EVERYONE’S REPLACEABLE ROUND-UP: ROB ZOMBIE TURNING INTO MARILYN MANSON, I.C.S. VORTEX NO LONGER UNEMPLOYED

I don’t have a whole ton to say about either of these line-up comings and goings, but I do have a little to say, so I’ll just say that:

• I.C.S. Vortex has re-joined Borknagar. That honestly doesn’t mean much to me because I never listened to much Borknagar. Not ’cause they’re bad, but just because I can’t say “Borknagar” without laughing. It sounds like a tr00 Norwegians euphemism for sex. “Dude, did you borknagar Bodil last night?” But I assume this is good news because Vortex was in Arcturus, and because Dimmu Borgir got a serious case of the sucks after they sacked him, which could be just a coincidence but then Arcturus. Anyways, Vortex says he’s “chuffed” to be back in the band, which means oh my god this dude is just an expert in silly words.
• Rob Zombie has hired Ginger Fish as his new drummer, which means his four-piece band now contains two former employees of Marilyn Manson. (The other being John 5, duh.) There are obviously some similarities in Zombie and Manson’s music, and they’re both technically “shock rockers,” and they were both cool in 1998, so I guess this makes sense. Mr. Fish did not mention whether or not he was chuffed to be in the band, but we hear that he did borknagar his brains out in celebration of the news, so I think we can safely assume there’s some chuffage going on.

-AR