** 1/2: WHITE ZOMBIE, “Astro-Creep: 2000”; <i> Geffen</i>

Half a dozen years ago, White Zombie was an ironic New York noise band, part of the crowd--Jon Spencer, Raging Slab--extruding rock ‘n’ roll through the filter of brutal industrial racket laid down by Jim Thirwell and the Swans. Then they got signed to Geffen, took up residence in Hollywood and became more or less a regular hard-rock band, with crunch guitar, Metallica-esque vocals and a level of skulls ‘n’ sluts rhetorical excess that made 1974 Alice Cooper look like Alistair Cooke.

That album stiffed--until Rob Zombie & Co. became Beavis and Butt-head’s favorite band, its leaf-blower take on Zep’s “Immigrant Song” riff became standard background music for gonzo sports highlights reels, and what seems like every emotionally challenged kid in America bought the CD. White Zombie was the great rags-to-riches story in rock. So one would rightly assume that the new album might have the driving crunchiness and over-the-top apocalyptic imagery of the last one.

But “Astro-Creep: 2000” is truly fine, far more ambitious in an industrial metal-disco sort of way than the cartoony soundtrack for pre-pubescent rebellion the band could’ve gotten away with. A couple of songs, tinged with drum machines and slide guitar, even betray a subtle shading of Beck.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (essential).