Samael - Lux Mundi [2011]

Bass drum is way too low in the mix. There's this fucked up double-bass thing happening in the first track, but it sounds like there's a second bass drum part playing something more simplistic on top of that... it confuses the ear and the fact that the drums are lower in the mix really doesn't help. The first track isn't all that catchy or gripping. Ugh... this is a pretty piss-poor start for the album... first four tracks are drudgery. This album is a massive disappointment. It's everything that I DON'T like about Samael. Boring songwriting. No energy. Run of the mill riffs with no catchiness at all.

Rating: 5

http://www.samael.info/Above/index.html

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White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000 [1995]

After a genuinely creepy and prolonged intro... and explosion of energy and heaviness. I'm not sure if I've ever heard a heavier song than "Electric head Pt. 1", and it's even more astonishing when one realizes that this was released in 1995!! Things continue strongly through "Super-Charger Heaven", but then the catchiness and darkness tapers off quite a lot in "Real Solution #9". "Creature of the Wheel" brings the heaviness back, but the catchiness is absent from the verse riffs. Though, it lends itself to an amazing mosh-pit song. "Electric Head Pt. 2" brings some of the catchiness back and adds a healthy dose of quirky riffing. "Grease Paint and Monkey Brain" doesn't really have much energy for me... there seems to be a steady decline in the songwriting from the first track. But then, "I, Zombie" comes in and with a force that would be sufficient to restart our fucking Sun. "More Human Than Human" has never really appealed to me, but the following track is much more my style. Overall, this is quite a mixed bag. EXTREMELY strong songs are littered throughout the album with quite a few fillers surrounding them. It's still by far the best album White Zombie ever released, but they couldn't keep the strong songwriting going. I still like the fact that no one else sounded quite like WZ.

Rating: 7.75

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Zombie_(band)

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Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe II [2010]

First track has quite a bit of punch and power. It may take me a little time to get used to the new style, but it feels more like the first hellbilly. "Jesus Frankenstein" has some cool acoustic stuff to it and the main riff feels A LOT like old-school White Zombie. "Sick Bubblegum" feels just way too stock, predictable, and repetitive. "What" makes me say the same thing.... "What?" "Theme for an Angry Red Planet" is all well and good, but it doesn't fit the mood of the album at all. "Mars Needs Women" really makes me think that Rob has completely stopped trying to write decent lyrics. It feels very contrived and stock despite the well-layered guitars. Damnit... this album started off promising, but now it all has gone far far away from the darkness, heaviness, industrial, and evil mood of the first RZ album. 90% rockabilly, 10% metal. "The Man Who Laughs" is much more like it... so sad that it's only one of two songs that are good.

Rating: 5.5

http://www.robzombie.com/

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Rob Zombie - Educated Horses [2006]

Cool intro track. The middle riffs of "American Witch" are much better than the rest of the song, and that's not much of an accomplishment. It's a fairly stock one-dimensional song. "Foxy, Foxy" follows in the same vein... boring, repetitive, not catchy. It's only been 40 seconds since I listened to "17 Year Locust" and I can't remember anything about the song. "The Scorpion Sleeps" is way too much like a happy version of Manson. This really feels stripped out and more like a pop-metal album than what I would expect from RZ. It's missing nearly ALL of the darkness I loved from the first album. The songs aren't really that catchy at all. And, while the production is fairly heavy, the riffs feel too damn light and happy. "Let it all Bleed Out" and "Death of it All" are probably the only good tracks on the album. Very few layers overall. On the odd occasion that Zombie decides to flex his creative wings, the result is wonderful.

Rating: 5

http://www.robzombie.com/

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Rob Zombie - The Sinister Urge [2001]

Kicking off with a very energetic, heavy, and catchy track that fully utilizes Rob's new penchant for supporting orchestral arrangements... and it's quite well-done. "Dead Girl Superstar" brings up the tempo quite a bit. "Never Gonna Stop" takes on a more quirky and whimsical feel to it and gives the distinct impression that this is a step towards a more experimental Zombie. "Iron Head" brings things back to straight evil with a hint of turntable. It's certainly a departure from the very focused Hillbilly Deluxe. At times, this one feels a bit more poppy, but that feeling is always immediately tempered by more experimentation with other styles and instruments. On one hand, I miss the very acutely dark, gothic, and heavy style of HD, but I do like the experimentation for the most part. The album can't be called "light," either. There are a few songs that don't really work as well, though (i.e. "California" and "Never Gonna Stop"). I just can't bare to give it the same rating as HD... I really respect the creativity, but it's lost a fair amount of the bleak atmosphere in the process.

Rating: 8.25

http://www.robzombie.com/

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Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe

"Superbeast", man, what a song. Simple, but with just enough layers to give it depth. Catchy, but with a dark as fuck feel. Powerful, in a word. This whole album is pretty much great. There's only really one or two songs that lag behind a bit, but they're so different from the rest of the material that they are welcomed as a nice break. There's enough catchiness here that it'll be coming out your ears. Most of it is powerful and certainly has a wonderfully dark and menacing quality that is rarely heard these days. There's not much variation through the album, but there doesn't need to be. I didn't feel tired by the end at all. Great album. I can objectively say that it's better than anything White Zombie did... SUCK ON THAT, FAGGOTS.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.robzombie.com/

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Disillusion - Gloria [2006]

Much better opening track for this album, but I hate the use of auto-tune on the vocals. Very good use of keys, much more catchy, no more melodic Thrash, plus more interesting and unique songwriting. Very much contrary to what other reviewers have said, I think that this album is far better than the previous one. Much better songwriting, it's not so derivative, more catchy, and NO MELODIC FAG METAL!! Every single song feels as though it was written as carefully and lovingly as possible. No song feels weak, yet few feel repetitive. The progressive elements are entirely gone... in fact, if the band name wasn't the same, you'd have literally nothing to compare the two albums. This is certainly a very good Industrial Metal album.

Rating: 8.25

http://www.disillusion.de/

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Samael - Solar Soul [2007]

Samael is back with the heavy guitars. Production quality is improved a bit. The keys are a bit more forward in the mix and the guitars sit a little farther back. First track is good so far. More orchestra effects, really cool. Wow, I'm really impressed by this album. The use of keys and effects is fucking phenomenal and makes the songs way more energetic than on their previous albums.

Rating: 8

http://www.samael.info/Above/index.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Samael - Era One [2006]

Nice piano / industrial intro with cool ethnic beats… hoping for good things. Absolutely not what I expected for the beginning of the first track. Starts of with a very anti-climactic ride cymbal and then goes into the industrial stuff but with no sign of guitars. It's actually pretty cool, different song-writing than I expected, so props go out for surprising me. 3rd track is promising good things with the intro. Seems like this album as a whole is going to move Samael deeper into the industrial genre and farther from metal. Still haven't heard any guitars at all yet, lol. Overall, interesting work, but slightly disappointed that there weren't any heavy guitars or anything… actually, there's virtually no guitar-work at all. Still, it takes the risk and is a good album when the mood for industrial music strikes me.

Rating: 7

http://www.samael.info/Above/index.html

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Samael - Reign of Light [2005]

Right off the bat, I am fucking impressed as hell. Unique instrument usage, powerful entry, great production, catchy, and heavy all at once… and that's just the first fucking track. The awesomeness seems like it will carry through to most of the album, judging by the second track. Tracks 4 and 5 are a bit more doomy, maybe even a little bit on the boring side. However, "Telepath" starts kicking ass. It begins to get a bit one-sided towards the middle-end of the album. Overall, it's creative, heavy, well-produced, and pretty well-written even though there's not much difference between the songs.

Rating: 7

http://www.samael.info/Above/index.html

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Spineshank - Strictly Diesel [1998]

First track is a bit flat compared to what I'm used to on the other albums. There's much more emphasis on Techno effects and atmosphere. Every once-in-a-while they get kind of creative with Indian influence. The tempo is more inline with Gothic Metal than Industrial Metal. Overall, it's a very mediocre album… not horrible for their first effort, but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired when compared to the later albums.

Rating: 5.5

http://www.myspace.com/spineshank

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Spineshank - Self-Destructive Pattern [2003]

The logical successor to The Height of Callousness. More of the same, but with more refined song structures and writing. Also, the catchiness is ramped up a bit with almost all of the songs having some kind of clean-vocal section. However, it never distracts from the songs, nor does it feel like it was thrown in just to grab fans. The lyrics are great and definitely serve the music.

Rating: 8

http://www.myspace.com/spineshank

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Spineshank - The Height of Callousness [2000]

Album as a whole is pretty damn good. Some songs are better than others. Regardless, it's an interesting writing-style and unique use of techno/industrial effects. Heavy, too.

Rating: 7

http://www.myspace.com/spineshank

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.