Rob Zombie Mixes Metal With Creepy Set for High-Energy Tour

Among his many talents, former White Zombie mastermind Rob Zombie is a savvy enough rock musician to understand that his real strength lies in the studio. As supercharged as his music is live, it’s hard to re-create the rich sound of the recordings, so he bolsters his concerts with a mixed-media assault that is as sophisticated as his albums.

Zombie’s current tour, which hit Orange Pavilion in San Bernardino on Wednesday, is a smaller scale affair than his last White Zombie excursions, though no less elaborate.

Working with a mostly new band, Zombie artfully increased the scope of the compact stage set--a creepy castle featuring skull-lined arches, go-go girls and ghouls--with “windows” that were actually screens affording videotape views of the fiery pits of hell as well as clips from horror flicks.

Zombie’s solo work isn’t much of a departure from his White Zombie repertoire, so hits from the not-so-old days churned together with new material in an irresistible stream of chunky metal riffs and thundering dance grooves.

Monster Magnet, who shared the bill along with openers Fear Factory, also shares Zombie’s hellacious vision of rock, though the New Jersey quartet channeled it into a more down-to-earth set of Goth-tinged acid rock that was no less fiery for its lack of pyrotechnics.