SCUM OF THE EARTH 'Sleaze Freak' (Eclipse) RATING: 7.5/10

By GREG MAKI

Need a soundtrack for your Halloween party? Then might I suggest Sleaze Freak, the sophomore release from Scum of the Earth. It’s packed with heavy riffs yet sports enough grooving rhythms to keep the dance floor moving. And the lyrical content—the devil, death, murder, corpses—is season appropriate. Not a lot of deep thinking here; some of the songs make Rob Zombie’s music seem thought-provoking.

The Zombie comparisons are unavoidable. Vocalist/lead guitarist Riggs still sounds an awful lot like his old boss—pre-Educated Horses, that is. But while Zombie usually has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, it’s hard to picture Riggs laughing much as you listen to his songs. His music feels darker, scarier. The guy’s playing a guitar wrapped in pigskin, for Pete’s sake, and, he says in a press release, “it’s already starting to smell and rot a little.”

Sleaze Freak builds nicely off of the 2004 SOTE debut, Blah…Blah…Blah…Love Songs for the New Millennium. The framework is the same, but the first album felt rushed, like a demo. The energy missing from that record is all over Sleaze Freak—just listen to “The Devil Made Me Do It 2,” a sequel to the debut’s most memorable track. The songs are generally faster and heavier and performed by a band—featuring, in addition to Riggs, former Powerman 5000 drummer Adrian Ost, guitarist Skylar and bassist Brandon—that is a tight, cohesive unit. Riggs’s production gives them a sound as monstrous as the subject matter.

A curveball comes in the form of the album closer, “Just Like Me,” which incorporates acoustic guitar and a vocal performance that show Riggs has some real singing talent if you take away the distortion that normally buries his voice. It’s the best SOTE song yet, and the future is bright if Riggs explores this direction further in the future.

The music alone makes this release worthwhile, but you also get a booklet with 28 pages of art by Paul Garner and a DVD with 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and a live performance.