Review Summary: Behold this wicked woman, she sucks it, fucks it, picks it up and licks it
From the absolutely ridiculous (yet fun) song titles to the cliché (yet again fun) "shocking" live appearances, Scum Of The Earth is a boiling pot of good time. The Rob Zombie influenced industrialized heavy metal band has now been on the scene for 6 years already and they have yet to disappoint the listener with their fun and not too serious records.
Sleaze Freak, following the successful debut
Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium, is another Rob Zombie-esque ridiculous heavy metal album and while it isn't as great as the debut was, it is still a fun record to kick in when one is just trying to relax and chill.
The album opens up with "Bombshell From Hell" - a ridiculously groovy heavy metal song. It is (sorry for the overuse of that word) fun in any way possible, with the chorus
"Bombshell from hell, godless Jezebel; Bombshell from hell, got no soul to sell; Bombshell from hell, bombshell from hell" ringing in your ears for days. Follower "Hate X 13" is a heavier song than its predecessor with a crunchy guitar sound and a silly prelude. Speaking of which, this album is filled with amusing and witty preludes. I even presented the most entertaining one as the summary as it is a perfect description for
Sleaze Freak. So if that line appealed to you and you like the fun side of heavy metal then read no further and get this damn album.
As for the rest of you who insist on reading on, I guess this would be a perfect time to speak to you about the Rob Zombie influence. Scum Of The Earth's vocalist/guitarist and frontman Mike Riggs, usually presented as just Riggs, is already a veteran on the scene, as he started his musical career already back in 1990. His most famous work though is with Rob Zombie on Rob's first two solo records, Hellbilly Deluxe and The Sinister Urge. He quit on Rob Zombie in 2003 though in order to establish his own band. He succeeded in creating his own project, and as of 2003, we now have Scum Of The Earth. Although the Rob Zombie influence is massive (even to the degree where a person who hasn't heard any Scum Of The Earth before could think he is listening to Rob Zombie) there are still some differences between the bands/artists. The main difference is that while Rob Zombie is more of a hit person - his albums often end up being mediocre records with a few great highlights - , Scum Of The Earth is more concentrated on making a strong, unified album. In the musical department though there really isn't much to differentiate the bands by. The same crunchy power chords and riffs, the same horror-based and death involving lyrics, the same rhythmic drumming, and in truth, even the same vocal style as Riggs and Rob are almost identical.
So in conclusion, what Scum Of The Earth really is, is a better, tighter version of Rob Zombie. Don't expect any musical miracles, but do look forward to having a good time. If one want's to experience the best of Scum Of The Earth, it might be a bit more reasonable to get
Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium first as
Sleaze Freak does have some filler on the way ("Macabro Expectaculo" and "Corpse Grinders" are just bad and "The Devil Made Me Do It 2" is inferior to the original "The Devil Made Me Do It"), but in general
Sleaze Freak is another fun and chill album by Scum Of The Earth that I happily recommend to anyone.
