VENOMOUS RAT REG(EX)

Lyricist: Rob Zombie. Personnel: Bob Marlette (keyboards, programming); Josh Freese (drums); Chris Marlette (programming). Audio Mixer: Kevin Churko. Recording information: Blue Room Studios; Dream Crusher Studios; Nrg. Photographers: Maureen Van Mortis; Rob Zombie. It's kind of hard to say what Rob Zombie is at this juncture. He's a filmmaker, he's a musician but, more than anything, he's a brand selling...well, some kind of blend of cheap rock & roll and B-movie exploitation. Cinema proved to be slightly more favorable to his obsessions than music, but he started as a rocker, so he can't leave three chords behind, and so he wound up recording another album called Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor in 2013, about three years after he last attempted a pop album. There seems to be a concept album tying together Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor but it'd require patience to piece together, patience that only fanboys could afford. Zombie panders to these true believers but he's clever, clever enough to give Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor some distinctive wrinkles, whether it's the heavy dose of Deep Purple organ, relentlessly sequenced rhythms, or the monster movie lyrics he loves so. Why he decided to cover Grand Funk Railroad is anybody's guess -- maybe somebody at the label thought it'd help get him on the radio, but at this point nobody should be under any illusion that Rob Zombie could expand his audience. He lives in a world of wax figurines, plaster replicas, VHS dubs, and scratched vinyl, sending them all through digital fuzzboxes and turning them up to 11. If you like what he likes, you'll have fun with him. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine