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By GREG MAKI
Until about this time last year, it appeared Rob Zombie’s music career was a thing of the past. His first feature film as a director, House of 1000 Corpses, attracted a strong cult following, and he was preparing for the July release of its follow-up, The Devil’s Rejects. Looking for a way to spend the summer of 2005, Zombie decided to assemble a band – longtime bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, former Marilyn Manson guitarist John Five and drummer Tommy Clufetos – to headline the second stage of Ozzfest. So inspired was he by the stripped-down, back-to-basics shows that he hit the studio last fall with his new band to record his third solo disc, Educated Horses.
The album holds its own with the best of Zombie’s career, both on his own and with White Zombie. Chatter on message boards would have you believe Educated Horses takes his sound back to the La Sexorcisto days. That could not be further from the truth; it sounds quite unlike anything he has recorded in the past. A large part of the reason is undoubtedly John Five, who co-wrote eight of the album’s 11 tracks. With this release and his two recent instrumental solo discs, he’s finally getting to show the world what a fine player he is.
The highlights of Educated Horses are the ominously plodding “17 Year Locust” (featuring a sitar), the acoustic-heavy “Death of It All” and the Western-tinged “The Devil’s Rejects.” The album’s greatest moments can be heard in “Let It All Bleed Out.” It’s the heaviest track on the disc, but instrumental sections after the second and third choruses feature a beautifully melodic lead by John Five.
Though there are a host of new sounds and ideas throughout Educated Horses (a handful of songs carry a strong ‘70s glam rock influence), it always sounds like Zombie. The electronics are toned down to focus more on the band (judging from this and the many photos of the band in the liner notes, Zombie is more than happy to share the spotlight), and the material is less campy than in the past. But there’s no mistaking the man behind it all. Let’s hope Zombie has a few more albums of such high quality left in him before he finally decides to give up music for good.
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