Rocktober Album #16: White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (1995)

As you may or many not know, Rob Zombie loves horror movies.  Before he was directing Night of 1,000 Corpses or the remake of Halloween, he was using horror movies to inspire his songwriting.

Astro-Creep: 2000 is White Zombie's fourth and final album (before Rob Zombie went solo), and I suppose it can be categorized as industrial metal and groove metal.  That may sound like a strange label, but it kind of makes sense when you listen to the music.  It's definitely metal, but it has a groove to it.  And yes, I just defined "groove metal" as "metal with a groove."  As for the industrial part, there are synthesizers and weird sounds of all sorts, which I guess means it's industrial metal.

No matter what you call it, the music is interesting and pretty hard core.  Many of the songs have clips from old horror movies, which I've always thought was pretty cool.  The album got as high as #6 on the Billboard album charts.

1.  "Electric Head Pt. 1 (The Agony)"

I have a non-electric head, so I can't really relate, but the song has a hard driving beat complemented by Zombie's guttural vocals.

2.  "Super-Charger Heaven"  

This might be my favorite song on the album.  It's fast and gritty.  The chorus particularly sticks with me:  "Devil man, devil man (calling) / Devil man, runnin' in my head."  The song also contains the following awesome line:  "I dreamed I was a super nova fucker."  Now that, I can relate to.

3.  "Real Solution #9"  

This one has distorted vocals, like Zombie is singing through a megaphone into the mic.  While I can't really tell what he's saying, I will say that I like "Real Solution #9" better than "Revolution #9."

4.  "Creature of the Wheel"

This one is a plodding song with bird-like howls in the background and a swirl of drop-tuned guitars.

5.  "Electric Head Pt. 2 (The Ecstasy)"

This song starts with a nice quick repeating riff, then breaks into Rob Zombie's nearly decipherable verses.  It has a nice thumping beat to it.

6.  "Grease Paint and Monkey Brains"

What are two things that have never been in my kitchen? 

7.  "I, Zombie"

This is another good song with a driving beat.

8.  "More Human than Human"  

This is probably the most famous and recognizable White Zombie song, and it's a good one.  It has a great riff and a thumping beat that either makes you want to dance really weird or drive across the desert.

9.  "El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama"

If I ever form a White Zombie tribute band, I will call it El Phantasmo and the Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama.

10.  "Blur the Technicolor"

This song has a nice groove to it, with a catchy little sound effect that repeats throughout the song and almost acts as the chorus.

11.  "Blood, Milk and Sky" (and "Where The Sidewalk Ends, The Bug Parade Begins," a hidden track)

Both the unhidden and hidden tracks are slow and kind of trippy.  It kind of sounds like the soundtrack to a horror movie.