Zombie Girl- Blood, Brains and Rock 'n' Roll

ARTIST: Zombie Girl
ALBUM: Blood, Brains and Rock 'n' Roll
LABEL: Alfa Matrix
REVIEWER: Matthew J.
DATE: 3-9-08

A team-up between Sebastian Komor, of such projects as Icon of Coil and Monofader, and his wife, Renee Cooper-Komor, Zombie Girl combines the pumping club rhythms of Komor's other projects with spooky yet sensual female vocals and plenty of old-fashioned zombie movie mayhem. Strange as it sounds, it's a bit like a techno version of 45 Grave, more horror-punk than industrial in terms of attitude. Cooper-Komor doesn't have a particularly wide vocal range, but she makes up for it with plenty of expression, ranging from a breathy delivery on title track "Blood, Brains and Rock 'n Roll" to aggressive attitude on "Living Dead Superstars." She's particularly good on "Creepy Crawler," confident but not overly exuberant, giving the song a sense of relaxed sexiness reminiscent of Lords of Acid, albeit with cannibalistic undertones. Komor's production matches perfectly with the album's campy horror vibe. Although it seems a bit incongruous at first to hear the kind of songs more frequently associated with horror-punk acts like The Misfits and The Deep Eynde being delivered over EBM programming, Komor uses all sorts of little touches to reinforce the old-school horror vibe, like the bouncing keyboards of "Jesus Was a Zombie" and the carnival organs and bluesy guitar loops of "Today." "Funeral Pyre" slows things down from club stomp to trip-hop chill, and "Dance of the Headless Corpse," with its wordless vocals and staccato organs, sounds like something right out of a Tim Burton movie. For all its fun, the basic premise of this album does get a little repetitive times, as on "Go Zombie" and its seemingly interminable looped recitation of the phrase "Remove the head / Destroy the brain." It'll be interesting to see how far Sebastian and Renee can stretch the concept of zombie EBM, because it's already getting a little thin. On its own, though, it's a fun break from the usual military and science fiction themes we've all heard a hundred times over. And as far as club potential goes, forget about making the dead walk; this'll make 'em dance!

Get your fill of blood, brains and rock 'n roll at www.zombie-girl.com.