While Rob Zombie’s albums are pure escapism, you can largely split them into two camps: those albums that are memorable throughout (Hellbilly Deluxe, The Sinister Urge, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy); and those that find a suitably sinister groove without ever really pushing the boundaries – fun but forgettable.
It’s been five years since the largely excellent The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, and there’s been something of a reshuffle behind the scenes, with both Riggs and Blasko back in the fold for the first time since The Sinister Urge and Educated Horses respectively. Unsurprisingly, their dark energy is all over the album and, with long-time producer Zeuss back behind the desk, The Great Satan finds Zombie and his cohorts unleashing a streamlined set that harks right back to Hellbilly Deluxe.
The album opens with an eerie swirl before F.T.W. 84 kicks off properly. A sci-fi abstraction of Ministry, it epitomises everything you want and expect from a Zombie outing as he snarls “this is 1984” over a riff that does its best to trepan the listener. It’s a strong start and, if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it at least perfects the formula. It’s followed by the similarly paced Tarantula, which hauls itself from a muddle of stuttering electronica to batter the listener with a mix of greasy riffing and a giddy, fifties-style chorus of “a whop bob a loo bop”! What can I say, it’s a lot of fun and it sure is memorable. It’s followed by I’m A Rock ‘N’ Roller, which takes its title and its sonic cues straight out of the Alice Cooper songbook, the slower pace and grimy atmosphere proving to be a welcome change of pace after the full-tilt opening.
With the album racing past, Rob takes an unexpected trip all the way back to the days of White Zombie, the dirty slide guitar and harmonics drawn straight from the days of Astrocreep: 2000. Titled Heathen Days, it’s a fast, frantic blast of industrial rock, and it’s one of the heaviest tracks Zombie’s penned in years.
Leaving aside the minor segue track, Who Am I, the album remains on a nostalgic footing, Black Rat Coffin, nodding to Electric Head Pt. 2 without achieving the sheer rampant glee of that well-worn classic. It’s a minor misstep on an album that, to this point, has landed every punch, but the ship is soon righted, as Zombie dips into the dirty sleaze rock of Sir Lord Acid Wolfman. A ridiculous pirate rocker, it even throws in a “yo ho ho” chorus over the sort of grimy disco that powered the soundtrack to House Of A Thousand Corpses, and we’re all on board for the ride.
If Sir Lord Acid Wolfman got the album back on track, then the utterly frantic Punks And Demons ups the ante, the band playing with an edge that catches the listener off guard. It segues straight into the doom-laden The Devilman, a more Zombie-by-numbers track that is fine, but somewhat forgettable. Once again, however, there’s a harder edged number waiting just around the corner in the form of Out Of Sight.
Following the Manson-esque glam stomp of Revolution Motherfuckers, which does a good job of capturing the sheer hedonism of youth, a somewhat pointless and overlong segue brings us to the wonderful psych-punk blast of The Black Scorpion. A short, sharp number, it lands like a Monster Magnet remix, paving the way for the album’s final track, Unclean Animals. Similarly psychedelic, it’s a spacey rocker reminiscent ofReturn Of The Phantom Stranger and it wraps things up nicely, leaving only the sample-heavy Grave Discontent to play out over the credits.
A short album, The Great Satan does much to capture the attitude and energy of Hellbilly Deluxe – something greatly aided by the return of Riggs and Blasko. However, where that album was basically flawless, The Great Satan does have its issues. For a start, at least one of the segues (Welcome To The Electric Age) is far too long, disrupting the flow of the album; while both Black Rat Coffin and The Devilman are basically forgettable filler tracks. That said, when the album does kick into gear (the brilliant opening quartet, Punks And Demons, The Black Scorpion), The Great Satan hits with genuine force. Overall, while not as good as the very best albums in the Zombie canon, it is a whole heap of fun and more than worth picking up. 7.5/10
