Since the first white zombie album Rob Zombie has been possibly the king of shock rock. Zombie began his career as lead singer for white zombie, a band whose lyrics consisted of their fascination with B horror movies, and their stage shows featured monsters that resembled those found in B horror movies. After two albums and a album full of remixes, Zombie decided to leave this band and pursue a career as a solo artist. His first album as a solo artist followed similar guidelines as the white zombie albums, with his use of movie monsters and horror film themes. Zombie’s second album The Sinister Urge would continue in the footsteps of the previous zombie albums.
The Sinister Urge features the same horror movie based lyrics that Zombie has managed to make a career using, except this time the music is not as heavy as his self- titled or the white zombie albums. The heaviest track on the album is Dead Girl Superstar. Which features a fast guitar riff with the bass and following and the drums keeping the beat. This song also features a guitar solo which is not a common thing in Rob Zombie’s music. This track is not the strongest on the album and may be considered filler.
The next two songs in terms of their heaviness are Demon Speeding and Scum of the Earth both of these songs feature simple performances by the guitar, bass, and drums, the guitar plays a simple riff while the bass follows and the drums keep a steady beat with the exception of a fill every now and then, this is music designed for Zombie to sing over. Another factor that brings this album down is the similarities between Demon Speeding and Superbeast from Hellbilly Deluxe
Bring her down (to Crippletown) is an example of zombie’s changing directions. In this song the intro is played on a violin with the guitar playing during the verse and chorus. The violins play an important role in creating the atmosphere for this song, and are even featured heavily during the bridge.
The lighter side of the album includes two of the singles Feel so Numb, and Never Gonna Stop and two other songs, the Ozzy Osbourne collaboration Iron Head, and possibly the mellowest song he’s ever done in (go to) California. While Feel so Numb and Iron Head still feature heavy guitar during the intro and choruses the verses are mainly zombie singing over not so heavy instrumentation. While the pre-chorus belongs to the drums. The fact that the guitar does not continue throughout makes these songs feel lighter than others.
Never Gonna Stop actually relies on the bass to play the main riff during the verse, with guitar in the chorus while the drums keep a very simple but effective beat. (go to) California is an entirely different song than any other on the album because of the way zombie mixes his voice in with the actual music. As in Never Gonna Stop the verses rely on the bass and drums while the guitar stays in the background, what makes this song different is that the guitar never takes over as it does in other songs and as a result the song doesn’t seem so heavy
The final track on this album is House of 1000 Corpses this is different than any other song on the album because, while not being heavy, it manages to be creepy by mixing a bunch of elements together such as the twangy guitar with the simplistic drums and piano, add a small child’s laughter and zombie’s eerie vocals and you have House of 1000 Corpses.
Ultimately this album features what zombie is most known for simple music mixed with B-horror movie lyrics, which zombie does a good job of writing and singing.This is an album where Zombie took a couple of chances and most worked out for the most part with songs like (go to) California, House of 1000 Corpses, and Bring her down to Crippletown. there are, however a couple of flaws on this album, such as Zombie’s tendency to recycle songs, an example being the similarities between Demon Speeding and Superbeast. And the fact that Demon Speeding and Dead Girl Superstar could be considered filler tracks.
