Movies And Metal

Posts Tagged ‘Rob Zombie’

Ever since the classic Danzig line-up disbanded in 1994, it could be argued that the bands output has been, at best, patchy.  1996’s Danzig 5: Blackacidevil was a pretty terrible cacophony of industrial bleeps and forgettable songs, whilst 1999’s Danzig 6:66 – Satan’s Child had a few glimmers of hope, but ultimately failed due to a lack of a proper guitar player (frontman Glenn Danzig himself handled most of the guitar duties) and a severe lack of the atmospherics of old.  Danzig 777: I Luciferi and Circle of Snakes followed and nodded towards a more traditional Danzig sound, but it all seemed to be too little too late.

And now we get Deth Red Saaoth.  Along with the Evil Elvis, the band now feature former Prong guitarist Tommy Victor, Glenn’s former Samhaim bandmate Steve Zing on bass and ex-Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly, so the band’s pedigree is without question.  And it doesn’t take very long for opening track Hammer of the Gods to put you back in those early 90’s glory days, with Glenn’s clean, bluesy vocals underpinning one of the most stomping cuts that Danzig (the band) have done for some time (it could also be said that the heavier end of Rob Zombie’s output would be a good reference point, but let’s remember who was doing this first).  Second track The Revengeful does lean towards the band’s latter output with its pinched riffing and clunking pace, although it’s still better than anything from the previous few albums.  It’s also on this track where the album’s most obvious flaw starts to reveal itself, and that is the uneven production job, courtesy of Mr. Danzig himself.  There just seems to be very little oomph in some of the songs when you expect there to be some, and Danzig albums with little in the way of dynamics have become a bit too commonplace in recent years.

Anyway, regardless of sound issues, there are a few faith-restoring gems to be had here; lead single On a Wicked Night oozes an erotic swagger that has been sorely missing for a long time, and sounds a little like classic The Cult before Glenn’s powerful pipes crank the song up a gear, whilst Pyre of Souls: Incanticle sounds like it’s straight from a movie score, with the main man harmonising over a strummed acoustic passage before the song’s part two – Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain – kicks in with it’s epic, brooding verse and wicked guitar solos.

Overall, Deth Red Sabaoth can be called a huge step in the right direction rather than the complete return to form that many were expecting.  Much like Ozzy Osbourne’s recent Scream album, it starts off well and ends solidly but somewhere in the middle there’s a bit of a lull where some of the songs start to sound like filler material, or could even be labelled self-parody.  Considering the combined talents of all the band members there is a sense that they seem a bit underused here, but hopefully that will remedy itself if the line-up can stick together for a while and then maybe, just maybe, Danzig will become a cohesive unit that can make consistently great albums again.  On this showing, they’re on their way but not quite there yet.

Rating: 6/10

Standout Tracks: Hammer of the Gods, Rebel Spirits, Black Candy, On a Wicked Night, Pyre of Souls: Incanticle, Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain.

For Fans of: Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, The Misfits, The Resurrection Sorrow, Heaven & Hell, Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Volbeat, Black Sabbath.

For more information on Danzig go to: www.danzig-verotik.com

Click on images to purchase Deth Red Sabaoth.

Does anybody really care that there’s a new Ozzy Osbourne album out in 2010?  Admit it – when Ozzy became an unlikely reality television star in the early part of the last decade and suddenly started appearing at all manner of events, you thought it was all over didn’t you?  And when his former Black Sabbath bandmates went on to cement their reputations as metal lords with their excellent Heaven & Hell project, as well as Ozzy’s long-time guitarist Zakk Wylde getting replaced by the largely unknown Gus G. (Firewind) and the knowledge that the last few Ozzy albums have treaded water a bit, it added more fuel to the argument that the Prince of Darkness should hang up his crown and gracefully retire.  Well, shame on you ‘cos Scream is the best album the Double O has put his name to since 1995’s majestic Ozzmosis.

It takes approximately 20 seconds of opener Let it Die to play before you realise that you’re hearing probably some of the heaviest solo Ozzy material ever.  Although Gus G.’s style doesn’t veer too much from Wylde’s (close your eyes and it could be the bearded one at the fret board) there are less of the squeals and pinched harmonics that Wylde was keen on peppering everything with, and as such the guitars sound a bit more focussed.  Still, Zakk Wylde is a hard act to follow so we’ll just have to hear how Gus G. progresses in the future.

First single Let Me Hear You Scream has been around for a while now and still sounds great as a rocking piece of modern mainstream metal, but it’s when Ozzy veers off into less straightforward territory that things start sounding a bit more interesting; Ozzy’s Beatles – and Paul McCartney in particular – influence comes to the fore in the acoustic passages of Life Won’t Wait before giving in to a hook-laden chorus that showcases Osbourne’s gift of creating glorious melodies, whilst the modern metal sheen of Latimer’s Mercy shows that even at 61, the great man can do intense and contemporary without sounding desperate.  Elsewhere, Soul Sucker harks back to the apocalyptic thud of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man before breaking into a thrashy mid-section that’s sure to send the dandruff flying if given a live airing.

It may not be up there with the aforementioned Ozzmosis, 1991’s career-highpoint No More Tears or 1980’s classic Blizzard of Ozz, but Scream is definitely an improvement over his previous two original studio albums, namely 2001’s Down to Earth and 2007’s Black Rain.  There are moments on here when the over-produced vocal effects and processed riffs do start to sound a little soulless, and one or two of the tracks around the halfway mark could be described as filler material, but considering how lame this album’s predecessors were it doesn’t drag the overall effect down.

Overall, this is a better album than expected from a singer that many had written off as past it.  Having always surrounded himself with the best musicians (his band completed by bassist Blasko and former Rob Zombie/Alice Cooper drummer Tommy Clufetos) and songwriters available at the time, Ozzy has delivered a set of rollicking tunes that are all played with renewed energy and a sense of adventure that has been sorely lacking from a lot of the Brummie legend’s output for the best part of nearly two decades.

Rating: 7/10

Standout Tracks: Let it Die, Let Me Hear You Scream, Soul Sucker, Life Won’t Wait, I Want it More, Latimer’s Mercy.

For Fans of: Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, Black Label Society, Danzig, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper.

For more information on Ozzy Osbourne go to: www.ozzy.com

Click on images to purchase Scream

It seems that Rob Zombie has been suffering a backlash for the last couple of years – his reworking of the horror classic ‘Halloween’ seemed to divide most people, and then he followed it up with the inevitable sequel that was universally slammed by critics and fans alike.  With nearly every horror and movie website pretty much writing ‘H2′ off as a dud, Zombie has returned to his musical roots to try and repair the damage, but is it too late?

With previous album ‘Educated Horses’  – released back in 2006 – Zombie completely stripped away the industrial beats and layered soundscapes of his first two solo albums – 1998′s ‘Hellbilly Deluxe’ and 2001′s more experimental ‘The Sinister Urge’ – and although the idea of Rob Zombie and his band playing stripped-down, raw rock tunes may have been a good idea on paper, the album really lacked the energetic spark of those first records, leading some to question whether his trip into the movie world has dented his creativity.

However, zombies come back from the dead and Rob is no exception (sorry, couldn’t help the pun!).  Approximately 1 minute and 55 seconds into the spooky intro of opening track ‘Jesus Frankenstein’ he reminds us in spectacular style what he is capable of and delivers it in style.  A huge, chunky riff and vocal hook that sounds familiar even though you’ve never heard the song before prove that nobody does that mid-paced stomp thing better than Rob Zombie, and sometimes harking back to what you’re known for in the first place isn’t always such a bad thing.  With his most beefed-up production yet, there is a whiff of ‘La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol.1′ - the 1992 breakthrough album from Rob’s previous band White Zombie – in some of the tracks, especially the aforementioned ‘Jesus Frankenstein’ and the heavy ‘Mars Needs Women’, but this is no retread of old ground; this is the sound of talented performer rediscovering his mojo and making some kick-ass rock n’roll.

That’s not to say this is album is perfect; notable by its absence there is no one monster, stand-out track in the vein of ‘Living Dead Girl’ or ‘Thunder Kiss ’65′, but that may not be a totally bad thing as that means you’ll more likely play the whole thing rather than cherry-pick tracks, and with repeated listenings some of the hooks may become more obvious.  There is also a quite tedious drum solo (yes you read that correctly) during closing track ‘The Man Who Laughs’, but as it’s right near the end it doesn’t interrupt the flow too much (and quite why it’s there is a bit baffling!).  Overall, though, this is an excellent album that shows what Zombie is capable of when he sets his mind to it; the band are the tightest they’ve ever been, the songs are a vast improvement over the last album and the whole thing is executed with a bit more passion than has been present in Zombie’s output for the last few years.  Let’s hope it’s the start of an upward trajectory.

Rating: 8/10

Standout Tracks: Jesus Frankenstein, Sick Bubblegum, Mars Needs Women, Werewolf, Baby!, Werewolf Women of the SS.

For Fans of: White Zombie, Alice Cooper, Danzig, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, The Resurrection Sorrow, The Misfits.

Click on album cover to purchase.

For more information on Rob Zombie visit: www.robzombie.com

Ahh yes, sequels.  The thorn in the side of horror movies before remakes came along.  To be fair, there have been some great sequels – some even better than their original source movies – and I shall get round to listing some when I can think of a decent amount of them.  But for now, and for a bit of fun, here are ten absolutely awful sequels that should never even have been conceived, let alone made.  Bear in mind that this is just my opinion, it’s just a bit of fun and is by no means a definitive list so please feel free to chip in with your own abominations.  Enjoy…

1. Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994) – So let us begin with what is probably the worst sequel to any movie ever made anywhere.  The first was an undisputed classic, the second a very different and campy but still worthy follow-up, the third was a decent attempt at injecting some raw nastiness back into the name, but this atrocity was taking it too far.  Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger both feature here before they were famous, hence why the film’s release was delayed until 1997 so the makers could cash in on the future star’s names (tellingly, Zellweger leaves this movie off of her résumé), and even though McConaughey seems to be having a ball shouting and wailing, there isn’t a lot else happening.  Leatherface seems to be played by a slightly-larger-than-average teenager and wears dresses and lipstick – oh yes people, this Leatherface isn’t a huge hulk of a beast that rips people to shreds with his chain saw; this Leatherface dresses as a woman and cries!  For fuck’s sake, it makes me so angry!  Add to this some lunacy about the Illuminati using the ‘family’ as a testing ground for pushing people to the limit, the fact that nobody dies via a chain saw and that original ‘…Chain Saw…’ co-writer Kim Henkel disgraced himself by being involved with this shite, and you have what is undoubtedly the worst killing of a franchise ever.

2. Jaws: The Revenge (1987) – Somebody at Universal Pictures saw this and approved its release – just remember that.  As with the previous entry in this list, somebody took thought a fourth film in a franchise that was in its death throes would be a good idea, like it would improve on the original and reinvigorate the series.  The original ‘Jaws’ was a perfect blend of character drama, horror, suspense and action, while the sequel stopped slightly short of that but was still very good.  ‘Jaws 3-D’ was a nice idea but the terrible shark effects and the implausibility of the shark being a stalker rendered the series finished in most people’s eyes.  But noooo…we now get the serial killer shark following the Brody family to the Bahamas; swimming from Amity Island to the Bahamas in three days – don’t think so!  If the Brody’s are that concerned with being stalked by sharks – DON’T GO IN THE SEA!!!  Anyway, Lorraine Gary reprises her role as Ellen Brody, Roy Scheider wisely refused to return and Michael Caine – who later said he only took the role to pay for his swimming pool and to get a trip to the Bahamas – plays a pilot called Hoagie, who gets the best line in the film by simply shouting “Bloody Hell!” in his marvellous cockney accent when attacked by the shark.  The one good point is that the shark isn’t as bad as the one in part 3, but they ruined that by having it roar, leap out of the water and exploding for no reason.  Hopefully somebody got fired over this waste of time.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5:  The Dream Child (1989) - I think the best analogy for this series is that it’s like running down a hill – it starts of as a good idea but after a short while you wish you hadn’t bothered, although now it’s too late and you just can’t stop yourself.  I love the ‘…Elm Street’ concept, the character of Freddy Krueger, Robert Englund’s wonderful portrayal in each movie and so on, but after the terrific part 3 what happened?  I can sort of forgive part 4 as being a bit more mainstream and acceptable as Freddy was now part of the culture of the MTV generation, but they should have either ended it there or gone back to the darker and edgier roots of the series.  Instead we get some nonsense about Freddy haunting the dreams of an unborn child, people melting into motorbikes, someone getting force-fed by Freddy and other such ludicrous happenings that I really don’t want to discuss.  Terrible movie and proof that the makers really had no interest in examining the whole ‘killed in your dreams’ concept that made the first three movies so great.  The only redeeming feature was Robert Englund’s mercurial performance as Freddy, but even he must have feared for the series’ credibility.

4. Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989) –  The original ‘The Amityville Horror’, although not the most exciting movie ever made, was still a creepy and atmospheric tale of an ordinary family forced to flee their new home due to demonic forces that apparently reside in the land itself.  The sequel was a retelling of the true story of the family that were murdered in the house by the eldest son, and although it tried to rip off ‘The Exorcist’ it was still an effective, if slightly ridiculous, shocker.  ‘Amityville 3-D’ was a fairly dull and obvious film but was still within the spirit (!) of the first two movies.  This fourth instalment is made-for-TV rubbish.  A lamp that seemingly has a cat-like face photocopied onto it whenever it wants to be evil is sold from the house that, correct me if I’m wrong, blew up at the end of part 3, and the new owners now have the curse in their annoyingly smug, cookie-cutter lives.  Good, as far as I’m concerned.  I wanted to off all of the family as soon as they uttered some of the most unconvincing and badly acted lines ever committed to film.  At least the film does feature the wonderful Zoe Trilling – who would go on to star in the excellently stupid ‘Night of the Demons 2: Angela’s Revenge’ – and apparently the sequels that followed this were even worse, but, to be honest, I stopped watching after this one.  Worth watching once just to laugh at it.

5. The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 (1985) - Wes Craven’s original isn’t quite a classic but post-‘…Elm Street’ Wes Craven obviously needed the money and somebody thought a sequel was a good idea.  And it could have been, had anybody actually had a decent idea for a story, but you know your movie is heading for the bargain bin when the fucking dog starts having flashbacks to the first movie!  Mainly made up of flashback shots, the story involves Pluto (Michael Berryman), the main cannibal from the first movie who was mauled by the dog but survived, hooking up with The Reaper, brother of the first movie’s Papa Jupitor, and wreaking havoc with a group of kids who have ridden their bikes across the desert where the cannibals dwell.  The group contains survivors of the first movie, so that begs the question ‘Why do they return to the Hell hole they narrowly escaped from in the first movie?’  Nonsensical and stupid – not in a good way – the movie is completely forgettable and Wes Craven quite rightly disowns it.  Ironically, the sequel to the excellent 2006 remake of the original is also a waste of time.  There are stories that Craven had to step in and rescue the production, but seeing the results of both sequels, I do wish he didn’t bother.

6. Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead (2009) - A prime example of completely missing an opportunity, this should have been an exercise in how to do a perfect redneck/cannibal slasher following on from the high standards set by part 2, but somebody dropped the ball.  Completely missing the obvious passion that the makers of part 2 had, this is scene after scene of boring kills and pointless plot holes – after the third attack by the same freak and you have a shotgun in your hand, would you not just blow his head off to make sure he’s dead?  The only two decent kills are in the first five minutes and after that it just becomes a pointless cat-and-mouse chase movie full of drivel, bad acting, lack of any cult actors or actors of any presence whatsoever, Blue Peter-made sets and obviously not shot in the same woods as the first two movies.  Considering how great the first two movies are, let’s hope they let this franchise die instead of coming up with any more turgid filth like this.  Avoid.

7. Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002) - The thing about the first two instalments was the real sense of dread that you got whenever Pinhead appeared.  He wasn’t a serial killer, a stalker or a monster, but rather a presence, an observer, a judge and a figure of blasphemous intentions rather than just aimlessly kill people.  That was all gone by part 3 and the makers made him into a serial killer in the Freddy Krueger mould, and by the time this sixth instalment came out Pinhead was nothing more than a face to appear near the end of the movie to justify calling it ‘Hellraiser’.  This movie was supposed to be some sort of return-to-form as it also starred Ashely Laurence, who was reprising her role as Kirsty from the first two movies, and all the fans worldwide got excited at the prospect of a third battle between her and Pinhead (Doug Bradley).  What really happens is some sort of surreal nonsense about Kirsty and her husband being in a crash, Kirsty dying and her husband being a bit of a prick, and then the ‘twists’ happen and Pinhead appears…yadda, yadda, yadda!  There are those that say ‘Hellraiser’ movies shouldn’t be just about Pinhead or the Cenobites but rather the puzzle box and what it represents – and to a point I agree – but this movie is just plain dull and lifeless.  A wasted opportunity.

8. Omen 4: The Awakening (1991) - More made-for-TV drivel as that damned Thorn family made a return.  Well alright, it wasn’t the whole family, it was only Delia…what do you mean ‘who’s Delia’?  Why, she’s Damien Thorn’s daughter, you silly people.  Didn’t you know he had a daughter?  Neither did anybody else except the morons who decided to green-light this seriously naff movie.  A rich, high society couple adopt a little girl who seems to have no known relatives and very soon the accidents start piling up, and everybody starts accusing the mother of being paranoid – but we know the truth ‘cos we’ve seen the other movies.  And they’re all better than this.  Had the makers stuck to the original books and made the films of parts 4 and 5 like they were written, then you’d have two good sequels to follow up the original trilogy.  This is flat, lifeless and almost amateurish in it’s presentation, and even worse when you consider that it was written by the producer of the original.  Unsympathetic characters, limp performances and a child actress with a face you want to slap (not that I advocate that sort of thing – disclaimer).

9. Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008) – There are some that really liked this film – I have even heard of some people preferring it to the original – but, for me, it was a pointless and disappointing waste of time.  Not bad in the same way as ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Next Generation’, but just limp and desperately trying to recreate the gothic feel of the original, which was so stylised and trendy that it perfectly captured the moment in which it was made.  This one has Corey Feldman – the movie’s one saving grace – reprising his role as vampire hunter Edgar Frog, who now lives in Luna Bay, home to Shane Powers (played by Angus Sutherland, half-brother of Kiefer and possibly the least charismatic performance of a vampire ever) and his gang of undead surfers.  There’s two new youngsters, who are apparently the children of Jason Patric’s character from the first movie (but this isn’t mentioned in the film; you have to look on the website to find that out), very brief cameos from original stars Corey Haim (after the closing credits) and Jamison Newlander (deleted scenes) and an appearance by the legendary Tom Savini in probably the movie’s best kill scene, and it is well put together but it just fails overall to ignite any excitement due to horrible characters and trying to be a movie that’s over twenty years old.  ‘The Lost Boys’ is a great example of a movie that didn’t really need a sequel, so you would think that because somebody decided that it did then they would have put a bit more effort into it.  As it is, we’re left with this straight-to-DVD borefest that looks like a pop music video from the late 90′s.  Can’t wait for the inevitable third instalment…

10. H2 (2009) – Oh, you knew it would make an appearance!  I had to have another dig, didn’t I?  Yes, Rob Zombie’s controversial sequel to his remake of John Carpenter’s classic slasher really was a great example of a director not knowing his own material as there are so many ‘Eh?’ moments here that just don’t make sense.  Now the movie has been with us a while now, it is worth looking at again just to make sure it was as bad as it was when you first saw it – and it is!  The trouble is the bits you look at now and think “Actually that’s not as bad as I remember it’ are outnumbered by bits that make you go “Oh for fuck’s sake, why?’.  To Rob Zombie’s credit, he did succeed in making it look like a proper 70′s grindhouse movie, but how it looks doesn’t mean it’s a great film.  One thing that lifts this movie above that other target of derision from last year, namely the ‘Friday the 13th’ remake, is the fact that we knew it would be shit before we saw it, and therefore we weren’t disappointed;  the fact we knew it would be shit is the good point!  How bad does a movie have to be to get that sort of comment?  I’d love to see that on a press release poster – “As shit as you thought it would be” – Chris Ward, www.moviesandmetal.com.  What a quote!

 Click on DVD covers to purchase.

That poor chap Rob Zombie has taken a bit of a bashing over the last couple of years with his ‘ Halloween’ movies being less than well-received, and his previous album ‘Educated Horses’ taking a bit of flak for not being as sonically massive as his previous albums.

However, the man known as Robert Cummings to his parents (and maybe his postman) has a new album due out in February and the few snippets that have been released already have us here at Movies and Metal Towers very excited.  So click the link below to see the video for his latest single ‘Sick Bubblegum’ and get down with the groovy ghoulies…

http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/01/22/rob-zombie-sick-bubblegum-video-premiere/

Rob Zombie’s ‘Hellbilly Deluxe 2′ is released via Roadrunner Records on February 1st 2010. Click on album cover to purchase.

Source: noisecreep.com