Album Review: Rob Zombie - The Great Satan
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Following the dissolution of White Zombie in 1998, frontman Rob Zombie embarked on something of a creative purple-patch, issuing his solo debut, Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International, that same year as well as working in his first feature film as director with House of 1000 Corpses. By 2006 he’d added The Sinister Urge and Educated Horses to his discography and made the House… sequel: The Devil’s Rejects.
All seemed to be progressing swimmingly for Mr Z until the cinematic wobbles of his entry into the Halloween franchise and, following the respectable Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool in 2010, some lack-lustre records.
Thankfully there was the live shows, often accompanied by big names like Slayer, Korn and Marilyn Manson, which were always a feast for the eyes and ears, his love of those old horror movies coming front and centre.
I’m a big fan of Mr Zombie’s earlier work – and have enjoyed many a bounteous live extravaganza – but the likes of Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor and The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy are rarely records I reach for; with The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Despenser from 2016 not having been listened to for almost a decade.
That said, it’s been five-years since the last album of new music and Rob Zombie is set to issue full-length number eight, The Great Satan, this month and I still find myself excited as to what we’re going to get.
Taking its title from a derogatory term for the United States, coined during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the name of a Rio Grande Blood tune from Ministry, this is Mr Zombie’s return to his Hellbilly roots.
Prior to the album’s release there have been three promotional singles, dripping out since October 2025: Punks & Demons is about as raw and uncompromising as Rob Zombie gets on what is the closest thing to a title-track on offer; November saw the fast and frenzied Heathen Days, whose fat riffs and mammoth string bends from returning guitarist, Mike Riggs, loads on the weight; and the grooving, built for arena, jam of (I’m a) Rock N Roller, with its B-movie vibes and slithering delivery, is the perfect Rob Zombie tune, even down to the insane lyrical content.
Early signs were that The Great Satan would be a return to form and album opener, F.T.W.’84 reinforces that notion with its combination of meaty riffs, soundbites and electronic elements. It’s all the pieces Rob Zombie - the musician – is best known for, and here, everything seems to be in the right place.
Tarantula harkens back to those four classic records, embracing the filth without appearing to try too hard; Black Rat Coffin goes for a more traditional sound, and Sir Lord Acid Werewolf is creepy and theatrical, slow and plodding through the verses, before dropping into an oozing chorus. You’ll even find some eastern pipes on offer, and a jazzy flourish at its climax. The utter bonkers song title is par for the course when it comes to Mr Zombie, so barely warrants the batting of an eyelid.
As The Great Satan moves into its second half, we get the dissonant blasphemy of The Devilman; its pure Rob Zombie, with Blasko’s bass and Ginger Fish’s drums laying the perfect platform for Mike’s most prominent soloing so far.
Sadly, the spooky, swirling Out of Sight and the stomping Revolution Motherfuckers, competent tunes that they are, come across as skippable when heard against the reast of the record, but the
worry that The Great Satan had run out of steam is nixed by The Black Scorpion’s ninety-second carnivalesque rambunctiousness.
The final track proper is the excellent Unclean Animals, which begins in a slow and doomy stomp of dissonant guitars and an interesting use of tonal stepping throughout the verses; it’s edgy and comes out of leftfield, especially as the gothic orchestral moments give it an almost progressive feel.
A Rob Zombie record wouldn’t be complete without a few interludes, and The Great Satan comes in with Who Am I?; a warning about modernity in the guise of Welcome to the Electric Age, and the concluding Grave Discontent, which has the quality of a Seventies giallo film.
The Great Satan is the Rob Zombie record we’ve been waiting for since 2010’s Hellbilly Deluxe 2; whereas the intervening albums felt forced, this one feels organic and a very worthy successor to those first four. I really did like this one!
