Review: Josh Graham
After 5 years he rises again with what can only be described as a sinister, haunting, evil, fucking good time. Rob Zombie’s newest spectacular “The Great Satan” is heavy, threatening but oh so welcoming as he tries to crawl out from the grave only to drag you back with him by the end.
“F.TW 84” opens like a full lead up to the resurrection of Rob Zombie himself. His omniscient barking vocals remind you that he never went anywhere- he was just waiting for the right time to reappear. This track might seem like an opener for the album but as each track builds on the last, it is obvious that it’s an intro to an experience. From here Rob stacks heavy track after heavy track, demanding more and more presence. “Tarantula” with its thumping drums and bending riffs paint an energetic wave of darkness and horror as Rob establishes himself as an eight-legged god of a degenerate night cult. This then gives way to “(I’m a) Rock N Roller” which offers a slight change of scenery without turning down the force that the first 2 tracks had quickly shoved down your throat. Sure, Rob might be singing about being on the road and “performing” but his crunchy vocals sound like he’s temporarily contained- muzzled, even.
The next 3 tracks kick off the more industrial metal segment of the album with chugging guitars driving like a steam train off the rails on “Heathen Days” and metallic snares smacking you in the mouth while Rob sounds like a feral animal biting the robotic hand attempting to feed him on “Black Rat Coffin”. The only semblance of a break to catch your breath back is in the haunting interlude “Who Am I?” that plays between the two.
The album then takes a completely different approach with “Sir Lord Acid Wolfman”. A dirty, metal blues track that is strange, slow and punchy. You can sense that this just Rob taking his well-deserved breather before heading into something big. “Punks And Demons” is that something big. No other track on this album DEMANDS a circle pit to form as this one. I don’t care where you’re listening to this but if you still have your fillings in then you haven’t been headbanging hard enough. Rewind it back and try again. “The Devilman” follows this up by bringing back that thunderous pacing that Rob and the band kicked off in “(I’m a) Rock N Roller”. Everything seems like a dark storm approaching, pacing threateningly right at you.
Unfortunately, with such an intense first half of the album the steam seems to slightly drop off a bit. While ”Out of Sight” offers a new almost-funk switch, it seems feel a bit flat and repetitive especially towards the end. “Revolution Motherfuckers” has some heavy stomping percussion but also feels repetitive and a revisit of the same dark sermon we heard on “F.T.W 84”.
“Welcome To The Electric Age” is another interlude that sets the scene for another unexpected change of pace. “The Black Scorpion” is borderline metal carnival music which would be bizarre for any other band to throw in towards the end of any album, but Rob absolutely nails it as a final all-out shotgun approach to keep the energy going.
The end of the album features an extremely distorted Rob clearly running out of steam on “Unclean Animals”. The guitar solos however, are not to be missed. They’re piercing but have a blues twang to them as if Josh Homme was playing a solo in a pig pen. The final track “Grave Discontent” is a slow, synthy goodbye from everyone as Rob slinks back into his coffin to wait until the time is right to take over the world as his own all over again.
The Great Satan is available now in a variety of formats including a limited box set and accompanying apparel at https://robzombie.bfan.
