Reviews: Rob Zombie, GraVil, So-Do-Ko

Rob Zombie: Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (Zodiac Swan)

The new album from the Godfather of Heavy Horror metal sees him coming off a tour with Marylin Manson (and blowing him off stage every night) and before he releases his new movie, it's because of these other projects that sees this being Zombie's fifth album. Musically it follows on from his last release Hellbilly Deluxe 2 which saw Zombie going back to his roots with industrial horror themed metal. This record adds to the madness with lashings of horror movie samples and some sprawling Hammond organ from the producer which adds that vaudeville element to the tracks. Ah the tracks they are all classic Zombie hard rock stompers with the heavy duty riffage coming from genius John 5 bringing the glam stomp of Teenage Nosferatu Pussy, the heavy rock of Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Supertown is the clear single. Zombie looks back to his White Zombie days with the industrial electronic thump of Revelation Revolution. All of the tracks feature John 5's guitar wizardry; he not only pulls out some great riffs but some unique lead breaks and solos see; White Trash Freaks. The rhythm section can't be ignored either with Murderdolls man Piggy D slapping those four strings as if his life depended on it and new drummer Ginger Fish proving the perfect replacement for Joey Jordison. This is an album full of the fist-pumping, foot stomping, head banging heavy metal that he does so well and it also mixes things up with the electronic industrial elements of White Zombie, it also has a very heavy cover of Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band which is surely one for the live crowd. This is a Rob Zombie celebration album one man looking back while going forward doing what he does best! 8/10

GraVil: Thoughts Of The Rising Sun (Self Release)

I have known about GraVil for a while now ever since I acquired their EP Age Of Corruption through the Metal To The Masses campaign. This is the London mob's debut album and it moves on from where they started on their EP and expands on it bringing a much more rounded sound on the EP. At their heart GraVil are a death metal band featuring blast beat drumming, down tuned technical riffage and some very evil vocals from frontman Grant Stacey who also has some good clean vocals to on The Struggle. Musically the band sound like a mix between Children Of Bodom, especially on the hook heavy keyboard driven Enemy Within; Cradle Of Filth, who's guitarist James McIlroy appears on the militaristic industrial stomp of March Of The Titans and also some of the pit inciting madness of Devildriver, Beyond Reprieve. Guitarists Tony Dando and Andy Slade trade crushing heavy riffage and technical solo's that rip your face off. GraVil have bolstered their sound with electronics as well as the odd orchestral backing track or a piano here and there; see Something Worth Chasing and the Interlude before the excellent title track. This is a great debut that has some seriously heavy guitars, demonic vocals and best of all some excellent songs. 8/10

Sa-da-kO: Awakening (Self Release)

Sa-da-kO are a British metal band with some high hopes and an already storied history, having already won the Metal To The Masses in 2012 and getting a chance to play Bloodstock of that year, this is the band’s debut album and it is full of heavy as hell metal, the band have the groove/thrash influence of Lamb Of God mixed with some of the bass heavy drops of Nu-Metal and metalcore. They have some great drumming from Gregzilla and the down tuned riffage of Carl and SIMo moving between crushing breakdowns, thrashy pit starting riffs and some string snapping solos. The vocals too are excellent with some guttural shouting coming from Jim. The songs too are strong with the trashy Limit Of Resolution, the stomping riff of Milwaukee Protocol which has some Alice In Chains style backing vocals and a massive breakdown in it which will slay the live crowd. This is a strong debut album showing why they won the competition, the Bloodstock crowd will eat this up and as will any metal loving pit forming metal freaks. My one criticism is that there are a couple of songs that could have been left out with Final Solution: Death being the most notable however as a debut this is good work. 7/10