Review
The unexpected return of longtime guitarist Mike Riggs and bassist Blasko immediately resets Rob Zombie’s eighth studio outing back to his turn-of-the-millennium heyday. Rather than sticking to the sprawling, acid-washed wanderings of his recent catalog, The Great Satan sharpens its claws with a streamlined, aggressive industrial-metal focus.
Critics praise the record as an organic throwback, with Louder noting it "occasionally punches like White Zombie at their best" while delivering a trademark barrage of "screaming guitars and stabs of distorted synth". Multiple writers agree that the classic-era personnel have "reinvigorated the entire band", bypassing the forced novelty of his mid-career work.
Sonically, the album plays like a heavy, high-octane carnival, pushing forward with the thrashy, crossover energy of "The Black Scorpion" and the plodding sludge of "The Devilman". By stripping back the clunky clutter, Zombie preserves a fierce momentum, proving he still commands "that late 90s/early 2000s fire without merely rehashing the past".
