on the album had already been released as singles over the past few years, making the album a little anti-climactic. And now here I am again in the same situation, where 5 of the 9 songs on the long awaited second album from The Zenith Passage have also been released over the last several years. And so again, a little anti-climactic. But that said, if you have somehow missed these singles, what we have is a most excellent tech death album. So first, this band has always had strong Faceless vibes, but now the majority of the band is in fact former Faceless members, so they have absolute permission in my book to have some of those influences. The thing about this band that is so great at are these quick and catchy start and stop rhythms played with speedy double bass underneath, and there's a ton of songs that have that here such as the spectacular  'Algorithmic Salvation'. These riffs are just so tight, robotically so, and yet the riffs are so brilliant I can't imagine even in this age of generative AI a machine would come up with stuff this good. Other bits remind me a little of Soreption, and the song 'Divinertia II' has a nice tribute to cult favorite Necrophagist. The album is definitely stronger at the beginning, the last few songs IMO meander a bit too much, so it's not 100% glorious, but the first 4-5 songs or so are so amazing this makes the album a must buy. So happy they are back and hope to see them on tour.
  

• Legion Of Flames (2001) A large variety of influences sway this release. Imagine a humor record mixed with old Iron Maiden riffs and new thick production styles. This is most definitely a homage to the time when metal could be, dare I say, fun? Once you stop trying to take this release seriously (I mean, they have a song called '1000 Miles of Cock'), the ride is pretty enjoyable. Gotta love songs about sodomy with Female Vocal harmonies and then an allman brothers type riff to end the song. Vocal wise, you have death metal, high pitched power metal screams worthy of any Yngwie record and black metal gargling. Guitars are loud and well produced, everything from tremolo picking to low gallops on the open E string. Drums change styles pretty frequently as well. They rip off riffs from all the greats. Music wise, there's enough cool stuff here to make the record enjoyable. Seekers of true aggression go elsewhere, but if you want Spinal Tap with double kicks and Devin Townsend's thick and juicy production, buy this now.
• When You Were Shouting at the Devil...We Were in League With Satan (2008) Welcome to the wacky world of Zimmers Hole, winners of the "best album title of all time" award. Billed as 3/4s of Strapping Young Lad (but consider the missing member is Devin Townsend, that's kinda more serious than it's made out to be), the band continues its trend of silly music. While angry and powerful, there's plenty of silly lyrics, a guest appearance from Dethklok's Nathan Explosion, plenty of high pitched operatic vocals, and the occasional riff lifted from old school Metallica. The production is fantastic (Devin produces and mixes the album, even though he did not write or play on the record). The silliness does not detract from the heavy riffs, and while they're certainly not terribly inventive, the songs are very catchy. Parallels can be drawn between this band and the Dethklok CD in style and mood, but I found the songs on this album to be far superior. Zimmers Hold is the ultimate "Classic Metal" tribute band, and this cd is well worth the purchase.
  

• Hellbilly Deluxe (1998) Not quite White Zombie, this album has a lot of samples, and a very dance oriented beat. Some really nice stuff, good riffs, cool sounds, and I found myself getting into the groove of the whole thing. Simplistic drums, but that's what dance is all about. Lots of strange vocal techniques, distortion, screams, group chants. Good production, very mechanical and keyboard oriented, with the guitar taking a backseat to the tech. If you want to dance to something heavy, and already own all the prong albums, check this out.
• American Made Music To Strip By (1999) Remix of Hellbilly deluxe. The remixes are done well, sound interesting, and there's lots of variety. But virtually no brutality to be seen, everything is very ambient and spacy, good for a 3am pot fest, but if you're looking for a good combination of metal and techno, go to Fear Factory, Prong, or the original Hellbilly deluxe.
• The Sinister Urge (2001) Basically Hellbilly deluxe part 2, but overall heavier with more guitars (maybe a little closer to White Zombie). The songs are good, but I found several of the main riffs a little too derivative for my taste (Remember those blues / old rock based riffs your metal band used to jam on when they were still in the garage? Well, several of those show up here). While not all the tunes are terribly imaginative, Rob does know how to combine elements into a catchy song that sticks in your head, and that's what this is, a lot of catchy songs, and a few really good songs like 'Scum Of The Earth' that stand out as being more original. High energy all the way through with only a few slower dance "ballads" (???), should satisfy all fans of the style.
• Past, Present & Future (2003, Bestof) A double CD set, well, one CD, one DVD, the CD contains 19 tracks from all Rob's albums, including the White Zombie albums. The last two songs are new, and they're not his best work, too groovy and not enough metal. The DVD contains all his music videos, I've never been a fan of music videos, so I will neglect to comment. If you own all of his CDs, there really isn't much here that you don't already own, however, it is nice having all this material in one spot, perfect for putting on during a party so you don't have to go keep changing cds all the time, not to mention I was able to purchase this collection for under $13, so I'll give the cd a recommendation, the music is good and it's nice to have it compiled in one spot.
• Educated Horses (2006) After a long hiatus (while Rob pursued his film directing career), Mr Zombie is back with a new album. And I'm sorry to report it was not worth the wait. While many of Rob's former albums (especially the White Zombie material) were angry, this stuff is more bleak, and lacks energy. The album starts with a piano and acoustic guitar, and that's about the pace the album keeps. No big groove of hits like 'Superbeast' or the heaviness of 'Feed The Gods' or a super memorable riff like 'Thunder Kiss '65'. Instead, you get track after track of thin guitar, symphonic elements, slow songs, and a few mildly catchy vocal lines. What happened to the rage? What happened to the big powerful production? The whole album sorta feels like B side material. I don't know, some may find something good in here, but I'm a metal guy, and I want a powerful album, and this just doesn't fit the bill. Not even close. Sorry Rob, gotta give this one a firm miss.
• Zombie Live (2007) The key to a good live album is give the listener something they don't get on the studio albums. This could be a multitude of things: You could extend the length of the songs, adding new parts. You can play a song in a totally new way. You can play the songs faster or slower. You can play songs that have never been on any of your studio albums. You can have a brand new sound, like a more modern sound to an old song that may have suffered from bad production on the original album. Or you can have just such a strong live energy that even on the recording it shines through. Unfortunately, I just don't feel this recording has any of these things. The songs are pretty much the same as they were on the original albums. The production is great, but so was the production on the original albums. And as for live energy, while I'm sure if I had actually BEEN at the concert it would have been awesome (especially with all the visuals), sitting at my computer with this playing in the background just doesn't get me jumping out of my chair. On the good side, this contains 18 tracks, it's nice to have so much music. It has a good variety of old White Zombie songs as well as his solo material. There are a couple of small noteworthy enhancements to the songs, 'Demonoid Phenomenon' has a really nice doublebass riff in the middle that wasn't in the original, and there are some quick guitar and drum solos. I don't know, I can see why diehard Rob Zombie fans may enjoy the album, but personally I say give this a miss.
• Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2010)
• Hellbilly Deluxe 2 Deluxe (2010)
• Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (2013) After several disappointing albums, I'm happy to say the Zombie I know and love is back. First back is the big metal guitar sound, none of this wimpy acoustic or classic distortion sound. Next, the pounding rhythms are back, which brings lots of energy to the music. Favorite songs include the opener 'Teenage Nosferatu Pussy', and 'The Girl Who Loved Monsters', which has a certain NIN feel to it in the beginning, then slows down for a nice heavier bit at the end. If you enjoyed White Zombie or Rob's first solo album, this one is back to form.