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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's no Hellbilly Deluxe, November 18, 2001
When you think back to Zombie's last cd, Hellbilly Deluxe, you may be surprised by the lack of catchy songs on The Sinister Urge. Hellbilly's singles like Dragula and Living Dead Girl must have made Rob about a zillion dollars from giving them to every single movie soundtrack produced last year. But that's not to say that The Sinister Urge is a bad record. Here's a brief rundown of the songs. 1) Sinners Inc. - You should be familiar with this sound from Hellbilly. The old horror movie samples.2)Demon Speeding - For some reason this doesn't sound much like Zombie's sound to me. It sounds more like an 80's metal band. 3)Dead Girl Superstar - Take what I just said about Demon Speeding, and multiply it by 10. This song could have been sung by Ratt 15 years ago. 4)Never Gonna Stop (the red, red kroovy) - I can really get into this song. It's classic Zombie, and it's pretty catchy. 5)Iron Head - Immediatly when I saw the title of this one, I thought of Iron Man by Black Sabbath. And that's no coincedence, Ozzy actually guest vocals on this one. 6)(go to) California - Rob Zombie and brass horns? Whatever... 7)Feel So Numb - This, in my opinion, is the only song that is on par with the catchiness of the Hellbilly singles. 8)Transylvanian Transmissions Pt. 1 - More samples and general creepiness. 9)Bring Her Down (To Crippletown) - This one definatley is a new sound for Zombie, but it's still good. 10)Scum of the Earth - This one sounds really familiar. Like I've heard it before somewhere. 11)House of 1000 Corpses - This just makes me want to see the movie more and more. Really really good song.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get up, get out, get inside the outside, February 26, 2003
This album doesn't seem to enjoy the popularity of Hellbilly Deluxe, Rob Zombie's first solo release, but I consider The Sinister Urge the better album of the two. The music seems to be more important this time around, as Zombie experiments with or conjures up new means by which to communicate his unique message. (go to) California, for example, seems to begin with a strange lilting sound to it, and Zombie's voice is somewhat subdued on the verses, providing a nice contrast with the more forceful chorus. Of course, there is plenty of hard rocking on this album, especially on the three most familiar tunes: Never Gonna Stop (the red, red kroovy), Feel So Numb, and Demon Speeding. Demon Speeding reminds me a lot of the Hellbilly Deluxe tracks, but the other new songs have a different sound and style than what Zombie has given us before. These songs are catchier and are more prone to hang around in your head reminding you of their visceral greatness; some might say Zombie got a little soft and added a touch of pop to a few tracks here, but I don't think that is the case at all. If he has added anything, it is a complexity that makes his music all the more impressive.
One song that certainly deserves special mention is Iron Head, which features none other than Ozzy Osbourne helping out on the vocals; the way he and Zombie alternate lines makes Ozzy's input especially effective. Dead Girl Superstar is a great hard-rocking track, and I also really like Bring Her Down (To Crippletown), another song which features a dramatic contrast between the verses and chorus. Scum of the Earth isn't bad, but I would consider it the only light-weight song on the album. There really isn't as much filler material on here as some might think. Sinners Inc. introduces the album with some horror movie-type dialogue, Transylvanian Transmissions Pt. 1 features a dramatic, malevolent reading of horror-laden, strangely philosophical lines, and then the singular House of 1000 Corpses closes out the album with rather a significant bit of what some would call filler material surrounding an otherwise gleefully evil song-more horror movie dialogue about murder, cannibalism, and similar dastardly deeds, voices of innocent little girls, a satisfying number of screams, and-somewhat inexplicably-a couple of minutes' worth of background noise. At almost ten minutes, House of 1000 Corpses is definitely the longest song on the album, but I for one enjoy taking my time to enjoy the pleasure offered by musical rumination upon the darker things in life.
I might note that this album, unlike its predecessor, provides listeners with the song lyrics; it's not always easy to understand Zombie's edgy vocals, and now, while some of the lyrics don't make a great deal of sense, I at least know what I'm hearing. Overall, I recommend this album wholeheartedly to those who like their music dark and forceful. Even though Rob Zombie brought a musical legacy with him from his White Zombie years, Hellbilly Deluxe had a bit of a gimmicky feel to it and proved a little uneven in places. The Sinister Urge, on the other hand, is consistently good from start to finish.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!, December 28, 2001
After 3 long years of Rob Zombie's absence (Aside from a zillion remixes and soundtracks) my anticipation was very high for this CD. After listening to it, I realized that this is even better than I expected it to be. "Sinister Urge" is an album that combines old with new. It will please die-hards of White Zombie, and people who enjoy Rob's more catchy solo stuff. Just like the old b-horror movies Rob emulates, his music is pure entertainment, an adrenaline rush. You won't find lyrics that have social or political impact. No, just pure entertainment. The music on here is very catchy and at the same time, very heavy. It's definetly an improvement over "Hellbilly Deluxe." The guitar work on here is definetly better than before. It drives home the horror movie sound that Rob's lyrics are trying to convey (especially on Demon Speeding). Overall, you can't go wrong with Sinister Urge. It has less filler than Hellbilly Deluxe and it really is a landmark album for Rob. Let's see what he can do with his movie debut next.
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