Review Summary: Stoopidly fun...
Well, I guess we wait for the inevitable Rob Zombie-directed Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor movie to know what the concept of this album is.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, Rob Zombie claimed in an interview several months back that his new solo album Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor was written as a concept album, but he won't divulge the concept yet. I'm not even going to try to figure out what in the hell this album is about, but thankfully the music is good.
Teenage Nosferatu Pussy is a beast of a lumbering giant, with a huge riff and chorus that makes the song perfect for a stripclub setting. Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor is the most dance-ready album Rob has released in awhile, with songs like Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De La Raga (that's seriously a song title) The Girl Who Loved The Monsters bursting at the seams with effects and pounding rhythms. However, VRRV is also the fastest Rob Zombie album in years, as songs like the frenzied Lucifer Rising and Behold! The Pretty Filthy Creatures race along at breakneck paces perfectly suited for auto racing.
I believe someone once referred to Rob Zombie's solo music as "redneck metal" and that tag is a perfect one for VRRV as John 5 once again provides some of the dirtiest guitar riffs you'll hear all year in rock music, and each and every song absolutely bounces with effects and pounding drums. As usual, Rob Zombie's signature wackiness is all over Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, as first single Dead City Radio features spoken-word segments and lyrical lines such as "I'm a rhinestone tiger in a leisure suit." Rock N' Roll (In A Black Hole) has a popping rhythm and whispered vocals from Rob before bursting into a nuclear assault chorus. Trade Your Guns For a Coffin is a 2 minute blast of social commentary on gun control.
Special points go to Rob and friends for not only covering the rock classic We're An American Band but actually improving the original by giving it a darker makeover. It's destined to be a sing-along anthem at Zombie concerts for years to come.
Overall, Rob Zombie's new album Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor has the "fun" element that Hellbilly Deluxe 2 sorely lacked, and it is a more focused record than HD2 as well. It is the first Rob Zombie record where Rob's entire touring band contributed to the recording process, and it's obvious that Rob has a good chemistry with his band, as they all sound like they're having fun. Of course, if you take every album that you listen to super seriously, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor may well fly right over your head, as the key to enjoying a Rob Zombie album is not taking it too seriously. Like I say in my summary, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor is "stoopidly fun."
