Rob Zombie: American Made Music to Strip By : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Back in his days leading White Zombie, gore-obsessed entrepreneur Rob Zombie learned well the potential of the remix - specifically with the gold-selling 1996 collection Supersexy Swingin' Sounds. On American Made Music to Strip By, Zombie has let folks like God Lives Underwater, DJ Lethal and Rammstein have their filthy way with tracks off of last year's Hellbilly Deluxe. The results are mixed. Charlie Clouser's versions of "Dragula" and "Living Dead Girl" liberate Zombie's music from the verse-chorus-verse structure, giving the songs an eerier, more-consuming edge; Zombie's deep growl and crunching guitars provide ideal touchstones for various additional buzzes, whistles and things that go thump. But many of these remixes are like one sequel too many to a horror film - the same predictable elements simply rearranged. Some of Music to Strip By's tracks are best heard in their original, stripped-down form.