The pre-show samples that crackled over the p.a. couldn't have set the tone for last night's White Zombie show at Varsity Arena any better:

 "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies," boomed the voice from an old B-movie trailer.

 But no warning could have prepared the 4,000 in attendance for the onslaught that would ensue.

 A few loud flash-pot explosions later, White Zombie was running right over the hypnotized punters with Electric Head Pt.1 (The Agony), from the new disc Astro-Creep 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions From The Electric Head.

 Electric head indeed. White Zombie's epic scope went beyond simple small-arena rockisms and became an exercise in celluoid trash-heap as art, thanks to the Bela Lugosi-meets-Russ Meyer-meets-Charles Manson series of film loops bathing the band.

 (If this sounds familiar, see yesterday's Monster Magnet review).

 There was music, too. But despite the band's surreal noise levels it was more of a driving pulse to compliment the spectacle.

 Still, it was pretty hard to scoff given the inescapable fun-house effect White Zombie mustered amid confusing squalls such as Super-Charger Heaven, Electric Head Pt.2 (The Extasy) and More Human Than Human.

 With clear embrace of metal, funk and sample-heavy techno beats, guitarist J. and bassist Sean Yseult laid down a big sonic field across which vocalist/ringmaster Rob Zombie ran amokk.

 The initial buzz was scary. The side-effect:

 Once you got past the rockets' red glare, the White Zombie quartet was kind of dwarfed up there.

 Not so for stagewarmers The Melvins and The Reverend Horton Heat.

 Where The Melvins' monstrosity lay in their ability to play heavily slowly, The Reverend and his rockabilly speed-demons churned out most of their Liquor In Front long-player cruising at mach one.

 SUN RATING: 3 OUT OF 5